What Should the Indiana Pacers do with their rotation players?
By Tony East
Al Jefferson: Patience is a virtue
Al Jefferson was a classic Larry Bird signing last summer. He is a player that, at one point in his career, averaged a sizeable amount of points per game for his position. His production had been in a slow decline over the last few seasons in Charlotte, but Larry Bird still chose to sign him to a 3 year, 30 million dollar contract.
Last offseason, that 30 million figure wasn’t seen as a gaudy one. It was pretty fair backup center money given the cap spike. But Al Jefferson showed up to camp out of shape and overweight, and he was never able to get his body right throughout the season. I recently had to review Al Jefferson for our player reviews and I was tempted to write the piece slowly and poorly as a tribute to his season. Thankfully for the Pacers, his contract only has 4 million guaranteed in the final season, so there is a way they could only pay him about 13.7 million more in total money.
He could only play about 15 minutes a game this season, and he is making way too much money based on his production.
Al will need to get in shape to be productive next season. He could only play about 15 minutes a game this season, and he is making way too much money based on his production. With only 13.7 million remaining guaranteed, he wouldn’t be impossible to trade, but it would be hard to find a suitor for an offensive-minded center in a league where the best centers excel on defense.
If the Pacers need to get to max cap space for any reason, expect them to look to find a trade partner for Al Jefferson. They could attach an asset to him, say the 47th pick in the draft, to sweeten the deal with another team to get rid of him (it would almost certainly take more than that).
It is unlikely the Pacers need max space this summer, though, so look for them to hang on to Jefferson in the hope that he can improve his trade value throughout the season. That’s right fans, get ready for another season of the seemingly always lethargic Al Jefferson.