The Boston Celtics completed a trade on July 31, 2007 that forever altered the complexion of their franchise. The Celtics swung five players, cash considerations and two first-round picks to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Garnett, and following some additional tweaking, as Celtics radio announcer Sean Grande so aptly put it, after 20 years of futility, “the game’s original monarchy has retaken the throne”.
What has been lost in the Celtics’ subsequent success is not the play of Ryan Gomes, Bassy Telfair, the expiring contract that was Theo Ratliff or Gerald Green (whose cupcake candle extinguishing dunking skills couldn’t keep him in Minnesota or Houston), it’s the play of that fifth and most stellar player in the Boston package, the T-Wolves new big man, Al Jefferson.
Since his arrival in Minnesota, Jefferson has been nothing less than a stud, and his omission from the Western Conference All-Star team last week was plain stupid. If the selection process for starters was taken out of the people’s hands and was instead based on a statistical formula which doesn’t yet exist, Big Al may have been the first choice among the Western bigs. He averages more points, rebounds, offensive boards, and fewer turnovers than the three starting big men, only Tim Duncan averages more blocks per game on the entire team, and Jefferson’s overall numbers dwarf each forward/center chosen as a reserve except Dirk Nowitzki’s. Sure, the T-Wolves record is less than flashy at 17-31, but let me channel my inner Stephen A. Smith for a second, THE EXCLUSION OF MR. AL JEFFERSON IS ATROCIOUS AND DOWNRIGHT DESPICABLE!!!
Big Al is averaging 22.8 points, 10.7 rebounds (3.3 on the offensive glass) and 1.7 blocks (highest of his career) per game, as well as putting up career-highs in free throw shooting and assists. He is the cornerstone of Minnesota’s growing and improving franchise, and he has the 5th most double-doubles in the league (28), second most among Western Conference big men. WHAT ELSE DOES THIS MAN HAVE TO DO TO GET SOME RESPECT?!?!
As outrageous as it may sound, the Boston Herald conducted a poll previous to the KG megadeal asking its readership whether or not Celtic management should part ways with Big Al if it meant acquiring a topnotch player in return. Well, somewhere around 90% of voters said NO. While they may have had good intentions, I’d be willing to bet my Tony Pena signed Topps card that if you could get any of those 90% to admit their gaffe, they’d all agree saying goodbye was the correct decision.
Although I would never wish for the trade to be reversed, Boston’s loss was still the T-Wolves’ good fortune, and it’s rapidly becoming glaringly apparent. Celtic fans got an up-close and personal look at the continued maturation of Jefferson as he put up 34 points (on 15-21 shooting) and 11 boards at the TD Banknorth Garden last Sunday. KG was sidelined by the flu in the matchup, but the majority of teams in the league don’t have a player who could wipe the sweat off of KG’s porous head on the defensive end, and those numbers are swiftly becoming the norm.
Again, Minnesota’s record isn’t the most impressive, but Big Al is. The T-Wolves had a great January winning 10 of 14 and their losses came at the hands of Miami, Utah, the LA Lakers and Detroit, all playoff teams in their respective conferences. Big Al is emerging as one of the great big men in the game and his numbers at the center position are only surpassed by Dwight Howard. There is hope, once again, in Minnesota.
The Green may have captured championship 17 last spring, and number 18 may not be too far away, but for the T-Wolves and their fan base, whose outlook has been bleak for quite some time, there is another young big man to be excited about.
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Keywords: Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves
