Forgotten Man: 3 more Questions Jared Jefferies

This time last year we appeared to have added one of the final peices of the puzzle. We had Eddy and Frye deemed the future of the franchise, we had a coach who felt he could make the Marbury and Francis tandem work, and we had just acquired the "Glue" to our team, a player who would bring intagiables on the court, and would "Balance the Plain Ride" off the court. That player ofcourse was Jared Jefferies, and now has seemed to not even come up in most of our roster ideas and ideals (unless in a trade), and worstly did not get his named mentioned by any of his teamates or coaches during any off season interview this summer.

Question 1: Are we not giving JJ 20 a fair shot?

Question 2: What is his role if he does stay

Question 3: Does he have any trade value if we do decide to ship him to another team?

1: I know it is frustrating to see how much Isiah talked this player up during the previous off season, only to have him perform the way he did last year, but I think we owe him atleast this season to prove himself, I even gave Jerome James this same benifit of the doubt at the start of last season. I'm from the Washington area and I know how high the Wiz players regarded him, I mean when the Knicks sighned him Gilbert was on the radio expressing his discontent for not resighning him. Not to make excuses for him, but he got hurt early, had the suspension and just never really got into any type of groove all season, but he did have some good games for us here and there, unlike Jerome James who I can only think of maybe two productive games he's had in the two years he's been a Knick.

2: This is hard because of his lack of offense prevents him from being a bonafied starter, I mean if he could knock down an open J then I'd start him with Q at the 2 to help our perimeter D out. He's know as a better Zone defender than 1 on 1 and I imagine that we'll be playing Zone a lot with our weak interiot D. But he also isn't a bad 1 on 1 defender just not a lock down defender. But again his lack of Offense makes it hard to rationalize him as starter. Also with Lee and Balk getting the SF and PF mins coming off the Bench does where does that leave him? Just for purposes of having a stable rotation it almost makes the most sense to start him at the 3 with Balk backing him up, and Crawford backing up Q.

3. I think we all know the answer to this one....his trade value is none, unless we include him in a package with Balk or Lee there is no team that's touching his contract, not to mention the trade kicker that Isiah would have to sell Mr. Dolan on. We all love Lee and Balk so in turn we have to hope Jefferies isnt another Jerome James or more accurately Vin Baker, atleast Vin and Jefferies had decent games before sighning with the Knicks.

What do my fellow Knick Fanatics think?

I think the broken wrist really messed him big time. From his shooting touch, to missing all those games with the injury and then with the suspension.

The thing about his defense is that he needs to read his teammates, play with them, see what their tendencies are and then react accordingly - filling in where he is needed.

The other problem is that isiah didn't know balkman would be such a defensive menace and spark off the bench in his rookie season - which really had jefferies on a short chain.

He's a decent player, but with balkman offering a similar type player with more upside....it doesn't look too good for him here in NY.

I agree 100%. If you look at the strategy put in place you've got to respect it. 3 6'11 starters that all play multiple positions is major. Heine site is 20/20 but at the time Frye was coming off of a major season. Most posters here called him a future all-star and the next Camby. Unfortunately not all plans work out. That's not to say the plan wasn't a good plans. No one expected Frye to be a wash or Jeffries to have a hard time adjusting. And no one expected half of the starting line up to get injured. These are not excuses they are facts. Now every one wants to trade Jeffries after one failed season. I am an opportunist when it comes to the Knicks. I'd trade any one for the right player. I would trade Jeffries for Artest but out side of Ronnie I would keep Jeffries for an other year. If he could ball with the Wiz he can ball with the Knicks.

I think you make a very fair point.

Jeffries just never had a chance to develop as a Knick given the injury and suspension. But unfortunately, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. And his impression remains as a very offensively challenged player who makes Ben Wallace look like a good free throw shooter.

He had a few good games, but never displayed the energy and consistancy of Balkman.

JJ is an Indiana guy that IT loved, but I think IT suddenly loves Balkman a whole lot more.

If Artest doesn't happen, Balkman should be starting at the 3, unless JJ has a great training camp.

I think his wrist injury didn't help him first thing, then the fact of him being such a non factor on the ofencive end, then the fact balkman shows him up in every part of the game so even if we didn't give J.Jeffries a fair shot he's just a sitting duck now. Don't forget that we still have Chandler and Nichols. He has no role(easy enough) to many better players at that spot already. As far as trade value... maby a little he is still 6' 11" and can guard three positions.

i dont care what anyone says. JJ is a piece of garbage. There are a million and one players that can do what he does. (all for about 92% less money)

get em out of here. I hope we run this guy out of town this year.

I can't see anyone taking on either JJ contract till they prove they have some value on the court or unless it's bundled with Lee.

