Is there a future here for Pek

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I think Pek is important to keep this year. We have plenty of defense, but not a lot of offense. He and Martin need to score close to 20 a game just to keep us marginally competitive. There are plenty of bigs in this draft so we'll see who's available at our pick and go from there. Pek's value is only going to go up as the years go on because they take away 1 less year on his deal for an 18/9 starting caliber center.

[Lipoli390]

I think Pek is important to keep this year. We have plenty of defense, but not a lot of offense. He and Martin need to score close to 20 a game just to keep us marginally competitive. There are plenty of bigs in this draft so we'll see who's available at our pick and go from there. Pek's value is only going to go up as the years go on because they take away 1 less year on his deal for an 18/9 starting caliber center.

Kahns -- Great point about Pek's trade value going up (assuming his ankles don't get worse). After this season, Pek will have 3 years left on his deal at age 29. His salary stays flat for two years, then actually goes down in his last season. In the meantime, by the last 2 years of Pek's deal, the NBA salary cap will have likely gone up from its current $63 million to well over $70 million (many predict around $80 million). That will make the last two years of Pek's contract a relative bargain. And by that time we should have a good sense of what we have in Wiggins, LaVine, Dieng, Shabazz and Bennett. Flip may find that keeping Pek makes the most sense two years down the road given the development of these younger players by that time.

Bottom line is that I don't think we should be in a hurry to deal Pek or make any other major moves. Assuming the Wiggins deal happens as expected, we will have our young core to build around. We'll need to see how they develop before making any major roster moves. The next focus will have to be on Ricky and whether his contract should be extended. If he isn't extended by October of this year, then I see him being either extended or traded next summer, depending on how much he improves and how well he fits with our younger guys.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Let's trade a top-seven center in the league for nothing. That would make sense. (so much sarcasm here)

At times, I really don't understand the thinking behind some of these posts. Rebuilding or not, why trade a valuable piece for cap space? Or for a SG when we already have Martin and LaVine. Or a SF when we have Wiggins along with plenty of backups.

Also, Dieng hasn't proven that he can be a rotation player for a FULL year let alone a starting center. I'm a believer in him, but why make moves in a rush? There's no reason to.

Keep in mind that keeping Pekovic and Martin (and Young) will help Rubio take his game to the next level, or at least prevent him from regressing. What good does Rubio get from playing with a bunch of unknowns? Young players tend to develop better when there's productive veterans around them, in my opinion, and we have plenty of prospects already.

[Porckchop]

Again I dont share the same opinion of Pek as u guys do. You guys are hoping that this huge man that is a year older will all of a sudden have ankles that hold up to the 82 game grind. I see that as unlikely. He doesnt block shots and I find his game to be a bit to soft for a guy that ls about to be expected to take on more of a scoring role. Without the benefit of a cleaner paint with Love gone.
If he misses significant time and struggles to be a lead dog. Where does his value lie next year?

[Monster]

Again I dont share the same opinion of Pek as u guys do. You guys are hoping that this huge man that is a year older will all of a sudden have ankles that hold up to the 82 game grind. I see that as unlikely. He doesnt block shots and I find his game to be a bit to soft for a guy that ls about to be expected to take on more of a scoring role. Without the benefit of a cleaner paint with Love gone.
If he misses significant time and struggles to be a lead dog. Where does his value lie next year?

If you are really looking at Peks value make a list of current legit starting centers over the age of 27 that don't miss 15+ games. You will find youself with a very short list. Centers over the age of about 25 in this league tend to miss games. Pek is no exception and yeah he missed a few more than some guys but its not like you get in their prime centers that play 80 games its actually a rarity.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Before trading Pek, just take a second to compare him to the other centers in Twolves history. If you still want to trade him, you don't know your history.

Guys like Pek are very rare and valuable. Yes we will trade Love for Wiggins. But that doesn't mean we should gut the roster for cap space. For what, exactly? If teams like the Rockets and Lakers can't really get anything for their cap space, how can we realistically be able to do better with ours?

