Othyus Jeffers

Othyus Jeffers - After an unsuccessful camp stay with the Jazz, Jeffers is back for his fifth season with the Iowa Energy, and is off to a flying start. Averaging 25.5 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals, Jeffers has been the best wing player in the D-League so far, one of the best defenders and a scrappy yet effective offensive player. He is deserving of a greater NBA opportunity than he has had to date.

Othyus Jeffers - Jeffers was waived by the Jazz in camp, and returned to the D-League. He is averaging 19.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game, improving his numbers from last year. However, his shooting percentage is down to 44% from 54% two years ago, and while he's taking more threes than before, he's hitting only 20% of them. His turnovers are also up to 3.2 per game, the side effect of increased offensive responsibility. But in spite of his subpar jumpshot, Jeffers gets to the line, defends in a slightly gambly way, rebounds very well from the wing, and has NBA size.

Evans, Jeffers and Gaines were covered in the Jazz summer league round-up from back in July. Jeffers averaged 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in the tournament, while getting to the foul line a ton; however, Gaines struggled, averaging 8.6 points on 37% shooting and turning it over 2.6 times a game compared to only 3.0apg. Evans, though, impressed in his limited minutes. Playing behind James Augustine for no real reason, Evans averaged 5.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in only 16 minutes per game, impressing the Jazz staff with his defense whilst doing enough offensively. Some more rebounds would have been nice, yet Evans won enough hearts to all but secure his place on the team, in ways not really reflected in the stat sheet. Utah's decision to pick him in the second round was highly surprisingly and easily questionable, yet now looks thoroughly validated.

Othyus Jeffers

Jeffers too is already signed through 2010-11, although his deal has absolutely no guarantee dates. He has enjoyed quite the crescendo over the last two seasons, going from being a star in the NAIA at Robert Morris Chicago (not to be confused with Robert Morris University in the Northeast Conference) to becoming a star role player in the D-League (ranking fourth in PER at 21.4). He started last year with Cantu in Italy's Serie A, averaging 9.3ppg, 5.8rpg and 2.7spg in 9 games, before returning to the D-League with the Iowa Energy. He averaged 15/7 for the extremely deep Energy roster, and the Jazz called him up from there. Jeffers can't shoot three pointers, which is less than ideal at 6'4, but he can do pretty much everything else. Maybe he'll work out better than Kirk Snyder did.

Othyus Jeffers fact - Othyus Jeffers was once shot in the leg protecting his sister from an abusive boyfriend. Noble.