Al Jefferson aiming to improve as he commences on the crucial final year with Utah Jazz – NBA News
Al Jefferson will start his third season with the Utah Jazz in a few weeks time, and is preparing to enter the team’s training camp on Tuesday. However, Jefferson’s future with the franchise is in uncertainty, not because he has
not been able to perform or deliver for the Jazz, but because he is in the final year of his contract, and up for an extension.
Jefferson joined the Jazz before the start of the 2010-2011 NBA season, having played the three seasons before that with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Averaging 19.2 points and 9.6 rebounds for Utah this past season, Jefferson is
one of the reasons why the Jazz were able to clinch the 8th and final seed in the Western Conference this past season.
With Jefferson having played 8 seasons in the NBA already, and not even 28, he has a long career ahead of him, and the question the Jazz are facing at the moment is whether that career is with them or some other team.
“I haven’t even thought about all that. My main goal is just improve on last year. It’s not something I need to worry about. The only thing I’m worried about is helping this team make the playoffs,” said Jefferson.
The Utah Jazz can either offer him an extension and make him a crucial part of their long term plans, or they can trade him to pick some interesting picks or players in return. The option of letting him play through the season
and walking away as an unrestricted free agent is also there, although it is highly unlikely that the Jazz will do that.
Jefferson is expected to earn $15 million this upcoming season as salary. He was effective for Utah throughout the season, but met his match in the first round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. He shot 41.5 percent
from the field and was only able to land four free throws in four games, as the Jazz were dominated by the Spurs.
“It was most definitely a wake-up call. At first, everybody was excited just to make the playoffs. But once we got there we played the best team in the West, in my opinion. And it was a definite wake-up call that we had a long
ways to go,” said Jefferson.
With his future uncertain, Jefferson knows that he needs to make this season count, and was hard at work all summer to improve different aspects of his game. How much of an improvement has he made from last season, only time will
tell.
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