Reigning Black: Richard Jefferson: In Focus

[ElNono]

Yup, that's an indication that the 'Jack may be back. From Omnipotent to long-wind-ed-ness, I might be on my way to being worth a damn.


Rather than play into my long-wind-ed-ness and predilection for monotony (I'm boning up for Scrabble Wednesday), have a look-see at this. It's a great reminder and refresher on the dawn of the RJ era. [Sorry, that even made me laugh. "on the dawn of the RJ era"? More like Don ... am I right? Right? Anyone. ... No? )


Bottom line, I wasn't for the initial RJ trade. I was never a proponent of his and I don't expect it to turn out as well as we all hoped. But I think most would agree that the logic was sound for the acquisition initially, so it's now down to what would've been better for the Spurs this upcoming year: the team they have now with a locked up RJ; the team they would've had with both he and Parker on expirings; or the team they would've had if RJ had went elsewhere, leaving the Spurs to fill the small forward role with a LLE-type.

Weighing all of the possibilities and probabilities, whether they could do better than RJ this upcoming year, I can't say they did the wrong thing. Doesn't mean I like it or am happy about it, but I can't argue too much with the path they've taken this summer.

Them winning a championship may be the equivalent to hitting the Lotto, but they at least bought a ticket. That's all I can really ask for at this point. I've yet to hear another option they had that was better. Maybe financially long-term but not as it pertains to Tim and his window. And again, I trust that the Spurs have a sound gameplan and business model when it comes to life after Tim. Holt's fully aware that he's gotta have a quality product on the floor to draw in SA and realizing the savings now I'm sure was part of the plan. Save now, pay (possibly) later -- only Manu is currently on the books and the team's future salary may not be flirting with the tax as much if 1 or 2 of the Big 3 are gone.

Fail.

That was sooo long-wind-ed-ness.

FWIW, I was for the RJ trade back then. After watching Finley creak around on the court and Mason pull a Casper, I thought RJ could give us an infusion of athleticism and experience, and while I couldn't tell you then if he would put us over the top, I thought it was a worthwhile gamble.
Ultimately, I think the gamble didn't pay off because he's just not the player this team needs for the role he's handed. And I think he's at a point in his career where he just won't be able to perform that role, because of both physical and mental shortcomings. Which really makes me quite intrigued to know what exactly is the reason, gameplan-wise, that the Spurs decided to retain his services for four more seasons.

[LongtimeSpursFan]

So if it's a two year window why not just pay RJ 15m for this season? Instead you give more money to a marginal, aging player.

Richard Jefferson is hardly a marginal, aging player. His career avg of 17+ points a game is probably better than 80 percent of the league. Also, he just turned 30 years old so he still has plenty of good years left in front of him. Vince Carter is 33 and still performs pretty well with Orlando.

The blame is not entirely on RJ for playing in an offense where his role is to plant himself outside the 3pt line and shoot jumpers. The Spurs traded for him because of his athleticism and his ability to get to the hoop. The several plays that were called for him...alley oops passes off a screen, his curl at the elbow off a screen and his baseline cut to the basket need to be expanded if you want to utlize his talents. he Spurs are a half court team because Duncan is a great half court player. If the Spurs became a full court press type team or uptempo type offense Duncans contribution would decline (also one of the reasons the Spurs struggle against those same style teams).

[Nathan89]

Richard Jefferson is hardly a marginal, aging player. His career avg of 17+ points a game is probably better than 80 percent of the league. Also, he just turned 30 years old so he still has plenty of good years left in front of him. Vince Carter is 33 and still performs pretty well with Orlando.

The blame is not entirely on RJ for playing in an offense where his role is to plant himself outside the 3pt line and shoot jumpers. The Spurs traded for him because of his athleticism and his ability to get to the hoop. The several plays that were called for him...alley oops passes off a screen, his curl at the elbow off a screen and his baseline cut to the basket need to be expanded if you want to utlize his talents. he Spurs are a half court team because Duncan is a great half court player. If the Spurs became a full court press type team or uptempo type offense Duncans contribution would decline (also one of the reasons the Spurs struggle against those same style teams).

Yeah, well he is ranked 16th as a sf in the league. That means we are paying close to ten million per year for a sf that is not even in the top 50% of starting sf. On top of that, there was at least 4 sf on that list ranked below him that are better than him. The guy can't shoot or play defense. The two main criteria for the spurs sf position. He can't create anything for himself. Pietrus can do all of those things and he is ranked below Rj. The athleticism that you mention is highly overrated. Rj is the definition of marginal.