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So whats the deal with his contract in Greece?.I have seen various reports that it does and doesn't have a NBA buy out clause in it.Does anyone have any idea what the real situation is?.

Also he has been reported as saying he has no interest in the NBA, is this real or not?

Thanks

Well i think his lack of interest in the NBA is just temporary, he is in a team now where he could win everything you can win on the continent and in a few years i bet he will be eager to try out his skill in the NBA then you guys will be able to have him for sure.

andyhop wrote:So whats the deal with his contract in Greece?.I have seen various reports that it does and doesn't have a NBA buy out clause in it.Does anyone have any idea what the real situation is?.

Also he has been reported as saying he has no interest in the NBA, is this real or not?

Thanks

From everything reported by Panathinaikos about his contract there is absolutely no way he would be bought out, you are talking about $12 million dollars to buy him out and the NBA can only give $500,000 to a buyout.

http://www.canishoopus.com/2009/3/11/78 ... ch-pekovic

Someone wrote this about Pekovic on a respect wolves site. Could anyone affirm or deny parts of it? of course I have not seen as much of Pekovic that I would like, but he seems like a very good player.

revprodeji wrote:http://www.canishoopus.com/2009/3/11/789500/eurowatch-pekovic

Someone wrote this about Pekovic on a respect wolves site. Could anyone affirm or deny parts of it? of course I have not seen as much of Pekovic that I would like, but he seems like a very good player.

Sounds like a typical NBA fan rant to me using all the Euroleague myths and stereotypes.

Bottom line Pekovic is strictly a CENTER. I don't care if it's NBA or Euroleague he is a CENTER and definitely not a PF. I can't believe the guy implied he lacks strength and could not handle the center position in the NBA strength wise? WTF? That dude is freaking strong as hell.

Right now he would be one of the best offensive low post players in the NBA easily. No question about it at all. The problem with Pekovic is that his rebounding is sub-par and his defense is bad. He's developed into a pretty decent team defender under Obradovic and he is good at boxing out but overall his defense and rebounding are poor.

That is why he plays limited minutes. It has nothing to do with stamina issues. Of course this guy probably thinks it does because he probably assumes that since he is an NBA draft pick that he must be the best player on the team and "dominant", therefore the only '"logical" reason for him to play limited minutes would be "stamina issues"

No, it's because his defense and rebounding isn't up to the standard of a club like Panathinaikos. And I can't believe he is being compared to Darko. Unreal. Every stereotype that NBA fans usually do to Euroleague players here. Just thought of another Yugoslavian white center and automatically he's "the next Darko".

Darko is more of an athlete and defender and shot blocker and plays soft on offense. Pekovic is a scorer, lacks D and good rebounding and is as physical and powerful as it gets on offense. Darko pictures himself more a PF in offense and Pekovic is an old school low post center. This guy could not make a worse comparison if he tried really.

Honestly, I think it's yet another guy claiming he saw a Euro play and never did.

revprodeji wrote:http://www.canishoopus.com/2009/3/11/789500/eurowatch-pekovic

Someone wrote this about Pekovic on a respect wolves site. Could anyone affirm or deny parts of it? of course I have not seen as much of Pekovic that I would like, but he seems like a very good player.

Potentially problematic:

He only plays fairly limited minutes, under 20 in both the Greek league and the Euroleague. Hard to predict if he could keep up his efficiency with more playing time, much less in the NBA in a brutal schedule.

The main reason Panathinaikos doesn't use him for more minutes is that he shares time with Mike Batiste in the center position

While he gets to the foul line at a nice rate, doesn't have the highest free throw percentage (under 70 percent in the Greek league).
Which might have to do with the fact that he has not much of a face to the basket game to speak of, much less an outside shot.

He doesn't have a face-to-the-basket game, no outside shot to speak of, also can't play the pick'n'roll at all, which is a big part of Panathinaikos' game. He is strictly a post player, albeit a very effective one.

Needs a good point guard to get him the ball preferably deep in the paint for easy scoring. Currently he plays with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Dimitris Diamantidis, who despite never getting much traction in the NBA are still All-World experienced players with strong personalities. And big for their position, so they can get nice passing angles.
Not the quickest guy laterally, which makes it hard for him to contest shots on the weak side and keep players in front of him. Also doesn't block a lot.

A tweener between the C and PF spot. In Europe he can easily play the 5, in the NBA against a lot of more athletic guys he might be tall enough but not strong enough to do that.

I disagree a lot with this. His strength and size is on par with a lot of NBA's starting centers

Already 23, so the potential to add a lot to his skill set quickly is somewhat limited. If he plays out his current contract he will be even one or two years older once he comes over. Note that e.g. Milicic is just 6 months older, but already in the NBA seemingly forever.

Doesn't really needs to add much to his offensive skill set. He does what he does, which is score close to the basket efficiently in a variety of ways, while drawing a lot of fouls. If he ever decides to play in the NBA, he is going to have an easier time scoring than in Europe, because of more one-on-one opportunities.

Thank you guys. I appreciate it. if he was brought over to MN right now he would be the 3rd big-man in a rotation with Jefferson and love. He would gain roughly 28 min a night. I like Pekovic from what I have seen, but there is not much to be seen. He appears to have good hands, and body control and enjoys attacking the basket. The defensive issue is my main concern. Do you think he would be at least an average defender in the NBA? Who in the current NBA would you compare his defense to?

