Pekovic -- Not The Problem

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Remember at the beginning of the year when more than a handful of you were worried about Pekovic? Some of you were unhappy he got the $12M per year contract. Bashing him after the first five or so games even though he was still producing, just not Pek-like numbers.

Pekovic is on an absolute tear right now and might honestly be the most consistent offensive producer we have. Every game we go into I feel relatively certain that Pek will win his position matchup. Also, his man-to-man defense is above average in this league. That's stated as an opinion, but I'd be surprised if there weren't numbers to back me up.

To this point, Pek's averaging 15.5 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1 APG, 1.6 TOPG, .529 FG% and .722 FT%

Last three games he's been great. 21/10, 21/9, 22/10. Not sure if he'll hit that 20/10 mark against the Spurs, though he definitely could, but I'd be surprised if he didn't put on a low post show against the small-ball Heat.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Great point Cam. Pek has rounded into form after a very shaky start. It was obviously an overall conditioning/timing issue. He's also very good at making the correct pass out of double teams.

As I mentioned in the other thread on Rubio, the biggest issue we have isn't with Pekovic as an individual player, but more on how he and Love have identical weaknesses defensively. Neither have the length or quick hops to deter shots at the rim. I also think this affects their ability to close out on shooters in the pick and pop game.

That being said, I can't think of a single reasonable trade involving Pekovic that would yield us a rim protector without compromising us in a big way offensively. Our offense would simply implode, with Love and Martin being really the only two guys other teams would have to game plan around.

That's why I think Dieng eventually could be a key player for us, with Turiaf (once healthy) as the bridge. Dieng is the perfect compliment to Pekovic in almost every way. I think we just need to be patient with his development.

[60WinTim]

I was the biggest anti-Pek guy. It was more than 5 games where we weren't getting our 12 mil worth...

But Pek has been playing much more Pek-like lately. It sucks we have to wait 15 games for it. It was like that last season, too. I sure hope we don't have to suffer through that every season!

#1 problem right now is the bench. As Q pointed out, Dieng's development will help, as will the return of Bud and Turiaf. It also doesn't help that Barea has been more sucky than solid. :(

[AbeVigodaLive]

Pekovic is healthy.

He has produced (when close to completely healthy) pretty consistently for 2+ seasons now.

[bleedspeed]

Turiaf and Dieng are perfect backups to Pekovic next to Love.

Cunningham is not the a good backup to Love. We could have used a long athletic PF backing him up. I always thought Jarvis Varnado would be a good role player on this team.

[thedoper]

Turiaf and Dieng are perfect backups to Pekovic next to Love.

Cunningham is not the a good backup to Love. We could have used a long athletic PF backing him up. I always thought Jarvis Varnado would be a good role player on this team.

I loved Varnado in college, but is he much different skillset wise then Dieng?

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Pek has played very well as of late. If he keeps playing the way that he has over the past 4 games or so, the $12 million price tag will look like a great deal.

I agree with Bleed and Q about Dieng. He is a very good compliment for Pek (and Love also). From a longer perspective, I can he him being a good backup for the 4 and 5 spot. That may end up being a very good 3 man rotation for the 4 and 5 spot.

[TAFKASP]

Pek has played very well as of late. If he keeps playing the way that he has over the past 4 games or so, the $12 million price tag will look like a great deal.

No player earns his salary in each of the 82 games each season, they all have bad games or bad stretches. No player outside of maybe a handful in NBA history doesn't have shortcomings in their game. It was ridiculous that people were proclaiming Pek's contract as overpaid less than ten games into the season.

[mjs34]

Pek is one of our biggest problems even with his recent offensive surge. Let's first keep in mind that Pek is spoon fed points down low and has no other dimension to his game. He is an average man on man defender, but fails miserably when it comes to help defense, particularly in the PnR, but also doesn't contest shots. Some posters have wondered why the opposing PG has been torching the wolves as of late if Ricky is supposed to be a good defender. The answer is that Pek just isn't quick enough to hold up his end.

Some of this has to go on Adelman because he needs to understand Pek's limitations and account for that somehow. The most likely idea is to bring weakside help.

Either way, I think 12 mil/yr was too much. Pek doesn't create his own offense other than on offensive rebs, but I would guess that a third of those opportunities were due to his own missed bunnies.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

SJM, Pekovic is a problem only in the context of him playing next to Love, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because every team has to game plan for these two guys. They are a nightmare pairing on offense and on the boards. It's a curse because defensively, neither can protect the rim or provide great weak side help.

I personally don't know what to do about it other than what Flip has already done, which is to go get two shotblockers in the offseason - Turiaf and Dieng - so that at least Pek's backups can help us in this area. One guy has been hurt and the other is a rookie.

Considering what other starting Centers are making, $12M seems like a very fair deal. And the good news is that his salary stays the same or declines over the life of the contract.