Do we need Pek & Martin??

[mjs34]

I am wondering how important these guys are to our team. I know they both score at a high rate, but there are questions concerning the defensive drop when they are in the game. Pek missed around a dozen games and the team seems to have weathered that without missing a beat. We were a .500 team before and after Pek's injuries. Martin missed around 7 games, and our team actually performed better over that period. It is clearly a small sample size (particularly in Martin's case), but putting that 18 - 19 mil a year in salary into someone else should produce significantly more than we have seen when they are healthy.

If a journeyman player like Turiaf can competently fill in for Pek, what does that say about Pek's actual value? Wouldn't we be better off signing two Turiaf's and using that additional money to upgrade our wing position. Would the money be better spent taking a chance on a guy like Eric Gordon?

[bleedspeed]

I am not sure. I would rather have 2 Martins for the price of Pek. I think Pek is a better player then Martin, but bigs are usually overpriced. I would rather pay a guy like Gordon Hayward 12M then Pek.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The Wolves made it through that stretch because of improved bench play, Rubio playing better/more aggressive and Kevin Love playing like he was the best player in the NBA.

The disrespect Pekovic continues to get on this board blows my mind.

[TXviking [enjin:6602528]]

I think a big thing we miss when Pek is out is the offensive rebounds he accounts for. That is something we do not have from anyone else.

[all_day_88 [enjin:6666373]]

I am wondering how important these guys are to our team. I know they both score at a high rate, but there are questions concerning the defensive drop when they are in the game. Pek missed around a dozen games and the team seems to have weathered that without missing a beat. We were a .500 team before and after Pek's injuries. Martin missed around 7 games, and our team actually performed better over that period. It is clearly a small sample size (particularly in Martin's case), but putting that 18 - 19 mil a year in salary into someone else should produce significantly more than we have seen when they are healthy.

If a journeyman player like Turiaf can competently fill in for Pek, what does that say about Pek's actual value? Wouldn't we be better off signing two Turiaf's and using that additional money to upgrade our wing position. Would the money be better spent taking a chance on a guy like Eric Gordon?

SMH

[Coolbreeze44]

I think the fact we played as well without them has something to do with the man coaching the team. We should be a better team when they are both playing. Rick was forced to ask more of Rubio and he got it when Pek and Martin were out. The coach should be able to win at a higher clip with all hands on deck. Start with limiting JJ to 12 minutes per night.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

Pek is a great player but I've said many times I'd trade him. We have arguably the top offensive PF/C combination in the league and can't manage to get above .500. Defense out of the PF or C position is important and we just don't get enough defense out of those 2, until they either prove me wrong or improve defensively I'll continue to say it.

I like the idea of trading Pek to New Orleans, I think they would pay the most for him. A rotation of Pek, Anderson, and Davis would be by far the best in the league, I could even see certain situation where they would go big and have all 3 on the court together. If we could get Gordon and a first I'd take a chance on him.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

A few thoughts:

- Sjm, By your own admission, this was a small sample size of games to be jumping to any conclusions.

- As Cam mentioned, Kevin Love played out of his mind during this stretch. We know that players go through peaks and valleys throughout any given season. There was no way Love was going to sustain that level of play for an extended period of time. And sure enough, his shot wasn't falling against Sacramento and it was Martin and Pek that helped shore up our offense!

- Pekovic and Martin both consistently produce at an above average rate. Their PER, Win Shares, and +/- numbers are all above league average. This franchise has rarely had 3 players in the past decade that produce consistently above league average in terms of overall production. While Pek and Martin are flawed players, it is VERY difficult to find consistently above-average production like what they put out.

- Why Eric Gordon is thrown out as an upgrade to Kevin Martin is beyond my comprehension. Not only is he a less productive player, but he's probably just as fragile and twice as expensive! So basically we want to trade Pekovic for an injury-prone SG that is worse than the current one we have. Huh!?

- The season isn't over yet. Many schedule projections show us as finishing solidly above .500. While it will certainly be disappointing that we won't make the playoffs, the fact of the matter is that this is by far the best team we've had in nearly a decade.

- All of that being said, and to be fair to Sjm, I don't see anyone except Love as truly untouchable. But what I don't want us to do is to trade consistently productive players like Martin or Pek for consistently less productive players (like Gordon) or for the crapshoot that is known as draft picks.

[mjs34]

I am not looking for picks necessarily, but one thing that Gordon does that Martin can't is create his own shot, which would be extremely helpful closing out games. I mentioned Gordon because there have been rumors and I think he is gettable.

Q PER is based mainly on offense, and I am not questioning either player on that end of the floor. What I am suggesting is that a defensive center getting paid a third of what Pek is making isn't likely to be much of a downgrade, and that would allow us to pay more for the player we never seemed to be able to find. A SG that can slash and score. While Martin is an efficient offensive player, he is a guy we can give the ball to down the stretch and go get us a basket.

Cool, while I am on the other side of the coin about coaching, I do see your point but I would counter with the question of why we weren't better than .500 for the season while this team was much healthier than most. This team certainly plays differently with those guys in the lineup, but I am not sure it translates to wins.

In regard to Ricky stepping up, I think that had more to do with him freelancing, and I think that will likely work back the other way with Pek back.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

I am not looking for picks necessarily, but one thing that Gordon does that Martin can't is create his own shot, which would be extremely helpful closing out games. I mentioned Gordon because there have been rumors and I think he is gettable.

Q PER is based mainly on offense, and I am not questioning either player on that end of the floor. What I am suggesting is that a defensive center getting paid a third of what Pek is making isn't likely to be much of a downgrade, and that would allow us to pay more for the player we never seemed to be able to find. A SG that can slash and score. While Martin is an efficient offensive player, he is a guy we can give the ball to down the stretch and go get us a basket.

Cool, while I am on the other side of the coin about coaching, I do see your point but I would counter with the question of why we weren't better than .500 for the season while this team was much healthier than most. This team certainly plays differently with those guys in the lineup, but I am not sure it translates to wins.

In regard to Ricky stepping up, I think that had more to do with him freelancing, and I think that will likely work back the other way with Pek back.

The Wolves starting 5 combing everything. is one of the top 5 more effective in the entire nba.

Is Pek and Love a really bad defensive paring? Maybe. Ill contend that they're average. People site lack of "rim protection" as a slight on the wolves. True that they have the highest FG% for opponents in the paint. Does that mean Pek isn't a rim protector? maybe. But it's just a way to show that stats don't tell the whole story.

Wolves actually give up the most fastbreak opportunities in the nba by a widdde margin. As people who watch basketball know, that most fastbreaks end with a layup or dunk. That's going to make that in the paint % go wayyy up.

Is JJ's careless turnovers and bad shots that lead to all these fastbreaks contribute to the teams FG%? you betcha.


Pek is not the problem here. Don't be dumb