Call it now: Who we gettin by the trade deadline???

[NikolaPekovic]

Love and Pekovic don't have the same skill set. There's really no reason to make a decision now. Let's at least see what they can do together with a full healthy season.

I think in a sense of being below average defenders, not long or athletic, slow to get up the court, and not finishing with authority at the rim, they are similar in that sense.

Their games compliment each other very well. Just from viewing the way they play, they seem to feed off one another especially on the offensive glass. Pek is a lot worse on the glass in my opinion without Love. Love requires a lot of attention

We just need a 3rd athletic shot blocking big man who could fill in at either spot.

Honestly i would be down for a derrick willians-Biyombo trade. We are getting another project in a sense but its a project that benefits our team more.

Just theorycrafting

[Tirion]

Steamer was supposed to provide the shotblocking part.

[The J Rocka]

Love and Pekovic don't have the same skill set. There's really no reason to make a decision now. Let's at least see what they can do together with a full healthy season.

I think in a sense of being below average defenders, not long or athletic, slow to get up the court, and not finishing with authority at the rim, they are similar in that sense.

PEK is not a below-average defender. Check his opponent's PER or, you know, watch Tony Friggin Parker being forced to pass the ball one-on-one against him.

"Long or athletic"? Are you Kahn? I don't give a **** about long and athletic (see Johnson, Wes), I care about the ability to play basketball. And you should too.

"Slow to get up the court"? Have you missed PEK beating other team's guards to the rim? I don't even know where are you getting this stuff. Do you even watch games, bro?

He's not like Love as a piss poor defender, fine, but he's certainly nothing to brag about on the defensive end. Did you watch DeAndre Jordan & Griffin out hustle him and shoot over 60% on him while giving up a load of rebounds (offensive rebounds too)?

After watching Rubio excel with Faried, excuse me for wanting someone that can catch & finish most of Rubio's dimes. After awhile, you get sick of watching stonehands and blown layups. Rubio plays better with athletic bigs. Can he still play & make guys like Love & Pek look like stars? Of course, he made Darko look great.

Should we overpay Pek to pair with Love and call it a day? I don't think so. Nothing reeks of mediocre more than overpaying Pek and keeping Love around. That will only leave us with MLE scrub like Courtney Lee left to get.

Not trying to downplay Pek because he's a top 10 center, but some of you act like Pek is a prime Shaq.

[jfg]

Should we overpay Pek to pair with Love and call it a day? I don't think so. Nothing reeks of mediocre more than overpaying Pek and keeping Love around. That will only leave us with MLE scrub like Courtney Lee left to get.

Same deal if you keep Pek. Even if he gets signed to somebody else for 12mil the only thing that counts for us is the 5mil that will come off our books. Pair that with Roy's salary and Budinger's minimum and you are getting the same MLE after you sign Pek's replacement. I still think the major parts of Love and Pek's games are way too similar to throw 25 mil at but there really isn't a choice.

[Klomp]

Steamer was supposed to provide the shotblocking part.

Right, but you can't play Pek and Steam together though. That's what NP was saying

[Worm Guts]

Both. Love and Pek are efficient scorers, it's really irrelevant where their misses come from. When we reach a point where the combination of Love and Pek is holding us back, then we can trade one. We're not there yet.

[karch34]

When we reach a point where the combination of Love and Pek is holding us back, then we can trade one. We're not there yet.

Thank you! I understand that the two might not be the most ideal pairing and worth discussing, but we've got other issues.

[Saltine]

We need a shooting guard, same as the last few years.
When healthy, we have no serious issues at C or PF or PG or SF.

Pek's PER at Center is 20.2, the opposing Center PER is 15.
http://www.82games.com/1213/12MIN19.HTM

[Murphs56]

I only have 3 issues with Pek

1) He's injury prone
2) He sometimes tends to become a ghost in games especially towards the end. (Not always his fault)
3) He misses a ton of shots around the rim whether they roll off, he refuses to dunk or a shot blocker gets him because he's too slow.

