alexftbl8181 wrote:Also ironic that people want to get rid of Pek because of injury issues and would be fine with a guy like Turiaf, whose missed more games then pek this year
I can't speak for others on this board who support pursuing deals involving Pek, Alex, but I see Turiaf as a backup center, not a starter. Having said that, the nature of Turiaf's injuries is vastly different than Pek's, Turiaf's injuries are situational, like his broken arm resulting from a bad fall. Pek's injuries are structural...ankle problems, calf problems, etc...that are more likely to recur.
What we have learned this year is, despite the rawness of our backup centers, the Wolves' record is virtually the same whether Pek is playing or out injured...actually a little better when he is out. That tells me that the improvement in defense with our backups is at least equal to the offensive dropoff. Your point is valid that Pek uses his size and strength to establish position that allows him to get easy buckets. But sjm's point, that Ricky is able to spoon feed easy buckets to any center willing to move to the basket, is also valid. If evidence shows we are almost the same team with Pek or without, doesn't it make sense to see is we can use his $12 million per year to upgrade some of the real problems this team has? I'm not on board with the Deng discussion, because I think our focus needs to be on upgrading our starting SG first, which would immediately improve our bench by adding Kevin Martin's instant offense to it.
I'm eager to see how Dieng holds up in his BTBs against Dallas and Houston. They will be tough tests for him, because Dalembert and Howard will both have a significant size advantage over him. If Ronny were healthy, I would expect he would get significant minutes in these matchups, but unfortunately Gorgui is our only option at center. Baptism by fire the next two nights.
