Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote:I might try to research this later, but I could have sworn the Wolves had some sort of injury protection on Pek, such as only a partial guarantee in the final year, or something like that.

The Wolves could also use the stretch provision on a buyout of his contract. Than my prophetic additions of Dunn, Noah, Dieng and Crawford can come true... :)

I'd be interested in hearing what you find out about that. I know these contracts are guaranteed, but for as little as he's played the last 2 years and probably not much more the next two, I would think the Wolves have some leverage here.

It would probably be better to use the stretch provision on Pek after next season. That way, the cap hit will be less, although with an extra year. Plus a medical retirement could possibly still come into play if he has a bad upcoming season.

The biggest issue I see, besides KG and Pek being expensive suit models, is that if Noah is a target, he has a chance to join them on the sidelines. That is a very risky proposition.

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:It would probably be better to use the stretch provision on Pek after next season. That way, the cap hit will be less, although with an extra year. Plus a medical retirement could possibly still come into play if he has a bad upcoming season.

The biggest issue I see, besides KG and Pek being expensive suit models, is that if Noah is a target, he has a chance to join them on the sidelines. That is a very risky proposition.

Hmm... Maybe they can swap body parts as needed! :)

I was wrong on the injury protection for Pek. The comment I was remembering was a 5th year was added so to justify only 12 mil per year...

If we know Pek's not going to to contribute meaningfully on the court for us, then we can pretty much ignore him when it comes to filling out our roster. Having one or two idle spots on the roster won't cause any significant problems for the Wolves. However, the Wolves could certainly benefit from having Pek's additional $12 million in cap space each of the next two seasons. We don't need it, but it could help to have it.

I'm going to dump one more time on David Kahn. Remember the amnesty provision in the current collective bargaining agreement? It allows each team to clear one contract from the cap among players on the roster at the time the CBA went into effect. Kahn used our one amnesty to clear Darko's $5 million per year contract to give the Wolves cap space Kahn needed to sign Brandon Roy and still have enough space to make that silly offer to Batum. A ridiculous waste of our one amnesty opportunity. That provision was really intended to allow teams to get out from under big contracts with players who can't play. It was meant for situations like the Wolves' situation with Pek. Oh, and we're without our 2nd round pick this summer because Kahn gave it away to get the Suns to take Wes Johnson -- another move intended to free space for Brandon Roy and the Batum offer. So the legacy of Kahn continues to haunt us.

Pek's contract is really only a burden for one more year. After that it becomes a 12 mil expiring. Then it will become and asset.

But as a player he's done.

Lip - I think the amnesty provision only applied to contracts that were in effect at the time the new CBA was negotiated. Pek's current contract was signed afterwards, so would not have qualified.

But I am all for piling on Kahn... ;-)

No matter how you slice it, we need to add another rotation-ready big man into the mix. Neither of those guys can be counted upon, even if they are on the roster come training camp. Otherwise, we're left with Towns, Dieng, and Payne. This is why guys like Horford, Milsap, Aldrich, Noel, and Favors keep coming up in trade or FA proposals.

Garnett has to come back.

More mentorship.

Q12543 wrote:No matter how you slice it, we need to add another rotation-ready big man into the mix. Neither of those guys can be counted upon, even if they are on the roster come training camp. Otherwise, we're left with Towns, Dieng, and Payne. This is why guys like Horford, Milsap, Aldrich, Noel, and Favors keep coming up in trade or FA proposals.

No love for Belly?!? I am expecting him to win a spot in the rotation!

Buy yeah, that still leaves Payne as your 4th big. Say hi to Noah!

60WinTim wrote:

Q12543 wrote:No matter how you slice it, we need to add another rotation-ready big man into the mix. Neither of those guys can be counted upon, even if they are on the roster come training camp. Otherwise, we're left with Towns, Dieng, and Payne. This is why guys like Horford, Milsap, Aldrich, Noel, and Favors keep coming up in trade or FA proposals.

No love for Belly?!? I am expecting him to win a spot in the rotation!

Buy yeah, that still leaves Payne as your 4th big. Say hi to Noah!

Yikes! I forgot about him, great point. I was a huge Bjelly fan coming into camp last season, but his season mirrored the team's as a whole - started out nicely, then went into a long and frustrating dry spell, then started playing well again near the end of the season.

He is definitely a wild card, but is strictly a PF, which limits the number of units he can play on (to some degree). I guess we'll have to see which Bjelly we get this season. If it's the one that is confidently ripping off 3's and defending without fouling, then he deserves some serious minutes.