Al Jefferson or Paul Millsap

[Ryaan]

If you had the choice basing from what we've seen this season, who would you pick? Jefferson averaging pts 21, rbd 10, ast 2Millsap averaging pts 18, rbd 8, ast 3Stats were taken from nba website and rounded to the nearest point. I feel with Jefferson we would have had a true centre to play with Al. I'm not knocking Millsap at all as I feel he's been great for us, but I feel with Jefferson, the ceiling would have been higher.

[NBASupes]

Al Jefferson has ALWAYS been better than Millsap. The better question is which one would have been a better fit for us. Honestly, neither if our goal is a NBA title. Sap is a better fit for Bud's system than Jefferson is for our system. On top of that, Jefferson is a great fit for Charlotte's system. They have the defensive players around Al for him to focus on just offense. If they could just add a Lance S. they would be set to really compete.

Edited March 8, 2014 by nbasupes40retired

[coachx]

Al is making the twice the money of Paul too.

[NBASupes]

Ppl love to talk about how good a deal Millsap is but forget there isn't much of a market for Millsap in terms of trade either. Asik, yeah but he's making 14.5 mil next year regardless if his salary cap hit is just 8.3 mil. Orlando isn't trading AA for Sap. No one is trading a good or very good SG/SF for Sap. So what is really his value? It is not much at all why teams weren't dying over him and he signed for a reasonable deal with us. There is a reason we had to overpay for an one trick shooter in Korver to keep him in Atlanta. Teams of value wanted Korver. He took more to stay but less then what Milwaukee offered which he clearly isn't trying to play for.

Edited March 8, 2014 by nbasupes40retired

[Ryaan]

Oh I forgot to even look at salaries to be fair, I guess ur saying that Al's offense and Millsaps defence cancel each other out.

[NBASupes]

Oh I forgot to even look at salaries to be fair, I guess ur saying that Al's offense and Millsaps defence cancel each other out.

Sadly with Charlotte, Al is a much better defensive player this year with Utah than Sap is with Atlanta. Al is also a much better offensive player as well. Al is playing at a 1st team All NBA level especially since ASB.

[NBASupes]

Jefferson was looked at as a curse in this league till Charlotte signed him. Can't defend well, is seen as a blackhole, etc but with Charlotte, he fits. The ball doesn't move much. His isn't a curse on offense with them as without him, they have little to no offense. Their style is Chicago Bullish and he fits perfectly.

[benhillboy]

It's less likely for Al to have an off-night like Sap could. Sap (the tweener) definately learned something while playing with Al though: he puts his butt on every player smaller than him. The difference is, Al (the True 5) puts his butt on everybody, smaller or bigger. His offensive repotoire would be impressive in the 80's. Today, he easily sets the standard for back-to-the-basket attack and is a shiny relic.The footwork, balance, court awareness, and variety of finishes with soft touch are a joy to watch even if just on highlights. It's a toss up but factoring the contract, I'd go with Paul. With Al you get a little more scoring , offensive stability, and foul-drawing. With Sap you get more spacing and an auxiliary ballhandler at times, a much better fit for our motion. I guess Sap can give you a little of what Al provides, you can't say vice versa. Neither will sniff All-Defense, but Sap puts out more effort on that end I'd say.

Edited March 8, 2014 by benhillboy

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Al is making the twice the money of Paul too.

No he isn't. He's making the same money that Millsap + Brand is making. And Jefferson has the opportunity to opt out after Year 2.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Oh I forgot to even look at salaries to be fair, I guess ur saying that Al's offense and Millsaps defence cancel each other out.

Millsap isn't that good of a defensive player to make this assumption. Jefferson has the better defensive rating and he gives up less points per play than Millsap. Jefferson is not only an elite low post scorer, he's also an elite rebounder.

I like Millsap a lot. But he's no Al Jefferson.

Millsap has struggled mightily against the Pacers, because he can't handle the combination of David West and Roy Hibbert on the inside.

Meanwhile, this is Jefferson against that same Pacers team, just the other night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpJ1bpOJ9Qg

Jefferson alongside Horford would've been a lethal 1 - 2 combo for opponents to deal with. And we would be an even stronger team, because we could play Horford at center with the 2nd unit.

But that's water under the bridge now. It's a shame that our GM valued his "system" over actually bringing in players that could win him games.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

And let's set something straight about "contract" talk.

The contracts that handicap teams are bloated contracts( usually at the mid-level ) in which players are not performing up to that level. Actually paying a guy who can ball, is NOT the contract to worry about. It's the contracts in which players are being paid 8 million, but are playing like 2 million dollar players, that are the killers.

