Minnesota Sports Forum

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/214541091.html

The Timberwolves have made a formal contract offer to restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic and waived two players in preparation for Wednesday's end to the NBA moratorium period.

According to league sources, the Wolves made an offer to Pekovic on Friday and expect to receive a response early this week.

On Sunday, they waived center Greg Stiemsma and swingman Mickael Gelabale in two salary-cap moves designed to clear space to allow them to sign free agents Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger as well as bring back Pekovic on a four-year deal that likely will be worth $12 million a year or more.

They also continue to try to trade guards J.J. Barea and/or Luke Ridnour in an attempt to create more cap space to add another two players through signing or trades.

The Wolves have the right to match any offer Pekovic receives from another team. As of Sunday, he is not believed to have been offered such a deal and the number of teams who have the cap space and desire to sign him had dwindled to one or two.

Pekovic repeatedly last season said he wanted to return to Minnesota, and President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders has said all along that he believes the two sides will reach a deal.

The Wolves had until July 17 to waive Stiemsma or fully guarantee his $2.7 million contract on their salary-cap books for next season.

Stiemsma's agent said there's still a chance his client could return to the Wolves, even if they drafted Louisville center Gorgui Dieng last month to essentially fill Stiemsma's role as a backup center.

"This was a cap move," agent Mark Bartelstein said. "They like him. There are so many different variables right now with teams and their cap space. We'll get through this [moratorium period] and see what happens."

Jerry ZGODA

What are your thoughts on this? I would be fine with 12MM-13MM a year. Much better than the max, haha.

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I'm hoping we get him for around $11 mil per season but hey it's not my money & I like Pek so what the hell right

Hah, I agree. I meant to hit neutral, but missed by quite a bit. :p

Edit: That got changed to an emote. That is a little surprising, but hey, can't go wrong with an emote.

The closer to 10 mill per the better.

Sam Amico ?@SamAmicoFSO 9m
Cavs also had eye on Timberwolves C Nikola Pekovic, a restricted free agent, but "Pekovic wants to stay in Minnesota," source says.

To be expected really.

I can't see any other team prepared to pay Pek more than 12 mil a season.

I don't think we need to bring back Steamer, based on us drafting Dieng. Pek starting, Dieng backing up and Love playing small ball 5 is more than enough to cover the position. Plus we have Chris Johnson as the end of bench 4/5.

Last move is to trade Barea and/or Ridnour for cap relief so we can resign AK. Then I say we are good to go.

Maybe I'm thinking too much of it, but it's taking a long time for Pek to decide on his offer. Usually, you hear if it's accepted or not within 24 hours. I'm thinking its around 10 million and is trying to get more. All speculation at this point.

I think Flip needs to put a deadline on our offer unless it is something under 10 mil starting salary. If Pek and his agent insist on waiting out the other teams, there should be some consequences once that source dries up. The wolves need to solidify the C spot, and that could mean making a trade. I would hate for us to be left hanging now that we let Steimsma walk away. I was thinking that we should at least explore a trade for Asik. See what they are asking, and let it leak out as well. That might light a fire under Pek. Worst case scenario, we get Pek back on his QO of 6 mil for the year and get a chance to see what we have in Dieng.

It seems odd that there has been zero mention of Pek by other teams. Either they don't want to tie up money, or they just don't value Pek as much as our local media do. In either case, it is likely reducing Pek's asking price. When we see what happened with AK, I would have expected Pek's agent to adjust his negotiating tactics.

As Jerry Z pointed out, the only real leverage Pek has is to take a one year qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next year

sjm34 wrote:I think Flip needs to put a deadline on our offer unless it is something under 10 mil starting salary. If Pek and his agent insist on waiting out the other teams, there should be some consequences once that source dries up. The wolves need to solidify the C spot, and that could mean making a trade. I would hate for us to be left hanging now that we let Steimsma walk away. I was thinking that we should at least explore a trade for Asik. See what they are asking, and let it leak out as well. That might light a fire under Pek. Worst case scenario, we get Pek back on his QO of 6 mil for the year and get a chance to see what we have in Dieng.

It seems odd that there has been zero mention of Pek by other teams. Either they don't want to tie up money, or they just don't value Pek as much as our local media do. In either case, it is likely reducing Pek's asking price. When we see what happened with AK, I would have expected Pek's agent to adjust his negotiating tactics.

You all are not realizing one thing... MAYBE Pek's group is waiting for Minnesota to sign their other free-agents so they can sign him over the cap. Using his bird-rights, the Timberwolves can sign him for over the cap, so they may negotiate right then, or breached an agreement already. (Seeing Pek has a quite camp.) You never know. And the LAST THING Flip wants to do is put a time limit on his top free agent. The thought of that is preposterous, and I don't why you think this, and that person likes that post. "we should at least explore a trade for Asik.... This may light a fire under Pek. Worst case scenario, we get Pek back on his QO of six million for the year and get a chance to see what we have in Dieng." Jesus Christ, no no no no no no no. Yep, lets just insult our best center in franchise history by leaking rumors of us going after other starting centers. BRILLIANT! I just disagree completely, I am sorry.