Ricky Rubio, David Kahn, or Kurt Rambis won’t be able to save the Timberwolves if Al Jefferson isn’t able to fully recover from offseason ACL surgery. Much of the Wolves offseason chatter revolved around the Rubio soap opera and the hiring of Kahn and Rambis as GM and coach, respectively. Almost forgotten was the fact that Jefferson, the key asset in the Garnett trade, the main piece in the Wolves rebuilding project, and their best player was coming off major knee surgery. So far, Jefferson looks like he has a ways to go before he’s back to his old self. If he can’t find his old form soon, however, the Wolves could set a record for ineptitude.
Jefferson looked overmatched against Blazers center Greg Oden during another lopsided Wolves loss on Wednesday. Oden pushed Jefferson around for three quarters, throwing down dunks and tearing away rebounds from a befuddled Big Al. There’s no shame in being dominated by an elite NBA center, but Oden has been far from elite during his time in the league. If all was right in Wolves land, Jefferson would’ve looked like the franchise center on Wednesday, making Oden and his grizzly beard move laterally on defense and forcing him out of position (Guys with beards like Oden’s are supposed to be slow and plodding, right?). Instead, all Jefferson was able to do against the 21-year-old who could easily pass for 45 was throw up desperate looking quarter-hook shots that ricocheted off the rim.
Jefferson was averaging 23.1 points and 11 rebounds before the injury last season. Those numbers are down to 15.1 and 6.1 through nine games this season. Nobody expected the Wolves to resemble anything close to a contender in 2009-10. But the new coach, GM, Johnny Flynn, and Rubio tease at least provided a glimmer of hope. That hope is all but gone now. Don’t look for it to return any time soon if the team’s biggest asset continues to hobble around and looks broken down against the likes of Oden.
4 Reader Comments
7:52 am
if Britt Robson were still alive, he would explain to us that Big Al is completely out-of-position at Center in the NBA. He’s a natural power forward. He could be a borderline all-star on a team that had a good Center. Also, Greg Oden seems to have outgrown his plodding self and is ready to make the leap and become one of the top 2 or 3 centers in basketball.
8:03 am
Also, local-angle NBA story:
Dallas Mavericks’ maverick owner Mark Cuban (who also happens to be an OG internet billionaire, Twitter true believer, oft-quoted putz and the most incorrigible anti-establishment owner in sports) made a surprise visit to the #msptweetup at the BulldogNE last night.
http://twitter.com/search?q=%23msptweetup#search?q=%23msptweetup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cuban
9:13 am
Top two or three centers in the league? Oden? Not sure I’m ready to put him there yet. He still looks lost with his back to the basket and I’m not convinced he’s over his injury problems yet. He’s already approaching Ewing status with his knee pads/braces and post-game ice packs.
Fact is, there aren’t many true centers in the league. Al isn’t the only guy not a natural center forced to play the position. Either way, he shouldn’t be getting destroyed by likes of Oden like he was on Wednesday.
9:34 am
yes, i was reaching. I’m trying to increase big al’s trade value.