Our first Pek update

[bleedspeed]

Playoffs? Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe if we were in the East.

If were in the east I would be saying save him for the conference finals.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I guess as a long-time Wolves fan, I should understand the pessimism on the board about Pek's prospects...we/re conditioned to expect the worst. But here's how I see it.

1) Prior to last year when Pek only played 31 games because his foot pain became too unbearable, he had averaged 57 games a year, and averaged about 17 and 9 while shooting about 54% from the floor in over 30 minutes a game in the two previous seasons.

2) About three months ago, Pek had surgery on his foot to determine the nature of and try to fix his chronic pain. There were concerns pre-surgery that the Achilles tendon was so damaged that they would have to replace it a la Tommy John surgery on the elbow. This would have put Pek on the shelf for at least 9-12 months and possibly ended his career. But when the surgeon got in there, he determined that the tendon did not have to be replaced, and instead just cleaned out the affected area. But more positively, he noted a bone spur that was rubbing against the tendon causing Pek terrible pain, and he was able to shave it down so it was no longer in contact with the tendon. Pek's recovery time was reset to approximately 6 months.

3) We are now halfway through his recovery period and he is walking without crutches but in a boot, and says that he feels "great". If the 6-month recovery estimate was accurate, he should be ready to go about the first week of the season. He won't be in game shape, but at least there's some reason to believe his foot issues will be behind him.

4) Pek's shooting percentage last year of 42% was 10 percentage points lower than his career average. Many of us noted what Alex pointed out...that Pek wasn't getting the ball in a place where he normally scored at an efficient rate. I attribute this to two factors: Rubio's absence for most of the season, and Pek's inability to establish his usual strong position because of his Achilles issue.

5) Pek is a 300 pound man, so I don't expect him to be injury free...he's always going to have nagging injuries that put him on the bench 1/4 of the season. But if Rubio is healthy and Pek's foot surgery was as successful as indicated, why would we expect his 2015-6 stats to be much different than he put up the two previous seasons? I like the fact that we have Dieng and KAT able to play the 5 also, but I'm still counting on Pek to play 55-60 games, 20-25 minutes a night, and average something like 14 and 7 on 54% shooting (the lower numbers reflecting his reduced minutes).

Come on...who's with me on this? Ignore that Timberwolves-induced black cloud over your heads and look at the facts!

[bleedspeed]

LST - Why do you always have to write better posts then me?

[Monster]

I guess as a long-time Wolves fan, I should understand the pessimism on the board about Pek's prospects...we/re conditioned to expect the worst. But here's how I see it.

1) Prior to last year when Pek only played 31 games because his foot pain became too unbearable, he had averaged 57 games a year, and averaged about 17 and 9 while shooting about 54% from the floor in over 30 minutes a game in the two previous seasons.

2) About three months ago, Pek had surgery on his foot to determine the nature of and try to fix his chronic pain. There were concerns pre-surgery that the Achilles tendon was so damaged that they would have to replace it a la Tommy John surgery on the elbow. This would have put Pek on the shelf for at least 9-12 months and possibly ended his career. But when the surgeon got in there, he determined that the tendon did not have to be replaced, and instead just cleaned out the affected area. But more positively, he noted a bone spur that was rubbing against the tendon causing Pek terrible pain, and he was able to shave it down so it was no longer in contact with the tendon. Pek's recovery time was reset to approximately 6 months.

3) We are now halfway through his recovery period and he is walking without crutches but in a boot, and says that he feels "great". If the 6-month recovery estimate was accurate, he should be ready to go about the first week of the season. He won't be in game shape, but at least there's some reason to believe his foot issues will be behind him.

4) Pek's shooting percentage last year of 42% was 10 percentage points lower than his career average. Many of us noted what Alex pointed out...that Pek wasn't getting the ball in a place where he normally scored at an efficient rate. I attribute this to two factors: Rubio's absence for most of the season, and Pek's inability to establish his usual strong position because of his Achilles issue.

5) Pek is a 300 pound man, so I don't expect him to be injury free...he's always going to have nagging injuries that put him on the bench 1/4 of the season. But if Rubio is healthy and Pek's foot surgery was as successful as indicated, why would we expect his 2015-6 stats to be much different than he put up the two previous seasons? I like the fact that we have Dieng and KAT able to play the 5 also, but I'm still counting on Pek to play 55-60 games, 20-25 minutes a night, and average something like 14 and 7 on 54% shooting (the lower numbers reflecting his reduced minutes).

Come on...who's with me on this? Ignore that Timberwolves-induced black cloud over your heads and look at the facts!

That's perfectly reasonable optimism and I can get on board with that. Like I've said before Pek is my guy so I'm guarding myself from disappointment.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

I like Pek and I remain optimistic that this surgery will help but I have my doubts. 300 pounds just seems like so much weight to carry around. Hopefully Flip limits his playing time, now that we have Towns I don't see any need to play Pek extended minutes every game.

[Coolbreeze44]

We're paying him $12 large for the season. When the doctors say he's ready, he's ready.

And that's worked so well in the past Cool? Plus his contract doesn't look that bad after this free agency lol.

I just don't see any reason to save him for anything. If the doctors clear him too early, that's on them. We need to get some return out of this investment. I don't think we have anything to lose at this point.

[60WinTim]

And we did get the #1 pick, so maybe our "luck" has turned the corner! OptDougistic!

[Monster]

Darren Wolfson ?@DWolfsonKSTP 24m24 minutes ago
Word continues to be good on Pek. Completely out of the boot. Telling people he feels great. Back to hoops activities in September. #twolves

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Darren Wolfson ?@DWolfsonKSTP 24m24 minutes ago
Word continues to be good on Pek. Completely out of the boot. Telling people he feels great. Back to hoops activities in September. #twolves

Encouraging news, but until the guy shows that he can stay on the court, I'll be pretty skeptical about his chances of coming back as a consistent contributor to the rotation.

[Monster]

Darren Wolfson ?@DWolfsonKSTP 24m24 minutes ago
Word continues to be good on Pek. Completely out of the boot. Telling people he feels great. Back to hoops activities in September. #twolves

Encouraging news, but until the guy shows that he can stay on the court, I'll be pretty skeptical about his chances of coming back as a consistent contributor to the rotation.

Q I am skeptical also but I do think there is some hope for optimism because Pek himself in one case has seemed more optimistic. I remember one tweet Jerry asked Pek how he was doing and Pek said great. Jerry said usually Pek says "solid" I never got the feeling last offseason Pek was really feeling good it was more fine or whatever. Maybe he always had some pain.