Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 at 8:00 am  |  35 responses

Top 50: Al Jefferson, no. 25

The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.

by Sean Ceglinsky

So much potential. So close to finally realizing it. For all intents and purposes, that should just about sum up Al Jefferson’s relatively brief stint in the League thus far.

Things, however, figure to be different moving forward.

The six-year veteran appears poised to tap into his seemingly untapped inner NBA All-Star this season and transform himself from a player who’s been labeled as someone with tremendoAl Jeffersonus upside into one of those cats that needs be reckoned with on a nightly basis.

Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.

The future, however, has never looked so promising. Think about it, Jefferson won’t be wasting away in basketball exile with the Timberwolves in Minnesota. An offseason move to Utah assured that much, and could be the fresh start he so desperately needed.

All that’s left is for him to prove his true worth.

It’s not as if Jefferson hasn’t showed glimpses of a well-rounded game in the past, on both ends of the court, mind you. He spent his first three years in Boston, the final of which was an eye-opener for everyone. He took advantage of extended minutes with Celtics, and as a result, finished with averages of 16 points and 11 rebounds a game.

Not surprisingly, he landed himself a lucrative deal with Minnesota for his efforts. Back-to-back seasons with averages of more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a night followed, although an injury curtailed what was shaping up as a breakout ’08-09 campaign. Last year, he played well, but falling out of favor with the ‘Wolves brass didn’t help matters.

Enough about Jefferson’s journey to this point though. Let’s take a look ahead at how he fits into the grand scheme of things with the Jazz. After all, that’s most important.

All signs point to him being fully recovered ACL surgery, meaning he’s a double-double waiting to happen once again. Can’t forget to mention that he’s just 25 years old, perhaps that‘s why many believe there‘s room for growth. Who knows how good he can be…

With Carlos Boozer long gone in Chicago these days, Jefferson will play a major role for the Jazz. All signs point to him being the main man in the middle. And make no mistake, Deron Williams will make sure to get him the ball early and often in games. Once Big Al acclimates himself to the pick and roll way of things are done in Salt Lake City, watch out.

There’s no reason to think that he’s not fully capable of putting up some quality numbers once again. Averages of 25 points and 10 rebounds per game are lofty totals but not out of the question for Jefferson. Months from now, when the All-Star Weekend makes a pit stop at Staples Center, we could be talking about an individual who’s finally figured things out.

SLAMonline TOP 50 PLAYERS OVERALL RANK POSITION RANK
Player Team Position 2010 2009 2010 2009
Ray Allen Celtics SG 50 36 11 10
Gilbert Arenas Wizards SG 49 34 10 9
Lamar Odom Lakers PF 48 33 14 10
John Wall Wizards PG 47 NR 13 NR
OJ Mayo Grizzlies SG 46 46 9 12
Al Horford Hawks C 45 NR 6 NR
Jason Kidd Mavs PG 44 45 12 10
Joakim Noah Bulls C 43 NR 5 NR
LaMarcus Aldridge Blazers PF 42 39 13 12
David West Hornets PF 41 31 12 8
Monta Ellis Warriors SG 40 NR 8 NR
Andrew Bogut Bucks C 39 NR 4 NR
Yao Ming Rockets C 38 NR 3 NR
Brandon Jennings Bucks PG 37 NR 11 NR
Zach Randolph Grizzlies PF 36 NR 11 NR
Stephen Curry Warriors PG 35 NR 10 NR
David Lee Warriors PF 34 NR 10 NR
Brook Lopez Nets C 33 NR 2 NR
Gerald Wallace Bobcats SF 32 NR 6 NR
Manu Ginobili Spurs SG 31 29 7 8
Tony Parker Spurs PG 30 15 9 3
Kevin Garnett Celtics PF 29 13 9 3
Rudy Gay Grizzlies SF 28 44 5 9
Josh Smith Hawks PF 27 40 8 13
Andre Iguodala 76ers SG 26 26 6 7
Al Jefferson Jazz PF 25 23 7 7

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’10-11 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jeremy Bauman, Maurice Bobb, Erildas Budraitis, Sean Ceglinsky, Ben Collins, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Manny Maduakolam, Eddie Maisonet, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Charles Peach, Branden Peters, Quinn Peterson, David Schnur, Todd Spehr, Kyle Stack, Adam Sweeney, Dennis Tarwood, Tracy Weissenberg, Lang Whitaker, Eric Woodyard, and Nima Zarrabi.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

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  • ab40

    or we could be talking about a guy who was a good player on a bad team with influated stats. have you seen him last year? he wasn’t that good.

  • MVPballer

    Unstoppable on the low block, has a bevy of post moves only surpassed by Tim Duncan, decent to good defender, and a beast on the boards. Sky’s the limit for this guy.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    Is the All-Star gonna be on L.A. this season? I didn’t hear any news about that.

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    That was a pretty tough read Slam…anyways, I like this spot for Al, he’s got a more polished post game than Booz and will get 20 points per might easily with Deron feeding him the ball.

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    Big Al is that dude…

  • JTaylor21

    ab you’re clowning right? Big Al is one of the best post scorers in the NBA without a doubt and like someone already stated, possess post moves only TD can touch. Now that his playing with a great PG for the first time, I imagine his numbers being even better this year. F*ck going to Hakeem for post moves, DHow needs to take his a** to AL.

  • Jay Bo

    Big Al is finally gonna get some respect.(if he can stay healthy) 25 & 10 seems like an exaggeration, more like 21.5 & 10.
    @J they announced the All Star game a few months back. Technically the Clippers are hosting it.

