"There are those who say Spurs forward Richard Jefferson has not been playing up to the potential that made him one of the NBA's most hyped acquisitions of the offseason.

Among those who agree with this line of thinking - Richard Jefferson.

"I particularly haven't been playing as well as I would like," Jefferson said. "Everyone kind of has to look in the mirror and try to step it up."

Jefferson is averaging 12.8 points per game, tied with Manu Ginobili for third on the team, but isn't producing the bang for the 14.2 million bucks the Spurs are paying him this season.

In June, the Spurs traded for Jefferson, a career 17.7 points-per-game scorer, in hopes that he would help them avoid the scoring lulls that had wracked them in recent seasons. In 41 games this season, Jefferson has hit or surpassed 17 points 11 times, but only once since the start of January.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says he doesn't waste time evaluating whether the team is getting its money's worth from Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, another under-performing addition.

"Those kind of opinions are for you all (in the media) to form," Popovich said. "We just go to work every day and try to be the best team we can be. You can assess it any way you want.""