Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm glad you're making the point, here Pork Chop, because I'm glad people have different opinions on the board and are willing to talk about them.

I think without Love, Pek's our best player, Rubio included. And I think that's not just on the offensive end. Pek isn't a shot blocker, but he does do a great job keeping guys out of post position, which is definitely important. Plus, beyond Martin (assuming we don't trade him too), he is really the only guy we can count on for consistent scoring, and he's efficient at doing so. In my opinion, he's definitely worth the cap space he takes up, even on a team losing its best player.

With Love gone, I am a big fan of keeping Pek. I never liked the two of them together because they do not compliment each other very well. I did not like that we depended on such a high percentage of scoring from our PF and C. I want to see more of our scoring come elsewhere. Our new PF will take some of Love's scoring, but now our PG and wings will be required to step up and score more points. And I see that as a good thing.

PorkChop wrote:

SameOldDrew wrote:Before trading Pek, just take a second to compare him to the other centers in Twolves history. If you still want to trade him, you don't know your history.

Guys like Pek are very rare and valuable. Yes we will trade Love for Wiggins. But that doesn't mean we should gut the roster for cap space. For what, exactly? If teams like the Rockets and Lakers can't really get anything for their cap space, how can we realistically be able to do better with ours?

I'm not picking on you here pork chop, but it seems like there's a tendency to really overvalue cap space and going all in for the total rebuild in general. But what's the point of that cap space? So you could maybe one day sign a good player? Guess what. Pek is a good player. Or maybe you want to use it to absorb somebody else's contract and pick up a draft pick so that one day you might draft a good player? Guess what? Draft picks are hit or miss proposition, and again, Pek's already a good player.

There are fables to invoke here, about not giving away something valuable in the false hope of something more valuable and then ending up with nothing.

I appreciate what u guys are saying here, Im just hesistant about his value going forward. The dynamics of this team have changed. Im just not sold that hes the same player without Love that he is with him. And if we find out hes not at years end , then we're not gonna be able to unload him on anyone. I truely hope Im wrong cuz yes Im aware of the history or lack thereof when it comes to Twolves centers. Im also aware of the Wolves history of Sgs and Sfs.:)

Um if you are worried about how Pek will do without Love just look at the 2012-2013 season where Love played 18 games and was almost a non-factor. That's the season Pek put up basically 16-9 to get his current contract. Yeah that 52% FG is the lowest (sure losing Love will hurt him some) but I think I'd take that. Pek didn't have a Kevin Martin type shooter to help him that season. Pek's game is very basic and very effective. He isn't going to forget how to dive off pick and rolls or those high level touch shots (he has to have that in his game cause he can't leap over guys) etc etc. He isn't going to forget how to crash the offensive glass. Pek's only real significant problem is injuries his strengths are so good you can live with him not being a rim protector. As long as Pek can play 55+ games he is gonna have a lot of value to the Wolves or enough other teams to find someone to take him off our hands if that need arises.

Pek is a very nice player to play with young guys because he plays a smart consistant style of basketball. He plays within himself and is a team guy. He is very low maintience player and like someone else said he is the Wolves best player right now. When I first heard we may end up trading Love I thought we may as well trade Pek and Martin too but that was partly me being so depressed about Love leaving I wanted to blow things up. I didn't know if we would get a legit return for Love but now we have Wiggins who should be a good player fairly quickly and LaVine I think will have an impact for sure by year 2 maybe year 1. Having those guys play with some legit vets is great and Rubio needs someone to pass to. Pek is a very good player to pass to I would be more concerned if Rubio was leaving for Pek's offense than Love.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:I'm glad you're making the point, here Pork Chop, because I'm glad people have different opinions on the board and are willing to talk about them.

I think without Love, Pek's our best player, Rubio included. And I think that's not just on the offensive end. Pek isn't a shot blocker, but he does do a great job keeping guys out of post position, which is definitely important. Plus, beyond Martin (assuming we don't trade him too), he is really the only guy we can count on for consistent scoring, and he's efficient at doing so. In my opinion, he's definitely worth the cap space he takes up, even on a team losing its best player.

And as Lip mentioned, the relative amount of cap space he takes up decreases over time due to how his contract was structured. He's actually an asset whose value may increase over time instead of decrease.

Folks also hopefully remember the roll he got on in January. He suddenly started hitting elbow jumpers and even the occasional turnaround fadeaway. He's kind of like a power back you hand the ball to a bunch of times and hopefully wear down the defense. Yeah, he's going to miss some games, but that's where having Dieng and Turiaf around help. You can almost never have enough quality bigs due to the injury issues these guys all experience.

All valid points guys, my pessimism
gets the best of me when it comes to our beloved Wolves. I hope Pek proves me wrong. I also hope hes getting in the best shape of his life to run with Rubio, Lavine and Wiggins. :)

Pork - As we all know, Pek won't be on the receiving end of Ricky's alley-pops. :). But Pek is actually surprisingly fast up and down the court. And unlike Love, Pek always runs the court. So I don't think he'll slow the team down or fail to fit well with the faster, more athletic team Flip is putting together. I'm excited about what Pek can contribute to this team next season.

Good points all around! I think we have three positions covered right now if not 4.

Rubio. Mo,
Martin, Lavine, GR3
Wiggins, Brewer, Shabazz
????, Bennett,
Pek, Dieng, Turiaf

My question is how can we move Barea, Shved, Budinger etc etc to make this roster filled out? Who are we going to have to sacrifice and...can we keep guys like Pek, Martin, Brewer to do so? Because IMO, Williams, Martin, Brewer, Pek and Turiaf are all very important assets and very important at there contract levels.

With Love gone, I can't see Pek being moved this year. Flip seems to have a chip on his shoulder and has made it clear he wants to win. A good to great low post scorer like Pek is a nice option for any team good or bad to have. If we don't end up with Thad, he'll (Pek) be asked to carry a lot of the load on offense and could easily have an all-star type season. If we do get Thad, he'll be the same Pek as always. Still pretty good. Also, I think his low post scoring, just in general will keep things calm when he's on the court. Always having the option to dump it in to him in the post, that is a good thing to have for young players.


However after this season, what about this scenario coming up: OKC fails to make the finals again. After rumblings last year of this potential trade, the pressure to keep KD happy has them finally willing to offer Westbrook for Pek and Rubio. Should we make that trade? Westbrook, Lavine, Wiggins, and whoever at the 4 & 5. I'd probably watch that.

Pianoman wrote:With Love gone, I can't see Pek being moved this year. Flip seems to have a chip on his shoulder and has made it clear he wants to win. A good to great low post scorer like Pek is a nice option for any team good or bad to have. If we don't end up with Thad, he'll (Pek) be asked to carry a lot of the load on offense and could easily have an all-star type season. If we do get Thad, he'll be the same Pek as always. Still pretty good. Also, I think his low post scoring, just in general will keep things calm when he's on the court. Always having the option to dump it in to him in the post, that is a good thing to have for young players.


However after this season, what about this scenario coming up: OKC fails to make the finals again. After rumblings last year of this potential trade, the pressure to keep KD happy has them finally willing to offer Westbrook for Pek and Rubio. Should we make that trade? Westbrook, Lavine, Wiggins, and whoever at the 4 & 5. I'd probably watch that.

That'd be stupid (in a good way). Westbrook, LaVine and Wiggins would be insane.

Pek becomes our go to scorer with Love gone, followed by Martin. Without those two we are screwed offensively.

Suggesting we trade them for the sake of cap relief is insane. That would leave us with no one capable of scoring 15ppg let alone 20.