OK Now what-a-we do???

[Papalrep]

It's next season, and YOU are the head coach (hope you're good). It is clear that Gorgui (Gorgiu?) should be starting and burning the most minutes at the 5. Pek makes 12 mill. Flip says forget about moving him with the contract I gave him, he's way too injury prone. So the 12 million a year guy is coming off the bench?? Really?

[Porckchop]

Does a team determine a players value only on the contract they gave him or do they take in to account how much better the team is with or without him on the court? History tells us management is slow to admit mistakes. Pek will start as long as hes making that money. Thats why he should be traded even if it isn't for equal value. A Dieng/Turiaf frontline is more formidable at this point.

[Monster]

This scenario you give me I start Pek but only play him 25 mins per game. I play Dieng nearly 30 playing him some minutes at PF.

[Porckchop]

I think Dieng is playing past expectations at the C position. Id rather pencil him in at one position and let him hone it. Why put more pressure on him then needed? Until he fills out more he'll be exerting alot of energy against other bigs. Not sure its wise to have him tire out against athletic PFs too. IMO

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Dieng seems to be most effective when he plays a lot of minutes, like last night, so I'm not comfortable limiting him to 30 minutes just so we can utilize a less effective $12 million player. And I am not confident that he can play PF. After last night I am convinced that Pek needs to be moved, even if the deal taken at face value (value of Pek vs, value of acquired player) doesn't seem to make us immediately better...because having Dieng on the court makes us immediately better just by itself.

Dieng continues to show me a feel for the game that Pek will never have. As he continues to develop, his passing and defensive skills, already good, will move toward elite status. It's fun to hear the excitement in Jim Pete's voice when he says Dieng is for real, and I am genuinely excited about his upside. He needs to start, and get significant minutes.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Dieng seems to be most effective when he plays a lot of minutes, like last night, so I'm not comfortable limiting him to 30 minutes just so we can utilize a less effective $12 million player. And I am not confident that he can play PF. After last night I am convinced that Pek needs to be moved, even if the deal taken at face value (value of Pek vs, value of acquired player) doesn't seem to make us immediately better...because having Dieng on the court makes us immediately better just by itself.

Dieng continues to show me a feel for the game that Pek will never have. As he continues to develop, his passing and defensive skills, already good, will move toward elite status. It's fun to hear the excitement in Jim Pete's voice when he says Dieng is for real, and I am genuinely excited about his upside. He needs to start, and get significant minutes.

your acting as if Pek is like a Rasho or a Bill Curley

[WildWolf2813]

I wanted Dieng and Shabazz to play more than anyone here. That said I'm not dealing Pekovic yet to make room for him unless you can guarantee that there will good backups behind Dieng.

Dieng will get PT in a 3 big rotation with Love and Pek. 2 of the three should be out there at all times. I just don't see why people wanna run Pek out of town. Pek shouldn't be considered to be moved at all until Love resigns here.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Dieng seems to be most effective when he plays a lot of minutes, like last night, so I'm not comfortable limiting him to 30 minutes just so we can utilize a less effective $12 million player. And I am not confident that he can play PF. After last night I am convinced that Pek needs to be moved, even if the deal taken at face value (value of Pek vs, value of acquired player) doesn't seem to make us immediately better...because having Dieng on the court makes us immediately better just by itself.

Dieng continues to show me a feel for the game that Pek will never have. As he continues to develop, his passing and defensive skills, already good, will move toward elite status. It's fun to hear the excitement in Jim Pete's voice when he says Dieng is for real, and I am genuinely excited about his upside. He needs to start, and get significant minutes.

your acting as if Pek is like a Rasho or a Bill Curley

Not at all...I like Pek a lot. But unfortunately his game is limited and has no more upside, and he hurts us as a team if his presence reduces Dieng's minutes in any way. When we first began the "trade Pek" conversation, you made a valid point in saying that we needed more games before we could really evaluate Dieng. Well, we have now seen him over several games, and he continues to get better. Jim Peterson said it well last night, when he said it's clear that this guy is for real. He doesn't have Pek's strength and never will, but he is already a more skilled player than Pek in many ways. Rather than being a ballstopper like Pek, he has shown an instinct for making the quick pass to the open guy rather than just looking for his shot or returning the ball to the guard that fed him. His shot blocking will continue to evolve. and it's heartening to see he has already learned how to limit his fouls and goaltending. It's also heartening that he was able to convert his first opportunity to win a game. And although we made fun of his free throwing in his first games, it seems that he is good at that too. And although we don't know about his ability to stay away from injuries, there is no evidence that he will struggle with injuries like Pek has.

