Is Jeffries Really The Key?

by Ben Kopelman on December 30th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

I have been a steadfast Jeffries hater for the last couple of years.  I think he is overpaid, overused and flat-out underwhelming in all areas of the game.

But even I can’t ignore his contributions to the team over the past month; anybody who does simply isn’t watching the games closely.

Initially, I applauded D’Antoni’s use of JJ based solely on the notion that he should be showcased early, and shipped out soon after.  With a focus on the future, the Knicks have a valuable commodity in Jeffries.  He should be moved him to a team in need of a versatile defender.  He is not Eddy Curry, despite how often the two names seem to get lumped together.  I liked watching Jeffries defend an opposing point guard because with each defensive stop it felt like we were one day closer to ridding ourselves of his contract.

But since being given an expanded role and cracking the starting lineup on a consistent basis, my enthusiasm has shifted.  While it was once driven by my dislike, it is now a reflection of my outright approval.

After watching the Nets play their best offensive game of the year, it is hard to ignore how much of a factor JJ really is.  His early fouls forced the Knicks away from what they had been doing so well lately.  The team seemed lost without him on the defensive end.  On multiple possessions in the second and third quarters tonight, we regressed to the first month of the season when ball handlers and big men carved us up at will.  Without Jeffries to quarterback to defense, the team we have watched clamp down the last month seemed to loosen WAY up.

Jeffries’ value on the trading block remains strong.  This team is not built to make a run in the playoffs — if it is even able to sneak in in the first place.  If given the chance, I still hope Donnie Walsh moves Jeffries for anybody with an expiring deal.

But his value on the floor over the past six week is impossible to ignore.  And as long as he remains in a New York uniform, the Knicks are going to have to lean on his defensive leadership if they are going to have more months like December…
  • Big Mikey

    Coach D loves the pick and roll. He revolves the entire offense around it. This also has given him the tacit knowledge to understand how to stop it. I love when JJ guards the point guard, making a switch of the pick a lot more effective, because of his ability to guard both big and small players. I think this inflates his value, and is a great way to show him off to get him into the market. I agree they should trade him for expiring, whether it be someone interesting and exciting like T-mac, or just some washed up idiot that Isiah would love.

    I think if he does get traded, someone else will step up and play a similar style of defense. The problem is that no candidates come to mind.

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    he is the best defender the knicks got plan an simple

    a contender will mos def grab him up

    his offense is worse than any player i have seen but the guy play D

  • HaS

    Damn, you guys have some weird kind of reverse mancrush on Isaiah. Any opportunity, any opportunity at all lol.

  • Big Mikey

    haha good point has

    there wasn’t even an opportunity. I forced one. Zeke is just my goto scapegoat when talking about the knicks. its a habit

  • Dave the Rave

    Jeffries is playing by default. In a sane world he’d be a good spot backup PF at $3M. Trade him, Donny boy!

  • HaS

    It’s all good, man. All good.

  • ds2488

    Yeah, no question he has proven to have some value, but please for the love of god trade that guy first chance for whoever as long as it does not require taking back a contract. I would trade him for nothing if it was at all possible.

  • Big Daddy

    I will say again as I have said so many times here. Jefferies has some skills, not many but some. If Al Harrington added the few skills JJ has he would be the superstar he thinks he is. I know Al can do it, I have seen him but he’s too lazy and he’s just not a winner. Back to JJ. On a good team he can come in and be a major PITA to some team until he fouls out or something. About 15 minutes in small stretches to disrupt the other teams star player. But he would be overpaid, if I was needing a player like that I would be calling the Knicks but then they will try to stick me with Curry, end of deal.

    Other than that he is useless and actually is killing us on the offense. But we need him on the defense because simply put, if Lee doesn’t concentrate on rebounding nobody else does. SO we need JJ to do the defensive dirty work and Lee to do the board cleaning because all the other players on the Knicks are worthless at anything but chucking up long shots and that goes for Gallo too.

