Al Jefferson calls his decision to sign with the Bobcats a “no-brainer,” but he also tells HoopsWorld’s Bill Ingram that he thinks the Jazz will benefit from letting go of him and Hawks signee Paul Millsap.
“Most definitely, I think Derrick Favors and Enes (Kanter) are going to be big time big men in this league,” Jefferson said. “I kind of had a feeling that it really just wouldn’t make any sense basketball wise to sign back me or Paul Millsap back when you have them two young guys coming up. It was still tough to leave them. I felt like they were my little brothers, but it’s part of the business and it was the best decision for everybody.”
Jefferson had long been a fan of Kemba Walker, and says to Ingram that the former Connecticut guard was one of the Bobcats who recruited him to Charlotte. The ‘Cats are off to a 9-11 start, better than in years past, but they’re only in fourth place in the Southeast, the most competitive division in the Eastern Conference. Here’s more from those teams:
- Chris Andersen is 35, but he tells Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick that he intends to play another three or four years (Twitter link). The Heat reserve thinks the two-year drug suspension that kept him away from the nightly NBA grind kept his body relatively spry.
- Trade candidate Jameer Nelson has been frustrated with playing off the ball as the Magic try rookie Victor Oladipo at point guard, but he insists that he remains no less dedicated to the only NBA team he’s ever played for, observes John Denton of Magic.com.
- The Dwight Howard trade gave Magic cornerstones Arron Afflalo, Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless chances to play the sort of key roles they most likely wouldn’t have been in with their old teams, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel examines.