Wolves' roster move rumors

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It's quiet out there after the big Love deal, but many of us expect more to happen before the season starts. Possibilities are:

1) anything to move JJ
2) moving one of our many wings
3) a trade involving Pek or Rubio

I thought it would be good to have one thread in which we can post trade rumors, no matter how far-fetched the source. Here's one from yesterday involving Pek and Rubio:

http://www.sportsworldnews.com/articles/17592/20140908/minnesota-timberwolves-rumors-t-wolves-exploring-nikola-pekovic-trade-ricky-rubio-pekovic-package-a-possibility-video.htm

This article talks about the Wolves possibly being interested in moving Pek to make room for Dieng, and/or Ricky if they are worried about contract demands. The author is a kid...just graduated from Penn State. So he has less credibility than most of us on this board. And yet a Pek deal is not out of the question, and something that has been discussed on this board. Dieng's impressive performance during the FIBA tournament has to have Flip wondering if he could improve the team by moving Pek. Gorgui was one of the best players in the tournament and still has a great deal of upside. It doesn't seem like an optimal use of his talents to only give him minutes backing up Pek.

My position is that Flip should be having conversations about Pek. I like Pek and think he will produce if he is healthy and still on the roster this year. But he does have a history of injuries, doesn't exactly fit the athletic profile Flip is building, and is consuming $12 million of cap space...and is limiting the minutes Gorgui could be on the court. I'd be comfortable with going into battle with Turiaf (and maybe Fesenko) backing up Dieng, but only if we could get something in return for Pek (or maybe Pek, JJ and a surplus SF) that really improved our roster.

[60WinTim]

Yeah, you've been consistent in supporting the notion of trading Pek. And you point out several reasons for doing so -- Dieng's development, Pek's injury history and Pek's salary.

But I don't see Pek's salary being a problem just, yet. And we don't know enough about Dieng's own durability when given big minutes over an 82-game season (and it will be more than 82 games this year! :). I'm sure Flip can find plenty of minutes for both of them, allowing Dieng to develop and Pek to stay healthy.

Pek, Dieng and Turiaf gives Flip lots of options at C. Pek's brute force in the paint is something any team whould be happy to have, and it's a nice compliment to the athletic up-and-down team Flip has assembled. I like the idea of not being a one-dimensional offense, and having a bruiser in the paint is a great option to have when we might be struggling in other areas.

It's important to keep Pek for now...

[bleedspeed]

I would say keep Pek unless you can get an offer you can't refuse. If we could package Pek with Martin to trade with the Celtics for Smart. It would mean Danny is not going to keep losing for another season. They would be back in the playoffs with them and a healthy Rondo. Not happening though.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I am a fan of Pek's when it comes to scoring and rebounding, and I don't think his contract is a huge issue either. The biggest problem I have with Pek (beyond injury issues) is interior defense. When Pek was paired with Love, our interior defense was absurdly poor as both ranked in the bottom five players last year in terms of interior defense. And now Love's heir apparent (Thadeus Young) is a third member of that bottom five, and the situation is compounded by the fact that Young is also a very poor rebounder for a PF. It's unfortunate that the likely C/PF pairings right now are Pek/Young and Dieng/Bennett, because I'm concerned that the first pair is really going to struggle defensively around the rim. Perhaps if Bennett can find a way to translate his size and length into good interior defense, Flip can find a way to switch those parings around to provide a little more balance with respect to interior defense.

[Phenom]

Count me in the group that isnt interested in dealing Pek. Theres no reason he cant merely split time with Gorgui and make that the best center tandem in the league. Lets embrace the depth and keep the bench quality high.

[60WinTim]

Count me in the group that isnt interested in dealing Pek. Theres no reason he cant merely split time with Gorgui and make that the best center tandem in the league. Lets embrace the depth and keep the bench quality high.

Agreed!! I have so much confidence in the quality and depth at each and every position on this roster. And with Flip running the show, I see no reason to make changes, unless it's something to "tweak" the 3rd string (like Barea).

[Coolbreeze44]

Count me in the group that isnt interested in dealing Pek. Theres no reason he cant merely split time with Gorgui and make that the best center tandem in the league. Lets embrace the depth and keep the bench quality high.

Agreed!! I have so much confidence in the quality and depth at each and every position on this roster. And with Flip running the show, I see no reason to make changes, unless it's something to "tweak" the 3rd string (like Barea).

Tim, you good for 60 wins again this year?

[60WinTim]

Well, maybe not quite 60. But Flip does 50+ more often than not! :)

[TheGrey08]

Count me in the group that isnt interested in dealing Pek. Theres no reason he cant merely split time with Gorgui and make that the best center tandem in the league. Lets embrace the depth and keep the bench quality high.

Agreed!! I have so much confidence in the quality and depth at each and every position on this roster. And with Flip running the show, I see no reason to make changes, unless it's something to "tweak" the 3rd string (like Barea).

Exactly. It doesn't make any sense trading Pek right now. Lets see what Flip can do with everyone for a full season before thinking about that unless they get blown away on a deal for him.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I like the optimism here, but I'm not buying it and think it might fit better over in the opTIMism thread. I don't think Flip can stick his head in the sand and pretend that we can be successful with a starting big man tandem of Pek and Young. As I mentioned before, Pek and Young both ranked in the bottom five in interior defense. Let me say that a different way. Only four NBA teams have even one big man starter in the bottom five, and we have two! We had a similar situation with Pek and Love, and it was painful to watch us try to make stops at the end of games. But Love averaged 12.5 rebounds while Young only averaged 6, so we will arguably be much worse defensively inside this year. You win with defense in the NBA, and an inside tandem of Pek/Young doesn't give us much of a chance to be successful. I'm curious about the prevailing opinion on this board that we are okay with Pek/Young. Do the supporters of that tandem think that their past performance is not indicative of what they are going to do in the future, or do you not think interior defense is not very important? It seems to me that any optimism about this year's chances of winning has to include one of these conclusions.

Flip isn't going to talk about this publicly, but he is a smart basketball guy and he is well aware of our inside weakness. I like both Pek and Young offensively and as good guys in the locker room, but we are really going to struggle defensively when they are on the court at the same time. I don't think Flip is looking to move Young so soon after targeting him, so I am still hoping he can swing a deal to move Pek. Pek's ability to catch the ball in traffic and convert inside baskets might make him an attractive target for some team that lacks inside scoring, and Flip might be able to get something valuable in return along with improving our rim protection.

Just to be clear...I'm not a fan of moving Pek if we can't get something very good in return. In that case I would prefer to keep him and just accept that we are not going to very good inside defensively. This team is going to be fun to watch this year regardless of whether they win 20 games or 45...I just want entertainment plus winning, if possible, and improving our interior defense is a key to our winning.