McHale Scouting Pekovic (video)

Coda · Post #1 » by **Coda** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:47 am

Interesting video of McHale scouting his eventual pick at 31 overall. Also interesting that he seemed to "love" him some UCLA basketball while not really knowing what was going on in the NCAA tourny. I think Kev picks his favs early!

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geJsTZmCwck

After watching a few Pekovic vids on youtube, he looks to have more of an NBA style game than I expected. He is very physical. Could be more of a center than a power forward if he has decent length. Does anyone have any accurate measurements on the guy?

Coda · Post #2 » by **Coda** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:04 pm

From a poster at timberwolvescentral:

nikola pekovic wingspan and standing reach....
7'2" wingspan
9'4" standing reach

I'm liking this pick a lot now. I think theres a better chance that this player comes to the nba, than there is that DAJ becomes a player while in the NBA. Still, I wish we had both :roll:

asdfgh · Post #3 » by **asdfgh** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:55 pm

I haven't seen Pekovic but everyone says that he's the best player in Europe under 22. He would have been a top 10 pick if he wasn't under contract.

boblynch · Post #4 » by **boblynch** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:12 pm

asdfgh wrote:I haven't seen Pekovic but everyone says that he's the best player in Europe under 22. He would have been a top 10 pick if he wasn't under contract.

i'm just afraid that in 2 years when he's ready to come over to the nba, that glenn taylor doesn't sell his rights to another team. it seems that all of these trades lately (heat,blazers) have had money coming back plus we're getting players drafted later so they make less. is taylor becoming another
donald sterling ?

big3_8_19_21 · Post #5 » by **big3_8_19_21** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:20 pm

I don't think it's even close. With Roy/Foye, we had a pick too high to get the guy we wanted, so we tried to trade down for the guy we wanted. It's not uncommon. The only other deal I can think of like that is trading Chalmers, but we got 2 2009 2nd round picks, we didn't just sell that pick. It's not like we traded 2 first round picks to dump an expiring Kurt Thomas for a 2nd round pick.

Pekovic will be a very nice player, I think. He'll be nice to have against bigger players like Oden.

boblynch · Post #6 » by **boblynch** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:18 pm

big3_8_19_21 wrote:I don't think it's even close. With Roy/Foye, we had a pick too high to get the guy we wanted, so we tried to trade down for the guy we wanted. It's not uncommon. The only other deal I can think of like that is trading Chalmers, but we got 2 2009 2nd round picks, we didn't just sell that pick. It's not like we traded 2 first round picks to dump an expiring Kurt Thomas for a 2nd round pick.

Pekovic will be a very nice player, I think. He'll be nice to have against bigger players like Oden.

there's no doubt in my mind that pekovic will be a good nba player, its' just that my "gut feeling" tells me that taylor sells his rights. time will tell.

Krapinsky · Post #7 » by **Krapinsky** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:25 pm

The reason we've been making these cash saving deal is to get cap room in the future. He's not being a cheapskate, he's just realized how to efficiently operate a franchise. The Chalmers deal is an exception, but with all the buy outs Taylor has made over the last two years, you can hardly blame him, for trying to get his operating budget out of the red.

boblynch · Post #8 » by **boblynch** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:46 pm

Dr.Krapinsky wrote:The reason we've been making these cash saving deal is to get cap room in the future. He's not being a cheapskate, he's just realized how to efficiently operate a franchise. The Chalmers deal is an exception, but with all the buy outs Taylor has made over the last two years, you can hardly blame him, for trying to get his operating budget out of the red.

i hope that you're right. he would fit in nice with jefferson and love.

Batu7 · Post #9 » by **Batu7** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:35 pm

Pekovic's averages in Euroleague this season:

In 23 games:

27 mpg, 16.4 ppg, 6.9 ppg, 0.8 apg, 0.6 bpg, 0.7 spg, 2.1 tpg, 3.2 fpg(In Europe, the foul out limit is 5 fouls)

I didn't watch him the full season, but in the two games I watched he played good. Here are his boxscores for the games:

26:22 minutes, 20 points, 10/12 fg, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 block, 2 fouls

25:37 minutes, 22 points, 9/12 fg, 4/5 ft, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls.

But he is called(by people who constantly watch him) "one of the best centers in Europe". If he comes, he will make an impact on your frontcourt.