Top 50: Al Jefferson, no. 23

by Brett Ballantini In one of my first plays defending Shaq he dunked over me. But he didn’t just dunk over me, he took me with him. I wrapped my arms around him to stop his shot. Shaq just lifted off the ground, me clinging to him like a leaf, and completed the slam, anyway. Like I wasn’t even there. Welcome to the NBA, kid. –Al Jefferson (2009) Kevin who? OK, so the blockbuster deal that sent Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Bassy Telfair, and two 2009 first-rounders (who became Johnny Flynn and Wayne Ellington) to the Timberwolves for Scowlin’ Kevin Garnett hasn’t been that pronounced a victory for Minnesota—at least not yet. Nobody can ever take away the ring KG cruised the Celtics to in 2008, so in truth, the trade’s a win for Boston until Al Jeff has two fingers weighed down. But there’s an awful lot of evidence that Jefferson is already a better player than Garnett. Offensively, Big Al has the edge, with a touch more polished than KG’s, m...