"Al Jefferson is not perfect on the basketball court.

The Jazz center acknowledges it. Western Conference scouts, who alternately praised and picked apart his game, pointed it out. And Utah's players and coaches openly discussed the offensive and defensive holes that are apparent in Jefferson's work-in-progress attack.

But with the Jazz's major offseason acquisition more than halfway through his first season in Salt Lake City, Utah general manager Kevin O'Connor responded with a simple, straightforward reply when asked about his take on Big Al.

O'Connor said that he could easily dissect the seventh-year player's contributions and shortcomings this season, as the 26-year-old Jefferson has gradually carved out a comfort zone on a Jazz team that initially exceeded expectations but has recently been yanked back down to earth courtesy of a six-game losing streak.

But O'Connor believes that pinpoint analysis about the 6-foot-10, 280-pound Jefferson ultimately misses the point. To Utah's GM, his overall impact comes down to a single, unavoidable fact.

"Where would we be without him?" O'Connor said. "Maybe that answers it all."

The Jazz (28-19) are just one win off their 2009-10 pace and entered Saturday's NBA schedule in seventh place in the top-heavy Western Conference, despite losing key players Carlos Boozer, Wesley Matthews and Kyle Korver to free agency last summer.

Jefferson has not fully replaced Boozer's production, and some of Jefferson's key offensive assets do not immediately mesh with an intricate Utah system that emphasizes split-second execution, hard screens and slippery pick-and-rolls above one-on-one play that sees the ball stop as the game clock dwindles down."