A contract to worry about is one like Lou Williams, that supposedly can easily be moved. But if he doesn't have any suitors for his services, you're stuck with 5 million in useless money being paid out. Let's see how eager teams are willing to take on Lou this summer, if the GM decides to put him on the trade block.

Almost every team has that small ( score first ) guard that they throw out on the floor. So why would a team trade an "asset" for a 5 million dollar small ( score first ) guard? You may find a team desperate for offense that would do it though. But why trade for Lou's 5 million deal, when you can easily sign Nate Robinson for 2 million?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

And let's set something straight about "contract" talk.

The contracts that handicap teams are bloated contracts( usually at the mid-level ) in which players are not performing up to that level. Actually paying a guy who can ball, is NOT the contract to worry about. It's the contracts in which players are being paid 8 million, but are playing like 2 million dollar players, that are the killers.

A contract to worry about is one like Lou Williams, that supposedly can easily be moved. But if he doesn't have any suitors for his services, you're stuck with 5 million in useless money being paid out. Let's see how eager teams are willing to take on Lou this summer, if the GM decides to put him on the trade block.

Almost every team has that small ( score first ) guard that they throw out on the floor. So why would a team trade an "asset" for a 5 million dollar small ( score first ) guard? You may find a team desperate for offense that would do it though. But why trade for Lou's 5 million deal, when you can easily sign Nate Robinson for 2 million?

So in conclusion . . . I'd rather overpay a guy who can play at a star or superstar level on occasion . . than to overpay a guy who is supposed to be a solid role player, but plays like the 12th man on the team.

[NBASupes]

I rather not pay Lou or Jefferson since Jefferson isn't a championship piece in our system and Lou doesn't have that big PG to play with like he had in New Orleans. Honestly, I would like to trade him to New Orleans for Austin Rivers and another wasted prospect just to get rid of his contract even if I do think Lou is a decent player in general.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I rather not pay Lou or Jefferson since Jefferson isn't a championship piece in our system and Lou doesn't have that big PG to play with like he had in New Orleans. Honestly, I would like to trade him to New Orleans for Austin Rivers and another wasted prospect just to get rid of his contract even if I do think Lou is a decent player in general.

It's been proven that with the talent we have now, our system can't consistently win more than 1/2 of our games. We need a significant upgrade on defense. And if that meant that the Hawks don't play as "pretty" on offense, so be it.

I just mentioned Lou because those are truly the type of contracts that kill you, and not big money deals to guys who can actually play. As much as JJ was making here, it was actually contracts like Marvin's that was the killer. If Teague doesn't progress in the near future, it could be his contract that is the killer.

Here's a thought. Jefferson at 13 million might be UNDERPAID, considering that he can function as a legit #1 type option in an offense, and can rebound the basketball at a very high rate.

The issue with his teams has mainly been the talent around him . . not him. He and Millsap WERE the Utah Jazz. Their fans and the organization felt that the team couldn't progress in the future if they retained them. So now you see where Utah is now . . a league laughingstock. But they've positioned themselves to get one of the young studs in the draft, so I guess everything is OK in their eyes.

[nathan2331]

Where is all this the negativity on Jefferson coming from? I know he wasn't the greatest of players with the Jazz, but just like Millsap he's improved since leaving them.

[NBASupes]

It's been proven that with the talent we have now, our system can't consistently win more than 1/2 of our games. We need a significant upgrade on defense. And if that meant that the Hawks don't play as "pretty" on offense, so be it.

I just mentioned Lou because those are truly the type of contracts that kill you, and not big money deals to guys who can actually play. As much as JJ was making here, it was actually contracts like Marvin's that was the killer. If Teague doesn't progress in the near future, it could be his contract that is the killer.

Here's a thought. Jefferson at 13 million might be UNDERPAID, considering that he can function as a legit #1 type option in an offense, and can rebound the basketball at a very high rate.

The issue with his teams has mainly been the talent around him . . not him. He and Millsap WERE the Utah Jazz. Their fans and the organization felt that the team couldn't progress in the future if they retained them. So now you see where Utah is now . . a league laughingstock. But they've positioned themselves to get one of the young studs in the draft, so I guess everything is OK in their eyes.

You overvalue Jefferson for us. He is not a great fit with Al and in any system we play. He went to that Chicago Bulls Thibs system which is suited for his game. We are big on ball movement and Jefferson isn't. Sorry bro but I don't blame Atlanta for passing on him. It's the same with Z-Bo who I love but he is usually a net minus in most systems but with Memphis and a personnel grouping like Memphis, he is a top tier PF.

Our personnel grouping just doesn't fit what Charlotte has and how good of a fit he is for them. It was a great move for Charlotte like Z-Bo was a great move for Memphis but Z-Bo was a bad move for LAC and Jefferson was a meh move for Utah.