Hollinger

In his recent NBA chat John Hollinger perpetuated the belief that Al Jefferson FINALLY decided to live up to his potential.

"Brian(boston): John, You must have a lot of people eating crow these days after Al Jefferson's recent play. Is he a future allstar ?

John Hollinger: I'd say Jefferson goes under the tree-in-the-forest category at this point -- people stopped paying attention to Boston a long time ago. But yes, he looks like he's finally interested in living up to his All-Star potential. Incidentally, got some emails asking why I didn't put him in the list of the 10 centers who might one day make the All-timers list -- I was down to Aldridge and Jefferson at No. 10 and went with Aldridge. It was a close call and, in retrospect, I'm not sure I chose correctly."

Is it easy for big men to jump from high school to the pros? In addition to adjusting to the physical play guys have to learn how to lift, work out, eat, and play in an 82 game season. It's not as if Jefferson is 28 and finally putting it all together.