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Jeffries Again
It seems that the Wizards are inclined to match New York's offer for Jared Jeffries, but that J.J. wants to go to New York. That seems odd. Sometimes guys want to leave a better team to go to a worse one in order to get promoted to starter, but Jeffries is already starting for the Wizards. Nor is Jeffries from New York or the sort of guy who stands to reap tons of endorsement money from moving to the Big Apple or something. According to his agent, "Jared wants to play for Isiah" which seems like a joke, but is apparently how he feels.
Could it be that Isiah Thomas has promised to give Jeffries a bigger role in the offense?
August 1, 2006 | Permalink
Comments
"Could it be that Isiah Thomas has promised to give Jeffries a bigger role in the offense?"
There was a story out today that the JJ signing was just shadow play.
The storyline is as follows:
Grunfeld indicated he'd match a mid-level offer, no one stepped up to make the mid-level offer, and so Zeke made the offer - not to actually acquire JJ, but instead to do a favor for JJ's agent, who also represents KG.
So the 'zards keep JJ, and Zeke gains the gratitude of an agent.
Shadow play is always more interesting than non-shadow play.
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"According to his agent, "Jared wants to play for Isiah" which seems like a joke, but is apparently how he feels."
I'm not sure why you think that seems like a joke. Zeke's main asset as a coach has always been the allegiance of players. Jermaine O'Neal re-signed with the Pacers because he'd been assured Zeke would continue coaching there. (Of course, Larry Bird was lying to J.O., and fired Zeke a week after J.O. signed.) When Ron Artest demanded a trade from the Pacers, he indicated he wanted to be re-united with his old coach in New York.
Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2006 5:47:38 PM
He did go to IU and is from Indiana (Bloomington I thought) after all, so maybe he does want to play for Zeke. But I think your take is more likely. Hard to go from the guy who took a team to the final game of NCAAs to the guy who has to watch three or four chuckers do their chucking before you even smell the ball.
Posted by: keatssycamore | Aug 1, 2006 5:48:14 PM
Naaah. JJ just had his feelings hurt when the Wiz did offer him the money he wanted. So now he's pouting.
Posted by: Al | Aug 1, 2006 6:18:00 PM
So the 'zards keep JJ, and Zeke gains the gratitude of an agent.
But doesn't this only make sense up to the point when JJ starts agitating to go to the Knicks?
Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Aug 1, 2006 8:26:13 PM
"But doesn't this only make sense up to the point when JJ starts agitating to go to the Knicks?"
I think that if he had his druthers, JJ would indeed prefer to play for the Knicks. Zeke has a pull on players, and Grunfeld pissed him off by not offering up the mid-level unprompted.
But the shadow play explanation makes the most sense to me to explain what's going on.
Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2006 9:00:08 PM
Petey's Elements of Style for the NBA:
Jared Jeffries should be written "JJ". But Jermaine O'Neal should be written "J.O."
The reasons for this are unclear, even to Petey.
Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2006 9:02:43 PM
And while we're not on the topic, why does the OS X spellchecker not realize "druthers" is a word?
Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2006 9:03:56 PM
Ah, but Petey, the NY Daily News says that the offer sheet is structured so that the Wizards will find it difficult to match. That's one hell of a shadow play.
Posted by: next big thing | Aug 1, 2006 9:51:53 PM
"Ah, but Petey, the NY Daily News says that the offer sheet is structured so that the Wizards will find it difficult to match. That's one hell of a shadow play."
I think that if Zeke had his druthers, Grunfeld wouldn't match.
Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2006 10:15:19 PM
The much more interesting NBA shadow play of late was the Hornets' decision to trade for Peja, rather than just signing him outright.
The Hornets' decision gained them nothing, but gained the Pacers a big trade exemption that they're trying to use to sign Al Harrington.
And the Pacers' owner sits on the NBA subcommittee that governs franchise movement. So if the Hornets want to move out of New Orleans at some point in the future, they'll have a friend in high places.
Where's NBAMuckraker when you need them?
Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2006 10:19:36 PM
According to his agent, "Jared wants to play for Isiah" which seems like a joke, but is apparently how he feels.
Could it be that Isiah Thomas has promised to give Jeffries a bigger role in the offense?
Jared wants to go to NY for one reason: endorsement money. NY is a big market, where a baller can make tons of money on the side. The agent wants him to want to play for Isiah, as the agent will get 10% of whatever endorsements he gets in NY.
Posted by: cedichou | Aug 2, 2006 1:18:00 AM
Thank you, Knicks. Jefferies is one of the most expendable pieces of the Wiz puzzle and the team will be better without him. He has no offensive game, is a bad rebounder, they play him in the backcourt to get him out of the way, and has some of the worse hands I have ever seen in a NBA player. What exactly does he add to the team?
I can hear it already. But, but he is their best defender. Yes, like I am the best hedge trimmer in my family. So what. He is a good defender only against mediocre players. I have never seen him shut down a really good NBA player and I attend about 20 Wiz games a year and watch most others on TV. I wish I had a dollar every time Garnett or Duncan or McGrady used him like they own him. The Wiz should save the money, invest it in someone else, and be glad the Knicks took him off his hands.
Oh, by the way, endorsements? A less charismatic person you will never find. Maybe he can endorse Ambien.
Posted by: dmh | Aug 2, 2006 6:44:34 AM
The weird thing is they have to pay the luxury tax for JJ, so it's really going to be about $10 million a year for the Knicks at a dollar for dollar match over the cap. They desperately want JJ. Grunfeld should just say fine and watch the knicks piss away $60/million on JJ, or about $40,000 per basket. I'm not making that up.
Posted by: anskul | Aug 2, 2006 12:02:52 PM
Maybe JJ thinks Isiah can get him dates.
Posted by: CJColucci | Aug 2, 2006 12:39:00 PM
Endorsement dollars? Offense? Two posts on Matthew's Blog? You must have Jared Jeffries confused with someone who matters, like Luke Walton or Darius Songaila.
Posted by: greg | Aug 2, 2006 1:26:37 PM
Could it be that Isiah Thomas has promised to give Jeffries a bigger role in the offense?
That's some funny.
Posted by: Antid Oto | Aug 2, 2006 3:06:41 PM
Is it possible that Isiah is trying to make the Knicks so bad that the federal government will be forced to step in? Recall that the full effects of his reign will be first apparent only in the spring of '07, when a certain powerful NY senator may be campaigning for higher office....
Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Aug 2, 2006 3:17:49 PM
Why would the federal government want to help a team from such a blue state? Florida, yes. Texas, yes. But New York? Please.
Posted by: Al | Aug 2, 2006 4:15:04 PM
So how does JJ fit in with Petey's Unifying Theory of Isiah? Do you get bonus cap space for unloading stiffs with the intials "JJ" in the last years of their overpriced contracts?
Posted by: Pooh | Aug 2, 2006 8:41:12 PM
Petey's theory is that Isiah wants to trade for KG. Right? But given that the Wolves just signed Mike James and drafted Randy Foye (and they also have Hudson and Jaric), they don't need any of NYK's "star" guards. Isiah's only interesting assets in that negotiation are Curry and Frye. If you were McHale, would you rather have KG or Curry & Frye? That's what I thought.
Now Petey's going to give me some complicated explanation about cap space.
Posted by: next big thing | Aug 3, 2006 3:50:39 AM
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