    Chandler has been better but it’s like baby steps until he realizes the gifts he has, he makes so many mistakes and cannot play D. It’s frustrating watching Chandler and Gallo, they are so lost out there most of the time. You see flashes of what they can be but they are light years away from reaching their potential. On the other hand Brooke Lopez is there and on the way up. He’s going to be another Duncan or close to it if he keeps on working on his skills. You can build the team around this guy, he’s a competitor just scratching the surface and light years ahead of Chandler and Gallo.

    I do not enjoy watching the Knicks, it’s not because they suck, it’s because of the dysfunction of their team and coach.

    I will never take anything away from a coach like D’Antoni, he knows basketball, he lives it, eats it, sleeps it. The idea he can’t teach or coach defense is absurd. He just does not stress it as much as others, he expects the players to work on it and just do it. Other coaches stress defense and devise schemes specifically for situations, D’ant does not and relies on just the basics all players SHOULD know but do not in the NBA. They do work on defense but it’s not a high priority. If the players knew the basics of what Clyde keeps saying for the last 8 years then D’ant would not even have to spend any time on it at all. Which would make him happy as opposed to a Stan Van Gundy/ Popovich/ Riley/Jackson who all stress Defense even though their players know the basics.

    It’s really useless to even talk about this team to be honest. Most of them will be gone next season and I am afraid DLee will too. I hope David gets on a winning team with players like himself who are willing to work hard and become better basketball players than their athletic ability or lack of dictates. The rest of the knicks I wouldn’t give a care about right now, to me they are all worthless. Only Gallo, Chandler and Douglas, maybe Hill who knows, are worth watching because they are young and might eventually become what DLee has made himself into. If Dlee can, they can and I hope they are taking notes on how to make yourself great….it’s simple……WORK UR ASS OFF!!!!! At everything, take nothing for granted and pay attention to every detail. That’s how you become great at anything you do.

  • Aussie Gary

    The comments on here always reflect the result of the last game. If the Knicks win then D’Antoni made all the right moves and (insert name) played brilliantly. I used to tell my team about peaks and valleys. Don’t get too excited when we win and don’t get too down when we lose. We have a lot of excitable people on this blog.

    To me this comment is contradictory: “I do not enjoy watching the Knicks, it’s not because they suck, it’s because of the dysfunction of their team and coach. I will never take anything away from a coach like D’Antoni, he knows basketball, he lives it, eats it, sleeps it. The idea he can’t teach or coach defense is absurd.” The team just had a good month relative to what has happened over the past few years. They have held opponents under 100 points for 11 straight games. That is hardly dysfunctional. The coach provides the leadership to the group and pulls the strings during games. To get what he is currently getting from this group, he is not doing a bad job.

    Go back and look at some of the comments after a loss or two and compare to what is said after a win or two. Players go from being described as ridiculously bad after losses to superstars after wins. Today was always going to be tough for us. The Nets were not going to finish the season at 2-80. We played last night. They also are getting better production out of Yi and that continued against us. I like the idea of keeping Jefferies as a role player for next year,as posted yesterday. I’m not sure what kind of a contract Harrington will get if he’s ditched. With his athleticism, it may be worth trying to mold him into what we need to go forward with next season. The bench is the greatest changer of bad habits. If a coach sees things consistently that he doesn’t like, he can sit the player and explain to him why he’s sitting and why he will continue to get limited minutes until he’s changed. With Harrington that would mean a commitment to team defense and less 3 point attempts and more penetrate and dish type plays on offense.
    Happy New Year…4 hours to midnight over here.

  • johneco

    I’ve been praising Jeffries for a while now, he’s not just our best defender, but singlehandedly takes us from being one of the worst defensive teams in the league to being one of the better defensive teams – that’s a huge contribution. He plugs the holes, he’s the only one looking around and helping on D. His ability to stop penetration also allows us to play Chandler at SG, which gives us some much needed extra size in our lineup.

  • Dave the Rave

    Lopez is a good center at best with limited shooting ability. Duncan is the greatest PF ever. No comparison. Lopez will never approach Duncan.

