Al Jefferson Fools the Officials

Basketball players talk a lot about having their own individual style. It's their signature, their voice, and a large part of what gives them confidence in their roles. But rarely does a guy have a game so unique that it confuses the powers that be.

This past weekend, we found out that the league had apologized to Billy King for bogus ref-work. Now, the Boston Herald is reporting that young stud Al Jefferson was too advanced for the refs. So much so that they had the team had to break down for them just what Jefferson was going in the post:

"It's no accident that Al Jefferson [stats] has been getting called for traveling less often. The Celtics shipped video to the league to point out that some of his moves aren't illegal.

"He has an unorthodox post game, and some of the travels they were calling were (expletive)," Rivers said before Jefferson's nine-point, 10-rebound evening against the Hornets. "They weren't travels. They just hadn't seen that, and we sent enough in to prove that's not a travel. It's just unorthodox. They (the officials) really have improved on that."

I'm sorry, but that is completely awesome. Usually we think of quick, explosive guards changing the sport's vocabulary, or do-everything freaks like Pippen or Odom. But when a dude whose main virtues are big and tall can cause this kind of controversy, that makes you think the pro game is anything but played out.

If you're interested in seeing the man in action, here's a quality mix.