However, even with my 3 issues, the guy has improved every single year and quite honestly, we aren't going to find anyone close to his ability in free agency or the draft.

[Basti]

I only have 3 issues with Pek

1) He's injury prone

I find that very annoying, too, but if I remember it correctly the majority of his nagging injuries happened by freak accidents or due to stepping onto another player's foot. While these accidents are quite common which makes it a threat for Pek every game, it's not like his body gives up on him like Kirilenko's or Roy's do (extreme example, I know, but you get the point)

2) He sometimes tends to become a ghost in games especially towards the end. (Not always his fault)

I wish Pek was a bit more vocal about the lack of touches in the 2nd half, in particular when he had great first halves, but I'm sure Adelman is to blame here. It can't be a coincidence that Pek so often gets frozen out offensively.

3) He misses a ton of shots around the rim whether they roll off, he refuses to dunk or a shot blocker gets him because he's too slow.

Yes, that's really frustrating. I wish he'd dunk it every time.
Overall, he still shoots a nice % from the floor, though

However, even with my 3 issues, the guy has improved every single year and quite honestly, we aren't going to find anyone close to his ability in free agency or the draft.

Exactly. Unless Love shows up with a much more improved and diverse post up game next season, there's no reason to let Pek go. We need post scoring.

[southern wolf]

we aren't going to find anyone close to his ability in free agency or the draft.

That is why I'm desperate to keep him. Good centres are damned hard to find, that is why teams will overpay Pek in the off-season and why we need to match. McHale had an eye for big men, Kahn has an eye for flashy smiles, he's not going to find another star centre.

[Dewey]

Bottom-line:
Pek < $10 million good
Pek > $10 million challenging

I'm not in a big hurry to move Pek untill we see that a healthy squad WITH a legit NBA starrting caliber SG isn't working.

[Biff Cooper]

After watching Rubio excel with Faried, excuse me for wanting someone that can catch & finish most of Rubio's dimes. After awhile, you get sick of watching stonehands and blown layups. Rubio plays better with athletic bigs. Can he still play & make guys like Love & Pek look like stars? Of course, he made Darko look great.

You're serously using an all star game with zero defense where Rubio plays 16 minutes to decide that Rubio plays better with athletic bigs and that we should move Pek?

[Devilzsidewalk]

we just need some lethal finishers at any position. Thats one we took a step back from this year to last was our transition offense. Last year, we had Wes, AR15, Martroll, and Beasley that could all get ahead of the pack in transition and finish above the rim. Then if the transition defense was in place, we had Love coming in for that top of the key 3.

[The J Rocka]

After watching Rubio excel with Faried, excuse me for wanting someone that can catch & finish most of Rubio's dimes. After awhile, you get sick of watching stonehands and blown layups. Rubio plays better with athletic bigs. Can he still play & make guys like Love & Pek look like stars? Of course, he made Darko look great.

You're serously using an all star game with zero defense where Rubio plays 16 minutes to decide that Rubio plays better with athletic bigs and that we should move Pek?

I knew somebody would comeback with this one. There obviously wasn't any kind of top notch defense being played but it wasn't like players were standing around like they were in the end of the game. Doesn't change the fact Rubio still hooked them up and they were still able to finish the way you want all your bigs to finish. Rubio even said it himself that he loves playing with athletic bigs. He has to talk with Pek constantly about catching the ball and finishing with authority.

You can even use Chris Johnson as a small sample size. When he was coming into the games being 14 points down, Rubio & Ridnour were both able to hook him up easily and brought us back into games. Even defensively, he brought us back. It's just too bad he doesn't have enough bulk to bully more people down low.

I'm not saying dump Pek for nothing, but it's going to have to be addressed at some point whether or not Pek is worth max/near max money and if he's the right solution moving forward. I think we should have a perfect balance in the starting lineup. If Love wasn't such a slug defensively, this wouldn't be that big of an issue. If he could even be average, we would be able to get by. Nerlens Noel would be perfect next to Love or Pek.