How we keep Love: Start Dieng, Pek off the bench

[bleedspeed]

I think Deng is to old and overrated. Bulls don't even miss him. I would like to find someone 28 or younger.

Deng is perfect then since he is 28. Pek is also 28 so trading for Deng wouldn't make us an older team if you're worried about that.

I thought he was older. I still woudn't give him anywhere close to 12M a year. He is a 8M a year player. Can we do a S&T for Deng and Waiters for Pek?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I think Deng is to old and overrated. Bulls don't even miss him. I would like to find someone 28 or younger.

Deng is perfect then since he is 28. Pek is also 28 so trading for Deng wouldn't make us an older team if you're worried about that.

I thought he was older. I still woudn't give him anywhere close to 12M a year. He is a 8M a year player. Can we do a S&T for Deng and Waiters for Pek?

Drastically underrating Deng. That's a shame.

[Coolbreeze44]

Dieng and Deng? What a terrible situation for the team's radio announcer.

[KiwiMatt]

I think Deng is to old and overrated. Bulls don't even miss him. I would like to find someone 28 or younger.

Bleed I am 28. Does that mean I'm too old? My dream of playing in the NBA is over. NOOOO!

:thumb:

Anyways in terms of Pek coming off the bench, it would be fine if the guy wasn't being paid 12 mil a season for that role.

I think Pek should still start. There's no reason why he should be drop, as we are the best 1st quarter team in the league. Dieng is your 6th or 7th man, first big off the bench coming in for Pek between the 6 and 4 min mark. There's no reason why Dieng can't play minutes with Pek as well. Think of the Ibaka/Perkins combo in OKC, that works fine and Dieng is showing similarities to Ibaka. Sure it would match up based but Dieng could be more effective playing at the 4 and looking for weak side blocks.

I do agree we need a 6th man scoring option though. Hopefully Bazz will adopt this role. Alternatively if we find another starting wing KMart can be our scoring punch.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I think our big men rotation would be similar to Chicago's with their Gibson being our Dieng. Sixth man quality.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

I think Deng is to old and overrated. Bulls don't even miss him. I would like to find someone 28 or younger.

Deng is perfect then since he is 28. Pek is also 28 so trading for Deng wouldn't make us an older team if you're worried about that.

I thought he was older. I still woudn't give him anywhere close to 12M a year. He is a 8M a year player. Can we do a S&T for Deng and Waiters for Pek?

Not sure what he'd end up getting, I'd think it would be north of 8 though. The good news is the Cavs probably won't make the playoffs so Deng won't be able to raise his value if he happened to play Lebron tough in the first round. Even if it took 12 I think the team is better off with that money going towards Deng than Pek. Deng would be the best SF we've had in a while.

[horatio81 [enjin:7751176]]

See, I'm not sure some of you read the original post.

Of course you don't want to spend $12 million a year on your second unit center. Of course you want to trade him for a quality piece that shores up other weaknesses while slotting Gi next to Love. But what we want and what is possible are rarely the same thing.

I'm not convinced there is any market for Pek whatsoever. We let his agent dictate the price when we resigned him; no other team hinted as to his true value across the league. He's a known commodity at this point, an efficient black-hole on offense who doesn't provide the basic defensive presence that is virtually a prerequisite of the position. This, while making 80% of the max and playing 75% of the games, at best.

So my entire point was that the guy probably isn't trade-able. At least not for remotely decent value. Chances are good you'd get unfavorable contracts and/or extremely marginal players in exchange, and at that point you truly are better off paying Pek to come off the bench - a role for which I still think he is ideally suited given his offensive focus and lingering health issues.

In other words: we shouldn't let salaries dictate who plays when/where, especially when there probably isn't a whole lot we can do to balance or fix the situation. Pek is probably here to stay. He's also a terrible fit next to Love in the starting lineup (assuming you want to contend). Gi might be a better fit in that position, and we should roll the dice on it. If it works, great. If not, Love probably leaves. But he's going to leave if we continue starting a non-defender at center anyways. We at least give it the outside chance of working out when we swap Gi and Pek on the depth chart. Plus we bolster the horrific bench. Or we could play Pek at center in the starting unit "because he makes $12 million"... and book Kevin Love a ticket to LA.

[KiwiMatt]

I think we are all getting ahead of ourselves with Dieng. He's still raw and has a lot to learn. He has played bloody well don't get me wrong, but I think it's too early to declare him our starting center. We also had success with Turiaf as our starting center which does indicate the need for a rim protector as our starting 5. But I don't believe it is essential.

Let's not forget we are the best 1st quarter team in the league and this is due partly to the offense Pek gives us. Pek is a top 3 offensive center in the league and is probably one of the (if no the) strongest player in the league. He is a force down low. Howard and Bynum have both mentioned publicly that Pekovic is a nightmare match up.

Pekovic is the best center this franchise has ever had and Flip should only be willing to trade him if we get a legit wing in return - someone of Iduogala / Deng's calibre. But I just can't see it happening.

[horatio81 [enjin:7751176]]

I think we are all getting ahead of ourselves with Dieng. He's still raw and has a lot to learn. He has played bloody well don't get me wrong, but I think it's too early to declare him our starting center. We also had success with Turiaf as our starting center which does indicate the need for a rim protector as our starting 5. But I don't believe it is essential.

Every contender has rim protection. We're also giving up the worst FG% in the league (among "good" teams), and the primary factor is opponent FG% on contested shots within five feet. Love can't block or alter shots. Pek basically doubles down on this weakness. It's a front court pairing that simply doesn't work in crunch time - not in an NBA where it's now all but impossible to keep perimeter players out of the paint. Is Dieng a lock? Of course not. But he has a chance to be what we need, and you have to start placing your bets when you're looking down the barrel of Love's impending exodus.

Let's not forget we are the best 1st quarter team in the league and this is due partly to the offense Pek gives us. Pek is a top 3 offensive center in the league and is probably one of the (if no the) strongest player in the league. He is a force down low. Howard and Bynum have both mentioned publicly that Pekovic is a nightmare match up.

I agree, Pek is a nightmare matchup on offense for Howard and Bynum. Unfortunately, Pek is a dream come true for the opposing point guard, shooting guard, small forward, and power forward on defense. I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but you can get 20ppg from literally any position on the floor. You can only get rim protection from one or two. Pek at center is like Mauer at first base. Yes, he gives you value there, but that's not what every other team in the league is doing at that position - and there's a reason for it.

Pekovic is the best center this franchise has ever had and Flip should only be willing to trade him if we get a legit wing in return - someone of Iduogala / Deng's calibre. But I just can't see it happening.

Sorta weird how the best center in franchise history can't bring back a legit wing player, huh?

Pek is a great guy and a brutally effective scorer. He is not what a modern NBA team needs from the center position.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Ill say again, is there anything that shows that Deing is making our team defense better then Pek?