  • BiggieSmalls

    in the land of the blind the one eyed is king

  • joetheknick

    Last night the Nets shot 60% and every crazy bounce off the rim went to a Net. Last nights win does not make the Nets a good team. Things just went their way. Jeffires was missed last night because he has become a trusted member of his unit. When he was out of the lineup, because of fouls, he was sorely missed. He still needs to be traded to increase the cap for next year. We need to sign Lee and not worry about losing JJ. D’Antoni wants to win. He will have to work his magic and do it without JJ in my opinion. Hoping Nate gets a chance to work his way back into the rotation. I still think he has the ability to be real good. Happy New Year.

  • x-man

    I had to wait until this morning to allow the doctors to get back the results to confirm that posters like “Mucha” and others have been dianosed as having a concussion! It’s known as the “Charlie Brown effect”!

    When are some of ya going to learn that D’Antoni is more like Isiah each and every day!

    As a Offense Guru, our knicks still have very little b-ball IQ! Each game this team forgets or fail to know who are the shooters or who is the players shooting the ball well that night. Gallo shoot poorly in the 1st half but when he hit a few 3s in the 2nd half, others decided to shoot the ball more!

    You would think our great coach would call a time out to instrct his team about this! But NOOOOOO, he’s too busy making sure N8, Hill, Curry and etc are not coming off that bench.

    As I stated before, Jefferies is an active defensive body and his effectivenss is more pronouced based on how others on this team plays poor defense. But any coach should instruct the players especially Jefferies that he should NOT shoot the ball unless he has an uncontested layup or dunk or in dire situations where there is no other choice.

    Soon, many who still chooose to close their eyes, will see this coach for what he really is – Don Nelson Lite with less feelings and the taste isn’t so great either!

  • traps9

    Hey, if that one eye takes almost $7M off our hands, I’m not complainin ;)

  • traps9

    Where will JJ take his contract? Boston? San Antonio? Washington? Saunders has been complaining about D lately…

  • steiker9

    Jeffries is not a game changer, yes he is one of our better defenders but on the knicks that doesn’t say much. People are so quick to forget how terrible Jeffries has been the last four years. Too me whatever he is doing now will never make up for all those knick games I watched in which Jeffries embarrassed us game after game. All the people praising him now forget all those missed lay ups and dunks, game after game. I don’t care that you can guard point guards if you can’t make lay ups and air ball half your 3′s. Let’s get rid off this loser as quick as possible. If he’s playing so well then why hasn’t Donnie Walsh found a taker yet? Maybe because every GM knows Jeffries is an overpaid scrub.

  • HaS

    “But we need him on the defense because simply put, if Lee doesn’t concentrate on rebounding nobody else does.”

    He definitely doesn’t concentrate on anything else. That’s what makes him the greatest undersized Center to ever play the game of basketball. He is a fearless rebounder and tireless worker. I enjoy watching Lee play like he has blinders on focusing on rebounds. It’s amazing. If he doesn’t make the All-Star team the NBA is a joke.

    All we need is the other players to have that same determined concentration on the other facets of the game. A player to focus on jump-shooting, another to focus on just passing, another on just dribbling, a player off the bench to just concentrate on steals and nothing else, we would have a team full of All-Stars!

    LeBron is a joke, any player can be good at everything it takes a great player like Lee to be great at one thing with laser-like precision and focus on one element of the game.

    Let’s make sure Lee gets to Dallas for the All-Star game and petition the NBA for a “Rebounding Skills Contest” for All-Star Weekend!

  • Assistant DA

    the one eyed MAN is King. It’s always good when the blind man can admit he can’t see, Mr. smalls.

  • Big Daddy

    Please do not take my comments out of context. I really hate that kind of nonsense just so You can make some point.

    I have been saying the same thing consistently if you care to follow my posts which you obviously did not. You just took something I said and used it out of context. Actually I am flattered by that, usually people miss quoted are done so because they are correct.

