observerII wrote:Come on, Lip, would you give him $12M or $12.5? I mean, in the NBA, who gives a rip about a mere half-million dollars? :p Don't most folks make $500,000 yearly?
Lol. Enjoyed your post. I'll add that I don't know how anyone can feed their family on less than $12 million a year.
papalrep wrote:KFAn has a guest called "AP Sports Guy" - sorry don't know his name. He opined yesterday that PEK"S camp will wait another couple weeks to see if some desperate team makes a last second offer at 14 or 15 million a year. Don't know how credible this guy is.
So much for Pek really liking it here and wanting to return. If this report is true, it would seem he's prepared to go to the highest bidder. This is what I expected. I was told that Pek was considered a low lottery talent in the 2008 draft but his agent put the word out that he wouldn't sign with any team that drafted him in the first round and would stay in Europe because he didn't want to be limited to the NBA rookie salary scale. His agent got what he wanted. Pek ended up the first player taken in the 2nd round and eventually signed for significantly more than he wold have gotten as a low lottery pick.
Bottom line is that Pekovic and is agent are all about the money. Budinger gave the Wolves a home town discount. We shouldn't expect the same from Pekovic. However, Pek's agent may be over-valuing his injury-prone, below-the-rim client. We'll see what happens. Losing Pek wold hurt the team, but i wouldn't pay him $13 or $14 million per year for 4 years.
observerII wrote:Come on, Lip, would you give him $12M or $12.5? I mean, in the NBA, who gives a rip about a mere half-million dollars? :p Don't most folks make $500,000 yearly?
Lol. Enjoyed your post. I'll add that I don't know how anyone can feed their family on less than $12 million a year.
Yah, Pek should be like, "Taylor better cough up the money, 'cause I've got a family to feed.
Lip, who is the team that made Bud a higher offer. I know Bud stated that someone did, but I haven't read anything about it before.
I can understand Pek holding out for more money when they thought he was going late first round and be stuck with a mil a year deal. He was already making substantially more over seas.
I still think Flip needs to put a timeline in place, or pull the offer. Why bid against ourselves. I would be happy to get Pek at the 6 mil QO. That would seem like smart business if Pek is still trolling for a max deal. We could always sign him next season to that deal.
SJM -- I'm taking Budinger get at his word. Don't think he'd make it up. I was told by someone who knows that Pek was considered a late lottery, not late first round pick. I was also told that his agent sent a note to every NBA team telling them that Pek would stay in Europe the rest of his career if any team drafted him in the first round. It's a historical reference that should remind us that Pek's agent is a hard ass and that Pek will probably make his decision based solely on the money. If Flip holds the line at $12 million as I think he should, we shouldn't be shocked if Pek ends up elsewhere. However, so far there don't seem to be any teams with cap space knocking down Pek's door to offer him more than the Wolves have purportedly offered.
I wouldn't withdraw the offer. Once we do that we would embolden any teams that have simply shied away from making an offer to Pek out of concern that the Wolves might match. I'd just leave our current offer on the table until Pek either accepts it or Flip verifies that there's another team prepared to offer more at which poi t I'd pursue a sign-and trade deal that gets us a cheaper center and another valuable asset or two.
I have this disorder where I convince myself that the players that I like love the franchises I like as much as I do. So when a guy like Kent Hrbek accepts a home team discount, I think "Well, of course...why wouldn't he?". And then I'm surprised when a guy like Pek goes about his business in a rational way. Pek is smart to take his time to see what's out there. I still don't think there is a better deal out there for him, but perhaps that is wishful thinking. I thought AK was coming back also, so my opinion should automatically be discarded when it comes to predicting what our players will do.
Impossible for any of us to predict, Longstrange. I'm not quite as objective as you on Pek. I'd like to see Pek show at least a fraction of loyalty we saw from both Hrbek and Puckett. It's not just him wanting more money than the very lucrative offer the Wolves purportedly made. It's also Pek's delay tactic, which also hurts us as potential alternatives sign elsewhere.
I'm at a point where I hope Flip is exploring possible sign-and-trades involving Pek or other deals to land someone like Varejao or Gortat.
well i think that Bud and PEK are in different situation, Bud will have one more big contract in 3 years so he want to play in system which is favorable for him with coach he likes who will give him major minutes so discounting some .5 or .75 per year is not that much of a big deal, however PEK is now negotiating about his only big money contract of his career so i understand that it takes some time to get it done
I'm a simple guy. I say I like Minnesota, coach Adelman and my teammates -- all things Pek has said. I know the Wolves are up and coming and expected to make the playoffs if healthy. The Wolves then offer me $12 million per year over 4 years -- $48 million guaranteed. I know that even if I spend a million per year over the next 4 years that I'll have over $25 million invested at the end of that four year period. In other words, the minute I sign the $48 million deal, i'm set for life with an extremely comfortable, worry-free lifestyle.
If I hold out for and actually get $14 million per year I'll net about an additional $5 million over the course of the 4-year deal. The incremental impact on my lifestyle and long term security? Zero. If you are totally neutral or indifferent as to what team you want to play for, then I can see where you might just hold out for the extra net $5 million. But if Pek is true to his word, he's not neutral and would prefer to stay. In that case, the holdout makes no sense and it bugs me.
Hopefully Flip is making it crystal clear that the Wolves are not going above $12 million. I also hope Flip isn't insisting on performance incentives because tying pay to performance thresholds does not provide any cap/luxury tax relief. In other words, if the contract is for $12 million, but the final $2 million is conditioned on playing a certain number of games or getting a certain number of rebounds, the full $12 million still counts in the salary calculation for cap/luxury tax purposes. It would be really silly to alienate Pek or drive his demand salary even higher by tying 1 million or 2 million to incentives. On Taylor's books, that additional amount wold be a rounding error. The name of the game is winning within the cap/luxury tax framework. Any deviation from that focus is poor management.
Lip, while I don't think it would be wise to aliente Pek, I don't think this offer of supposedly 12 million should be open-ended. 9-10 million seems more appropriate but I know the going rate for average/slightly above average centers is 11-12 million. I think Flip should toughen up here and make his case for why 11-12 is the deal and a deadline should be given soon. Let him walk. This is getting pretty ridiculous.
