Picking on Al

Boy, there has sure been a lot of nitpicking on old Al Jefferson these last few days, particularly over his defense. Yep, it's bad...but on this team there's more than a few bad defenders to pick from. And, with a hefty contract in hand, I'm sure he barely hears the refrain from folks like us, the last fans standing, watching an irrelevant franchise trying to rebuild. Since I have been haranguing broadcast commentators and bloggers alike about their arguments relegating defense to some back pew at the basketball cathedral, let me offer some perspective.

It seems to me that people who could be classified as winners--in any walk of life--mostly share a common trait: the ability to do what is necessary to advance and improve. Defense requires a tough minded outlook, it's hard, and often requires the cooperation of other teammates to do it really well. If that is a true statement, then watching how a team plays defense will reveal more about chemistry and identity than any color commentator can blather on about. Why should I believe a spin-creating, supposed insider who gets "special" access at shootarounds and practices, when I can watch the players perform on the court?

It's been a long time since the Wolves played any meaningful defense. KG was a great defender, but during this franchise's decline, only Trenton Hassell was anything resembling a defensive stopper. In the front court, creaky old Ervin Johnson played fundamentals well enough to compliment Garnett, but that was the exception and not the rule. Now Garnett is raising hell with the Celtics and we only have his replacement--Jefferson--to examine as the club tries to resuscitate the franchise. We love the way Al works down low on offense--as opposed to KG--but really wish he would pass the ball and be at least a more enthusiastic defender. In other words, what we really still want is the perfect Kevin Garnett. That obviously is unreasonable.

In the end it's not about one player, it's how the team accepts the challenge of becoming a winner. So Al's not a great defender; can he take the challenge to improve any shortcoming and show his teammates that he's willing to pay the price? Is Sebastian Telfair or Randy Foye willing to commit themselves to denying penetration on the perimeter? How about Mike Miller? What makes Brian Cardinal such an effective role player is that he takes whatever talent he has and adds heaping portions of hustle on top of it. It's the hustle, the ability to do what's necessary beyond the natural skills of the individual that will make the team better.

One can pick on Al all day long; you wouldn't be wrong, but the team as a whole needs help. This whole argument about whether you need to be top ten in offense or defense first is silly. My point has been that there's been a lot of talk about defense, but the results on-court have been disasterous. Trying to consistently out score NBA teams will only bring you a modicum of success. Seeing your supposed "core" players understand their limitations and accept the challenge to get better in any way possible will to more to put the team in a position to succeed than anything else.

In short, it's the effort to improve fans should be looking for at this point. When the entire team is pretty much chopped liver defensively, picking on one guy doesn't do any good. They all just need to get better.