  • Mal

    My BIGGEST problem with Jared is his contract, (2) then how he stinks offensively, he is just too weak and cant finish in the paint with all that height. Jared was a big part of the Wizards team defense the year Arenas, Hughes and he were causing team problems. So when Zeke brought him in I envisioned a good defender, then this guy got injured every year missing early season games always on the mend. I can appreciate what he is doing for recently but that contract must go so he must go. Who is out there that we can get and use the exact same way but also be able to score?

    I watched a play last night I think it was give and go to Chandler who then hit a cutting Jeffries who did some dipsy-do underneath crap and missed the layup. I pictured Amare on that same play bringing the rim down and exciting the crowd no matter what house it was in.

    Jeffires coming off the bench at a lesser price wouldnt be bad

  • Big Daddy

    How do you know he will never approach Duncan…..you have a crystal ball? I bet if someone said DLee would be scoring over 20 points a game, over 10 rebounds and close to what, 5 assists you would have called them insane.

    Most players in the NBA have the ability to be much better than they are. If they spent the time working at their craft they would be all stars. Very few have the brains and dedication one needs to accomplish what the greats have.

    Nobody knew Jordan would be Jordan. He had the talent but that man worked harder than anybody at his skills, just like Kobe and a few others who have achieved what they have.

    Who’s to say what Lopez can achieve, he has the size and the natural ability. If he works at it like the great ones do then who knows how good he will be. Let’s talk 10 years from now. But what I do see is the determination, hard work and competitiveness you need to be great. He has all that……..so it’s possible barring injury.

  • Big Daddy

    You are just being sarcastic to cover up your lack of BBall understanding.

    Like I have said, he scores, rebounds, help defends , passes for assists, hits open jumpers, plays against true centers. What more can ask of this guy? And he gets no help, most of the other Knicks are lost out there the majority of time. Take DLee off this team and they probably would not have won a game and been worse than the Nets who by the way kicked their butt because you can’t teach someone to be 7 feet.

    Your response is asinine.

    I guess people are frustrated, don’t shoot the messenger, morons.

  • HaS

    Ahhh, and the insults start. Moron, asinine, care to add another?

    “BBall understanding”?

    HA! Yeah true any “BBall” genius knows defense is overrated.

    They would also know you need to be 7 feet to be able to take a charge, unless you’re 7 feet you can’t challenge 6′ to 6’6″ players driving the lane or give a hard foul once in a while.

    I’m obviously a moron. Thank you oh great BBall understanding one.

  • Dave the Rave

    I agree he is improving and is intelligent and should have a great future. But yes, I do have a crystal ball, and like my 99¢ opinions it’s always right on. Brook won’t be a top 15 or even top 50 all-time player like Duncan.

    The Voice of Dave the Gawd of Knowledge

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    lmao

  • Aussie Gary

    Big Daddy
    Just noticed your reply. If you’re not happy with the statements that you make, then don’t make them. This is what you wrote: “I do not enjoy watching the Knicks, it’s not because they suck, it’s because of the dysfunction of their team and coach. I will never take anything away from a coach like D’Antoni, he knows basketball, he lives it, eats it, sleeps it.” In the first sentence you say that the coach is dysfunctional and then you immediately follow that up with you’ll never take anything away from a coach like D’Antoni, he knows basketball. Well you just did take something away from him because those two sentences contradict one another and if it’snot what you want to say then don’t write it.

    On another note, Lopez is ranked 34th in the league in rebounds per 48 minutes at 12.8 a game. Now I haven’t seen Lopez play, as the Nets haven’t been televised over here in Australia. But I have seen Gallinari play when he played in Europe and he has a huge upside. Last year was a virtual write off for the guy. From what I have seen of him in Europe, he will be a guy who will take over games in the 4th quarter. As he continues to develop physically, he will block more shots and increase his rebounds. He already has excellent shooting fundamentals, irrespective of his size (6’11″).

    Calling other bloggers morons because they disagree with your point of view just shows a lack of maturity on your part. What’s your background? Have you ever coached a team?