I'm not picking on you here pork chop, but it seems like there's a tendency to really overvalue cap space and going all in for the total rebuild in general. But what's the point of that cap space? So you could maybe one day sign a good player? Guess what. Pek is a good player. Or maybe you want to use it to absorb somebody else's contract and pick up a draft pick so that one day you might draft a good player? Guess what? Draft picks are hit or miss proposition, and again, Pek's already a good player.

There are fables to invoke here, about not giving away something valuable in the false hope of something more valuable and then ending up with nothing.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Again I dont share the same opinion of Pek as u guys do. You guys are hoping that this huge man that is a year older will all of a sudden have ankles that hold up to the 82 game grind. I see that as unlikely. He doesnt block shots and I find his game to be a bit to soft for a guy that ls about to be expected to take on more of a scoring role. Without the benefit of a cleaner paint with Love gone.
If he misses significant time and struggles to be a lead dog. Where does his value lie next year?[/quote]


We're gonna be bad with him or without him. I'd rather not go for the record for the worst team in the NBA when it does nothing to guarantee the top pick. Pek is a solid vet who can give us 60+ games to keep us from being a laughing stock. The worst thing that could happen to our rookies is relying on them and ending up one of if not the worst team in the league. That is a confidence killer. We need to have a team that can win 30+ games so complete failure doesn't rub off on these young guys. If we end up with a starting lineup of Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/Bennett/Dieng, that team wins maybe 15 games next year and destroys their confidence. Pek is one of the farthest things from soft. Opposing centers hate playing him because he just bullies them in the paint. He struggles against length, but don't mistake that for being soft. He can't block shots, but his one on one defense is still very good because guys just can't move him. The time to trade him was when Love was on the roster and could carry any offensive deficiencies guys like Dieng or Ronny have. With Love gone, Pek can help fill part of the huge offensive void. I think it's a perfect situation where Dieng can get around 20 starts while Pek is out with injuries because it is another step for Dieng to take towards becoming a starting caliber player without needing him to start every night and be good for us to have a chance to win. Bigs typically take longer to develop so another year where he gets consistent playing time, but not more than 25-30 MPG's is another good step for Dieng to take.

[Porckchop]

Before trading Pek, just take a second to compare him to the other centers in Twolves history. If you still want to trade him, you don't know your history.

Guys like Pek are very rare and valuable. Yes we will trade Love for Wiggins. But that doesn't mean we should gut the roster for cap space. For what, exactly? If teams like the Rockets and Lakers can't really get anything for their cap space, how can we realistically be able to do better with ours?

I'm not picking on you here pork chop, but it seems like there's a tendency to really overvalue cap space and going all in for the total rebuild in general. But what's the point of that cap space? So you could maybe one day sign a good player? Guess what. Pek is a good player. Or maybe you want to use it to absorb somebody else's contract and pick up a draft pick so that one day you might draft a good player? Guess what? Draft picks are hit or miss proposition, and again, Pek's already a good player.

There are fables to invoke here, about not giving away something valuable in the false hope of something more valuable and then ending up with nothing.

I appreciate what u guys are saying here, Im just hesistant about his value going forward. The dynamics of this team have changed. Im just not sold that hes the same player without Love that he is with him. And if we find out hes not at years end , then we're not gonna be able to unload him on anyone. I truely hope Im wrong cuz yes Im aware of the history or lack thereof when it comes to Twolves centers. Im also aware of the Wolves history of Sgs and Sfs.:)

[bleedspeed]

Pork, Check out his 2013-14 stats when Love was out.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3453/nikola-pekovic

Love didn't help his game much if any.

[zigzag22 [enjin:6591633]]

With Love gone, our new face of the franchise (for the near future) is Ricky Rubio, a pass first, pass second, and maybe even pass third playmaking PG. If you completely burn this thing down to the ground (again) by moving Martin and Pek, you essentially create another Kevin Love situation where you deplete the team of talent and hope to "cash in" on future picks and cap space. Please no.