  • http://slamonline.com/ Ryne Nelson

    Health has been an issue. If dude could stay on the court for 75+ games, he’ll easily be top 20 next season.

  • burnt_chicken

    ^what Ryne said.
    …and Sean: editors are your friends.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    How good can he be? Sadly his career so far mirrors that of early/mid career Z-Bo. But Utah is certainly a great change of scenery. Good luck, Al.

  • French toast

    Hope he didn’t play that good only to sign a big contract and now sleep for a few years….

  • matt the jazz fan

    good luck indeed.
    i just hope he moves well without the ball cause that’s what the utah system is predicated on. not dumping the ball to a low post scorer no matter how good his moves (undoubtedly) are.
    co-sign on health worries.
    but also co-sign on change of scenery being good.

  • Ronald

    I’m not sure how good his mid-range is, cause he really needs it to do well in the Sloan offense which is built upon the pick-roll and relies on the foward to be able to pop and roll depending ont he right situation. And, his post moves imho are actually better than TD’s (TD actually led the league in shot attempts blocked during his prime), but TD is a more proficient passer and reads defenses much better than Big Al which makes him much harder to guard. Honestly, Al’s moves are quiet amazing to watch.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    I like his chances with Deron Williams. And don’t forget about Paul Milsap, I do hope they play them together. Especially since Okur is injured.

  • ryder

    LMAO at Al Jeff at #25. The guy consistently makes his team worse on both sides of the ball. Can’t defend a position or pass out of a double team. Better post moves than Tim Duncan?!!??!!?

  • DarthEarl

    ATTENTION SLAM: How the heck is Aaron Brooks not ranked in your top 50 players? He averaged 20ppg last year, LED the NBA in 3pters per game and total per season and won the NBA Most Improved Player Award.
    He is BETTER than several players on this list such as Ray Allen, John Wall, OJ Mayo, Brandon Jennings and I would even say Stephen Curry.

  • Scat

    Ryder, the Jazz offense is designed to get players open so that when the double team comes at you there is someone to pass to. Jefferson will need to learn this because up to this point when the ball was dumped into him he’d have double and triple teams come at him while the rest of his team stood around. Once Al learns to trust his team mates and run the flex offense he will be a beast.

  • http://slamonline.com Todd Spehr

    @ DarthEarl: I hear ya. Brooks made my list.

  • Shan

    Thats my dude!! Cant wait to see what he can do in our structured offense. Im going to the open scrimmage on Saturday at the ESA to get a first peek!! Go Jazz

  • SpaceJam

    Buddy is gonna put up stats this year and finally win some games. All-Star lock in my book especially w/boozer and Amare out of the way. I fully expect 22 and 12

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    I think his rebounding numbers will be around 9 per game as milsap will be grabbing a lot of them like Klove did last year. However, his scoring could be pushing 23-24 ppg

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    If Brooks isn’t on this list DarthEarl has a very legitimate point. I thought he would be coming up bout 3 or 4 spots ago…he should be in the next 2-3 at best, if not what happened slam?

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Co-sign DarthEarl. And Brooks is definitely better than Stephen Curry… Not really arguable right now.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    AL Jefferson is one of my favorite players. One of the last true post presences in the league. He also looks like a hybrid between Raekwon and KRS-One, anyone ever noticed that? Not a diss by any means, of course.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Al will have a break out year too many, but he has been balling for years and especially after he was traded for KB, but still the Jazz are going nowhere, so does it really matter. BOOK IT!!

  • Way up North

    are ya’ll smoking crack? Aaron brooks better than jesus, OJ, jennings, and curry??? i like dude but damn, Aaron is a chucker (not that OJ or jennings arent), and is maybe 6 ft tall. Short guys that turn the ball over and jack alot of shots dont deserve a spot on this list unless their name is AI circa early 00s. He doesnt run an offense well (which jennings and steph do), and I’d like to see if he puts up anywhere near the numbers he did last year with legitimate options on the floor for the rockets this yr, oh and he gets picked on defensively by bigger guards (almost everyone)… and again, read the descriptions, this is PROJECTED, not based on last year…
    And al is a beast, one of my favorites, his post moves are one-of-a-kind, his d is servicable (no worse than boozer’s), and hes grown to be a pretty good passer. If he can finally put it all together and not get hurt it wouldn’t be hard to see a slight bump in the Jazz this yr with all the possible decline in the west?

  • hangtime Hec

    DAMN! Teddy I see that. haha. He does have a little bit of the blast master and the chef. I always thought that shawn marion was RZA lost long brother tho lol.

  • M5

    @Hangtime, also Bynum from detroit looks like 50 cent long lost twin brother.

  • bashmo

    boozer is better than jefferson, more consistent. Al J averaged great numbers with one of the worst teams in the league, boozer has great post moves, excellent footwork and is a good passer

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  • http://www.utjazzblog.com UTJazzBlog.com

    I won’t disagree with this ranking considering the unknowns of how quickly Jefferson will adjust to playing in the Jazz system, but I will be surprised if he isn’t deserving of a higher spot by the end of the season. @bashmo, as for the Boozer comparisons, Al is bigger, younger, and better post player. Boozer has good moves and is an excellent rebounder, but he’s undersized, soft as butter, invisible on defense, constantly hurt, and has the pain tolerance of a 6-year-old girl (evidenced by how long he takes to come back from injury).

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