When the season began for the Indiana Pacers, Al Jefferson looked washed up.
Jefferson only averaged 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds a game in the first 16 games. Not bad, but as one of your more expensive offseason acquisitions that isn’t a strong return on investment. More troubling than the raw numbers was the fact Indiana was simply better with him off the floor, and by a large margin.
But recently, Jefferson began to find his old form.
No longer is Big Al slowing down the team — well, pace-wise he still does that — but metaphorically speaking he went from dragging them down to taking over the driver’s seat.