Sooooo, Big Al brought the Wolves an inside presence to bang inside and go to work...So far, in FOUR games, Jefferson has NINE Free Throws? What is the Daddy missing? Surely my friend Jack Daniels is not clouding my reason. 9/4 = a terrible frequency.

Yeah, our free throw disparity is killing us. Probably the #1 reason we're 0-4 instead of 4-0.

I think the big thing is that we haven't really got any slashers on our team. Foye might fix that a little, but it's basically the same old Minnesota find the open guy for a jump shot offense. What makes it more fun to watch this year vs. years past is that guys are making hustle plays to clean up the glass and get second chances. We're also probably a better shooting team with guys like Buckner, Gomes, McCants, and last night Telfair.

Very few guys are taking it to the rim. Jefferson is money when he posts up and makes his shots, but rarely attacks the hoop though where he'd draw some real contact.

I'm not going to complain about Big Al not getting to the line until he stops scoring. Averaging 20 ppg is fine with me.

Although I will say that I'm a little surprised that he didn't go to the line one time against LA.

Big Al has averaged 5.1 FTs per 40 minutes over his career, KG 5.4. I can tell you as a long time Cs fan checking out this blog to see what Wolves fans think about the Baby Cs that AL doesn't historically draw a lot of contact in the low post, and he seems to be gravitating toward a mid-post game as a T-Wolf.

I believe that Wolves fans are familiar with a former Celtic great named Kevin McHale. He got to the line for 6FTs per 40 minutes. I expect AL to average 7 or so FTs a game once he gets estabished as a franchise big. Enjoy the 20 and 10 from AL for the next decade or so, while we in Boston have to suffer through four or five seasons of KG not getting to the line enough

I can't really complain about Big Al's free throw attempts when it's so obvious that he's \"bringing it\" in every other facet of the game.

It doesn't help that he's getting double teamed all the time. When he's one on one against a defender he's nearly unstoppable on the low block. It's really up to the rest of the guys to attack the hoop and draw fouls, not so much Al.

I agree that it would be nice if he could draw more fouls, but until his stats or game suffers for lack of physical play, there isn't really anything to complain about. I'll take 20 and 10 for the next ten years, thank you very much.

Last season was the first year that AL had the offense go through him, and while the Cs didn't win a lot of game, AL showed he could handle the ball for over half his team's possessions. What was remarkable for a 3rd year guy who entered the league out of HS, AL would get 50+ touches a game and only have one or two turnover.

Unlike certain HS-to-pros bigs who shall remain nameless (Dwight Howard), AL isn't a turnover machine, and once his teammates stabilize (2009?) he's going to be very effective punishing the double team with the pass.

TripleOT wrote:
I completely agree with you. For as awesome as Dwight Howard is, Big Al has the advantage in that he doesn't have near as many turnovers. DH is honestly a terrible passer and really needs to cut down on his TO's to move into the uppermost echelon of big men.

It would help Big Al's passing if our wings were better at getting open and slashing to the hoop, which I think will come with time since they are all young. As it stands Big Al is an adequate passer, which will only get better with time and familiarity between his teammates.