Brandon Hoffman, it is obvious from this statement that you are making a generalized stereotypical statement, and don’t follow one second of Pacers basketball. Ron Artest was a major problem for the franchise, and the fact that he was able to secure Peja had more to do with his complementary game for Jermaine Oneal. I doubt he thought Peja was the next Larry Bird, and that had nothing to do with that trade.

1- Jefferson’s time at the 3 at 82 Games is listed as 3% of his team’s minutes while his time at the 5 is at 69%. That’s too much of a differential to be making straight comparisons about his relative worth at each spot.

2- Taking #1 a bit further, the concept of comparing Jefferson’s PER differential at the 4 and 5 produces a big number, but you also need to take into account the differential between offense and defense at each spot. The main reason why there appears to be such a big difference between PERs is because Jefferson’s PER at the 5 is +4 over the 4. When it comes to the folks he’s guarding, there’s only a difference of -0.9 with the aforementioned imbalanced sample size. Jefferson’s opponents operate at a borderline all star level whether he guards them at the 4 or 5.

3- The 5 is the only position on the Wolves to have a positive differential in PER, points, and rebounds.

The bottom line here is that for nearly 70% of his team’s minutes Jefferson operated at All Star levels at the 5 on the offensive end of the floor for a team with zero perimeter defense, zero frontcourt help, and, for the better part of the season, a point guard who couldn’t shoot.

Should Jefferson put up similar numbers next year at the 5, with 3 perimeter players who can shoot 40% from 3, as well as a 4 who will hopefully provide the team a net gain at the position as well as being able to space the lane, this is the best deal McHale could have made with the resources he had. OJ Mayo just wasn’t going to be able to bring enough to the table to make him a big plus over guys like Foye and now Mike Miller. Perimeter defense would have been about his only plus over Foye. Love allows Gomes to be the glue guy off the bench at the 3/4 instead of the team’s back up big.

What’s the deal with those liquor laws?

finding a grizzle bear anywhere near the state of Tennessee? lol – like david lettermen says – i’ll pay you 1 million if you find a grizzle bear in memphis.

he totally burned that city. its a pathetic franchise.

It makes a hell of a lot more sense than the Utah Jazz…

of course, if he ever wants to be considered a superstar, he needs to start to defend like he cares. he needs to pass better out of double teams. he needs to care about more things other than a double double every night. and i think he will.

as a celtic fan, i’m rooting for him. i guess i’ll always be a minny fan from now on. go AL! and i hope kevin love works out for you.

and if Mayo didn’t work out for minny because he didn’t want to play there – what a douche! minnesota is beautiful and has a great sports scene, with quite a few big time sports franchises.

as for memphis and sports – ha! thats like a grizzle bear living in Tennessee. get it? bad joke i guess- but still, memphis grizzlies? how does that name make any sense??!!

Also wondering if anyone has thoughts on last summer’s trade that saw McHale trade a second-round pick to the Spurs for some guy named Beno Udrih, whom was promptly waived and signed by the Sacramento Kings. Said Kings apparently feel Udrih is good enough to warrant a 5-year, $30 million deal… what’s the PG situation for the T’Wolves at present again?