Starks said:

i dont care what anyone says. JJ is a piece of garbage. There are a million and one players that can do what he does. (all for about 92% less money)

get em out of here. I hope we run this guy out of town this year.

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amen!!!!!!

I guess I'm one of the people who sees the true value in JJ 20. I wouldn't trade him after just 1 sub par season. Obviously, he brings a lot to the table defensively. This NYK team is not that great to get rid of JJ 20 because of a slow first start.

Here's the funny part, I bet you teams like Dallas, SA, Utah and Houston would be lining up to utilize his services. Why? Because he's actually a good defender! NY has always been a win now city and we don't display patience with many players. For example, Doug Cristie was here briefly and then shipped off to LA where he began producing and eventually being a huge factor in Sacramento.

JJ 20's role should primarily be defensive specialist and board duty. This is probably the most offensively talented team I have seen in about 15 years, so his scoring is not needed. Even if IT decides to keep him oout of the rotation isn't it great to know that you have a 6'11" guy on the bench that you can call on to give you solid defense in the 4th quarter?

Right now, his trade value is pretty low only because of his contract. There are plenty of teams that would love to have him, but not for that price.

Remember, you can never have too many 6'11" players.

The most confusing thing to me about Jefferies is that he used to have an offensive game in college, he was a scoring PG in highschool, and I know that doesn't translate into anything in the League but you'd atleast expect to see sighns of that. He's also a huge liabilty on the charity stripe if Zach and Eddy are racking up the fouls like they should be then he would hurt us, so that is something he and Balk need to work on. But I pose the same question about him that I did Crawford, how much can a player with 5 plus years in the league improve?

Isiah's Advocate 33 said:

The most confusing thing to me about Jefferies is that he used to have an offensive game in college, he was a scoring PG in highschool, and I know that doesn't translate into anything in the League but you'd atleast expect to see sighns of that. He's also a huge liabilty on the charity stripe if Zach and Eddy are racking up the fouls like they should be then he would hurt us, so that is something he and Balk need to work on. But I pose the same question about him that I did Crawford, how much can a player with 5 plus years in the league improve?

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We don't need him to imrpove so much as we need him to do what he does best on a consistent basis. Guarding 3 positions.

nyk_nyk said:

We don't need him to imrpove so much as we need him to do what he does best on a consistent basis. Guarding 3 positions.

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But we need some sort of offense out of him, true he doesn't have to average double digits, but he needs to be able to give us some kind of scoring. If he is on the floor you can count on his man being the one to double down on the block, and most of the 3's in the league are very good help defenders further stressing my point on his offense. But it's not just him, it's Renaldo and even Lee that need to develope some sort of perimeter game if our offense is to work.

This is true, but jeffries had a mid range jumper until that wrist injury happened. Lee doesn't have a mid range jumper and balkman's jumper just isn't inconsistent and not fundamentally correct. If balkman and lee get that midrange jumper then i see no use of JJ...

Starks said:

i dont care what anyone says. JJ is a piece of garbage. There are a million and one players that can do what he does. (all for about 92% less money)

get em out of here. I hope we run this guy out of town this year.

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Get him the FUCK out of here. I don't care where they send him. There's always a sucker out there that will take a 6''11 ball player. Trade him to the Liberty. Just get him the FUCK out of here.

Yeah JJ is not good, he's a Bum, always been a Bum. If you not a great scorer, you do what lee, oakley, balkman, and mason does/did.

he doesn't do anything, not much hustle out of him, doesnt excite the crowd, doesn't rebound that well. he probably is one of our best defend, but still not a great defender. so what is one decent defender going to do on this team?

Nice article about Jefferies and his offseason regimen to get much better this upcoming season.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_23043.shtml

Chill out kids. Players usually have the first year jinx in NY. It doesn't help that this cat had a broken wrist and a suspension. He was out of sync. That happens (Antonio McDyess' tenure with the Knicks). Who wants to ship out a guy who makes no excuses? For what the Knicks pay him? I wouldn't move him. You can't teach height or work ethic, and Jefferies has both.

I agree with you about Jeffries but we have so much depth at the SF position that it would be smart of the knicks to try and package him in any deal.

i feel that if isiah knew balman was going to be the player that he is, he would have never signed jared jefferies.

If Jeffries or Balkman could hit an open jumper consistently we would have the SF position locked up and wouldn't need to discuss trading for players like Artest. I really think that Q. Rich would be best at playing the SG position combined with a defensive SF who can hit an open shot. I still believe in Jeffries because of his work ethic and if he has developed a reliable outside shot than he should start. With Steph at the PG, Q. at the SG and Jeffries at the SF, we would have good enough perimeter defense to make up for the lack of defense from our bigs.