Wolves and Pek Reach Agreement

[Monster]

If you look at the market I don't see how you can't say that 12 million a year for Pek isn't a fair deal. the 5th year meh lets be honest few Centers are a lock to play every game after a certain age so if you are going to bet Pek is healthy for 4 years why not bet on the 5th year? Sure Pek is more of an injury risk than some Centers, but all those guys are a risk to a certain extent. He is a good player at a position thats been VERY difficult to fill for many teams and for the Wolves in particular. I am happy the deal got done and its honestly about what I thought Pek was going to get a few months ago. Is he overpaid? Yeah but so are alot fo centers. deal with it thats the way it goes.

Thsi crap about Love and him not getting that 5th year seems kinda stupid now. Flip is the new guy in charge and he didn't have Love sign that deal and so I don't see why Love would be upset Pek got 5 years and he didn't. Heck Love might end up getting more money with the deal he signed than if he got the 5 years. I am tired of this being brought up. If Love is annoyed with anyone he is annoyed with Kahn and he doesn't work for the team anymore. If this team plays well Love will sign here. If aren't good he won't stick around. Its basically that simple.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Pek at $12M per is fair based on contracts around the league. Hell, DeAndre Jordan makes $11 per I believe and Splitter just signed for $9M. I don't know about you, but to me Pek is worth $3M more a year than Splitter.

I think we all were hoping for a deal based off $10M, but based off contracts already around the league, $12 was the fair number and both parties knew this. I'm just happy it got done and now these guys can start gelling together. I really think we have a SQUAD. Go Flip, Go Wolves

[Lipoli390]

I'm generally ok with the deal now that I've learned we can still offer 5 year deals to Ricky and Love. My one reservation is that the additional $8 million in incentives means the deal is actually $68 million for cap and luxury tax purposes, making it a bit harder to acquire and keep the talent we need and still stay out of the unacceptably punitive luxury tax zone. But $12.2 million per year is around the market rate for a top tier center - e.g., D'Andre Jordan, Al Horford, Noah, Aldridge, Roy Hibbert, Ibaka. All these guys have annual salaries in the $11 - $14 million range.

I think Flip did a decent job with this. I'll feel much better if we learn that Flip front-loaded the deal, which would really help our luxury tax situation in a couple years when we need the help.

[Eitan]

I`m happy with 5 years 60$ for Pek (even with the additionals) - we`ve got our center for years (and one that want to stay in Minnesota).

I think we had a great offseason this year and I realy like our roster.

Go Wolves!!!

[SameOldNudityDrew]

For cap purposes, obviously it would be great it Pek decided he did not care about material wealth and would play for rent money, but 12 million per year sounds basically like what we thought it was going to be for awhile.

I'm just happy it didn't get up to 14 or 15 like people were saying. For 12 million per, I'd rather have Noah for his defense, but we DO need offense, and he is a big body down low even if he doesn't really block shots.

He's certainly the 2nd or 3rd best player we've got so we needed him back if we want to become relevant. To me, it's as simple as that.

And I actually like that they put incentives in the deal. I've been saying for years that I'd love to see NBA contracts encourage more accountability. Ideally, that contract could also go down $8 million if Pek has serious injury problems or starts to suck, but if he earns that extra 8 million, it'll be because he's playing well (probably, I don't know the terms of the deal). And that little extra motivation is a good thing in my book.

I'm happy. Sure took awhile, but I'm happy.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

When I first heard 12 million per year thrown around, I was shocked, until I heard DeAndre Jordan makes 11. So that's the going rate for a serviceable center, and Pek is a step above that. I give Flip credit here for taking a gamble and trying to establish a core group to move forward with. It is fun watching opposing centers/forwards try to get around him and small guards bounce right off him on a high pick.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Lipoli, I hear what you're saying about the extra $8 million in incentives hamstringing the Wolves a little more in future moves, but I side with Drew on using incentives. I don't think we know what the incentives are based on (somebody correct me if I'm wrong), but I suspect that they are based on games played since this has been an issue for Pek. I don't have any inside information about this, but it often seemed to me that Pek missed games last year with relatively minor problems...you know, the kind of injury that many players would play through. Pek's availability last year may have been a joint decision between him and the team, because the Wolves weren't going anywhere. Perhaps if they had been fighting for a playoff spot, or even in the playoffs, Pek would have played through some of those seemingly minor injuries. Anyway, if he has a certain game threshold to reach to earn the extra dough, it's likely that we will be seeing the big guy on the court a lot more in the future. And that's a good thing.

[Coolbreeze44]

After all the past discussion about Love not getting the 5th year when he signed his deal, wouldn't you agree that Kahn looks much smarter at this point for not offering the 5th year? We really don't know if Love can stay in the lineup at this point. Another injury riddled season and we will be celebrating that he didn't get a 5th year at max money. Kahn looks to have been right on this one - it was too early in the new CBA to fire that bullet, especially with Ricky on board.

[petecorcoran [enjin:6658618]]

I laugh a little when I hear that we had no competition for Pek, with the comments like "Flip was in the driver's seat and let Pek and Schartz win the day." So, let's suppose for argument's sake that Flip instead said "10 mil, 4 years, take it or leave it."

First, if I'm Schartz, I never forget it. Second, who's to say someone doesn't top the lower number, even if they have a pretty good center, just forcing us to this level. And third, Schartz and Pek can threaten to take the qualifier and walk away scot free in a year... and then would we be screaming.

So, maybe we offered a tad more than he'd have signed for... and an extra year when we might or might not still have Love... but let's be realistic... we finally have a quality team in a small market without going into lux tax territory. And when Love has to decide on his option, he's going to see a lot of roster stability with no expiring contracts (okay, Barea), hopefully after some playoff experience.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

After all the past discussion about Love not getting the 5th year when he signed his deal, wouldn't you agree that Kahn looks much smarter at this point for not offering the 5th year? We really don't know if Love can stay in the lineup at this point. Another injury riddled season and we will be celebrating that he didn't get a 5th year at max money. Kahn looks to have been right on this one - it was too early in the new CBA to fire that bullet, especially with Ricky on board.

Considering Love is our best player and he'll be labeled a superstar once we make the playoffs, Kahn not giving him that 5th year at the max is still stupid to me. It might work out alright in the end, but he pissed Love and his agent off and started the nationally known thought that Kevin wants out of Minnesota, which isn't really the case.

All those trade rumor articles we've seen about Kevin Love... Yep, that's because of Kahn. All the "Love to LA" talks are because of Kahn. If Kahn was still here, I'd feel less confident that Love would re-sign here.