July 13th, 2010 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Al Jefferson can now say good bye from one cold-weather locale to another one as the Associated Press reports that the Minnesota Timberwolves have dealt Jefferson and two future first-round draft picks along with Kosta Koufos to the Utah Jazz Tuesday.
The move was necessitated due to Utah dealing Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver to the Chicago Bulls; they got $14 million in in value in the trde exception, making it possible for the Jazz to obtain Jefferson.
Interestingly enough, Jefferson’s contract is three years at $14 million annually, so the numbers matched up quite nicely. tere will be some growing pains initially for Jazz point guard Deron Williams as he will have to get used to a brand new power forward; however, with the skill-set that Jefferson has, he seems tailor-made for the slow-it-down offense that Jazz coach Jerry Sloan favors.
The Jazz get a bonus here because Jefferson is only 25 years old and has time to get even better, which he should be able to do in Utah. The deal aside, the Timberwolves, with their many trades and logjam at forward, wouldn’t be able to give Jefferson the playing time he would normally get. Also factor in that Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis plans to speed their game up a bit.
Right now, I am not in a position to say who got the better end of the deal here; however, the first month of the season should give the Jazz an indication of what Jefferson is all about. And as much as I hate to say this, Minnesota will be a better team without Jefferson at the 4.
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