When the Spurs received Richard Jefferson from the Milwaukee Bucks for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas, the trade was billed as one of the more lopsided of the post Gasol-to-the-Lakers era. Spurs fans rejoiced and fans of other teams cursed their front offices for not pulling off similar trades.

Needless to say, the trade was not the resounding success we thought it was going to be. The Jefferson the Spurs got the first year was nowhere near the offensive force most expected; he struggled with his shot and seemed passive and lost, while Pop couldn't really find a way to integrate him into the flow of the team.

After that disastrous first season, he opted out and was resigned for less money and more years in a move to avoid the luxury tax. While he seemed much more comfortable his second year wearing the Silver and Black (which prompted the coining of a new nickname RJ2.0) he still hadn't turned the Big 3 into the "Big 4" like the more optimistic of us were hoping for. Instead, he was just a role player. A good role player to be sure, but not the kind of high usage offensive weapon he had been in his first 8 years in the league. After a good regular season where he rebounded well and shot the ball at a career-high level from 3-point land, the postseason arrived and he, along with the rest of the team, struggled to make an impact in the playoffs. Which brings us to this season and to the point of this article:

Richard Jefferson is getting a lot of flack for his play this season and I'm here to tell you that he doesn't deserve it.

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I don't do this often, but there were a few things that I wanted to add to Edg5's excellent recap (that he did on extremely short notice, I must point out) on this game. First, even if you watched the entire contest, you owe it to yourself to watch these highlights. Deserving special recognition are:

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Yesterday was the deadline for picking up team options on players on their rookie contract and it appears that the Spurs have decided not to secure the option for second year swingman James Anderson. This might not seem strange considering Anderson's inability to crack the rotation even with Manu Ginobili sidelined, but it is, in fact, very rare for teams to decline their options on first round draft picks.

Most teams keep those young players, even if their production doesn't match their potential, because their contracts are cheap and they might still develop over time. Even the biggest busts seem to get that extra year to prove that they belong on the league. And then there's the Spurs.

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Welcome to the first installment of what I've promised will be a semi-regular piece with analysis, predictions, and the occasional ratred and hage filled rant.

For this first installment, I'm going to talk about what I saw that went wrong in Miami.

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