Utah Jazz: Al Jefferson trade a done deal

SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz have their fill-in for Carlos Boozer, a prized piece that cost them two future first-round draft choices and a former first-round pick — Kosta Koufos — as part of a two-team trade made official Tuesday night.

How big man Al Jefferson — Mississippi native, former Minnesota Timberwolf and new Deron Williams beneficiary — will fit into a Utah lineup that already includes Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur is a puzzle for another day.

"With Memo, with Paul — we'll have to see where we're at," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, reluctant to envision a starting lineup for the 2010-11 NBA season, said by phone from his Illinois farm. "It's way too early to tell how we'll work him in."

For now, the Jazz coach is content reveling in the reality that Utah has a bona fide inside presence who can help Millsap pick up where two-time NBA All-Star Boozer — free-agent defector to Chicago — left off.

Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor calls the 25-year-old power forward/center "one of the better low-post players in the NBA," a 6-foot-10, 265-pound load who averaged 20.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in three seasons with Minnesota.

"After losing Boozer, I didn't know," Sloan said. "But I know Kevin worked his butt off to get a player of this caliber, and he certainly gives us a chance to compete."

Jefferson spent his first three NBA seasons with Boston, then was traded in 2007 as a centerpiece of the package that persuaded the Timberwolves to give former NBA MVP Kevin Garnet. In 2008-09 he averaged 11.0 rebounds and a career-high 23.1 points — adding his name to those of only Garnett, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Webber on the list of players who've averaged 23-plus points and more than 11 rebounds per game in a single season over the last 10 years.

"The other thing we like," O'Connor said, "is the fact that he's 25 years old ... but he's somebody that's been around."

Jefferson, though, does arrive with some blemishes.

His defense is said to be no better than that of Boozer's, whose own was oft-criticized during a six-year Utah stay.

He's still on probation following a February drunk-driving incident, something O'Connor said represented "the first time he ever really had an issue."

Perhaps most concerning: Jefferson's '08-09 season was limited to 50 games by an ACL knee tear requiring reconstructive surgery.