Dieng has made this team watchable in the dregs of this season, and it is clear to anyone that we are a stronger team with him as the starting center. We haven't been perfect since Pek went down, but we have been better and have had very few poor games...not to mention wins over Miami and Houston (without Love and Martin), two teams that are battling hard for playoff position.

I've seen all I need to see. When Pek is healthy, he limits Deing's minutes, and we can not afford that. Pek needs to go, and hopefully brings something in return. Flip won't say this, but he's a smart enough basketball guy to know it. Now he has to get it done.

[kekgeek]

Dieng seems to be most effective when he plays a lot of minutes, like last night, so I'm not comfortable limiting him to 30 minutes just so we can utilize a less effective $12 million player. And I am not confident that he can play PF. After last night I am convinced that Pek needs to be moved, even if the deal taken at face value (value of Pek vs, value of acquired player) doesn't seem to make us immediately better...because having Dieng on the court makes us immediately better just by itself.

Dieng continues to show me a feel for the game that Pek will never have. As he continues to develop, his passing and defensive skills, already good, will move toward elite status. It's fun to hear the excitement in Jim Pete's voice when he says Dieng is for real, and I am genuinely excited about his upside. He needs to start, and get significant minutes.

your acting as if Pek is like a Rasho or a Bill Curley

+1, I mean I am not opposed to trading Pek, but stop acting like Pek is not good, I mean come on Long, Pek is still better than Dieng, but Dieng might just fit better in our system, I am starting to come to the conclusion, I would keep Pek and play him off the bench, sign Steve Blake with our MLE draft Mcdermott

PG: Rubio/Blake/Barea
SG: Kmart/Bud/Shved
SF: Brewer/LMRAM/Shabazz (how gets the minutes based on matchup)
PF: Love/Mcdermott/LMRAM
C: Dieng/Pek/Turiaf

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Dieng seems to be most effective when he plays a lot of minutes, like last night, so I'm not comfortable limiting him to 30 minutes just so we can utilize a less effective $12 million player. And I am not confident that he can play PF. After last night I am convinced that Pek needs to be moved, even if the deal taken at face value (value of Pek vs, value of acquired player) doesn't seem to make us immediately better...because having Dieng on the court makes us immediately better just by itself.

Dieng continues to show me a feel for the game that Pek will never have. As he continues to develop, his passing and defensive skills, already good, will move toward elite status. It's fun to hear the excitement in Jim Pete's voice when he says Dieng is for real, and I am genuinely excited about his upside. He needs to start, and get significant minutes.

your acting as if Pek is like a Rasho or a Bill Curley

Not at all...I like Pek a lot. But unfortunately his game is limited and has no more upside, and he hurts us as a team if his presence reduces Dieng's minutes in any way. When we first began the "trade Pek" conversation, you made a valid point in saying that we needed more games before we could really evaluate Dieng. Well, we have now seen him over several games, and he continues to get better. Jim Peterson said it well last night, when he said it's clear that this guy is for real. He doesn't have Pek's strength and never will, but he is already a more skilled player than Pek in many ways. Rather than being a ballstopper like Pek, he has shown an instinct for making the quick pass to the open guy rather than just looking for his shot or returning the ball to the guard that fed him. His shot blocking will continue to evolve. and it's heartening to see he has already learned how to limit his fouls and goaltending. It's also heartening that he was able to convert his first opportunity to win a game. And although we made fun of his free throwing in his first games, it seems that he is good at that too. And although we don't know about his ability to stay away from injuries, there is no evidence that he will struggle with injuries like Pek has.

Dieng has made this team watchable in the dregs of this season, and it is clear to anyone that we are a stronger team with him as the starting center. We haven't been perfect since Pek went down, but we have been better and have had very few poor games...not to mention wins over Miami and Houston (without Love and Martin), two teams that are battling hard for playoff position.

I've seen all I need to see. When Pek is healthy, he limits Deing's minutes, and we can not afford that. Pek needs to go, and hopefully brings something in return. Flip won't say this, but he's a smart enough basketball guy to know it. Now he has to get it done.

Yep. I was on the "no way should we trade Pek" wagon a while back, but anyone can go check and see that I said I needed to see more of Dieng. I've seen enough too. We need to get what we can for the big guy. Dieng is a more complete, two-way team player that still has room to grow, figuratively and literally. It'd be a shame if we didn't start next year with Love/Dieng in the frontcourt.

I love Pek, but I love the Wolves more. It's not hard to see that we play better ball with Dieng in the starting lineup. We really needed something like this to happen too. A rookie stepping up and grabbing a spot in the rotation AT LEAST. What Dieng really did was make Pek a trade chip at Flip's disposal. It's up to him to get the most for Pek that can help the team and get his contract off the books.