The rebounding is not an issue to me. MN is one of the top rebounding teams so it is not something we would need Pekovic to do. Also, i think from reading a post from talkbasket I saw how the euro game with less minutes and other factors leads people away from the 10+ rebounds a game.

Any other insight on Pekovic? Does he speak English? Does he have any desire to come over? Does someone have his official height-wingspan-standing reach etc.

revprodeji wrote:Thank you guys. I appreciate it. if he was brought over to MN right now he would be the 3rd big-man in a rotation with Jefferson and love. He would gain roughly 28 min a night. I like Pekovic from what I have seen, but there is not much to be seen. He appears to have good hands, and body control and enjoys attacking the basket. The defensive issue is my main concern. Do you think he would be at least an average defender in the NBA? Who in the current NBA would you compare his defense to?

The rebounding is not an issue to me. MN is one of the top rebounding teams so it is not something we would need Pekovic to do. Also, i think from reading a post from talkbasket I saw how the euro game with less minutes and other factors leads people away from the 10+ rebounds a game.

Any other insight on Pekovic? Does he speak English? Does he have any desire to come over? Does someone have his official height-wingspan-standing reach etc.

Of course he speaks English. I have no idea about wingspan or standing reach but he's definitely a legit 6-11 guy and really strong and built. No way in hell is he a PF. Apollo64 mentioned he plays less minutes because of Batiste but that's only marginally true. it's mainly because his defense and rebounding and ability to play in a pick and roll are all not good enough for the standard of a club like Panathinaikos.

Yes the Euro game is different for stats. Luis Scola averaged 6 rebounds per game for his career in the Euroleague and Calderon averaged 2 assists per game for his career in the Euroleague. NBA stats are severely inflated as compared to Euroleague stats. So you can take those examples and look at stats of guys in the Euroleague and get an idea on what they are capable of as far as stats go.

But still, Pekovic is not a very good rebounder. He is very good at boxing out though, because he's generally a very fundamental player. As for playing with Jefferson and Love, I would say he would definitely get minutes. I would say he's far better offensively than Love is. His defense being a problem in the NBA? I doubt it. NBA defense is worse than Euroleague defense by a good margin.

He's a poor defender by Euroleague standards but so is Dwight Howard. So yes he's a poor defender (although like I said his team defense is fine) but that combined with his good offense makes him perfect for the NBA. However, I have to say Wolves fans must not be paying attention to this guy. He has said over and over he has no intention of playing in the NBA and wants nothing to do with it.

I have only read one place where he said he did not want to play, and it seemed to me that he was just endorsing his current situation. Do you have anything confirming he does not want to play in the nBA?

revprodeji wrote:I have only read one place where he said he did not want to play, and it seemed to me that he was just endorsing his current situation. Do you have anything confirming he does not want to play in the nBA?

He's probably said like 20 times in interviews he has no interest in the NBA. Panathinaikos would not have signed him even if he did not make it clear he would stay there for at least the duration of his contract. He has NBA opt outs, but that's there for reasons of being able to get more money each year out of PAO. He's quite underpaid so that is the real reason for that.

He didn't even want to be in the draft and had even asked teams not to draft him. The way I understand it is he is still mad that Minny even drafted him and finds them to be annoying the way they keep calling him. Sure he might go to the NBA even this year you never know, but it won't be for any small contract. It will take a hell of a lot I would guess.

I am not doubting you, but could you back that up? Our front office has been pretty stable in saying Pekovic will be coming over before the 2010 season.

Marc Gasol (who was a mid 2nd round pick, two years ago) is currently getting paid $3M/$3.2/$3.5 over the next 3 years. Im assuming it will be something along those lines. Mn could pay the full MLE if they wanted to this summer or next.

revprodeji wrote:I am not doubting you, but could you back that up? Our front office has been pretty stable in saying Pekovic will be coming over before the 2010 season.

Marc Gasol (who was a mid 2nd round pick, two years ago) is currently getting paid $3M/$3.2/$3.5 over the next 3 years. Im assuming it will be something along those lines. Mn could pay the full MLE if they wanted to this summer or next.

I would doubt him if i were you, he is a bit of a BSer.
Most things he said about Pekovic are true, he is not the best at rebounding but he is not as bad as talkbasket makes him out to be, he boxes out really well, in 18mins of play he grabbed 4 rebounds(http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?clubcode=pan&pcode=KNN) which is not bad for euro standards last year for example with Partizan he grabbed 7 rebounds and was parred with a very good rebounder in Velickovic.
http://www.euroleague.net/competition/p ... code=E2007

Consider it this way BOUROUSIS is leading the Euroleague in rebounding with 7.3 rebounds per game.
http://www.euroleague.net/main/statisti ... tegories=2
Pekovic in the NBA with 25mins per game would average 15 and 8. You can bet on that.

He said he doesn't want to come to the NBA yet but he NEVER and i mean NEVER and i have watched every game of his last year and read a lot of interviews with him this year and last said minny annoys him and that he doesn't want to come to the NBA.
He said not yet but if you ask me give him a good offer and he will come, but i am sad to say that if the offer is to be a 3rd C he will not come.
It would be better for the wolves to use his rights as trade bate and get something out of it, and IMO they could get a lot, sure you would lose a really really good player but you are kinda stacked at the C position and have no need for him.
I see him coming over in about 2-3 years.
Now for his game,
he is a master, and i mean master of positioning, he is so good that scouts think all he does is score easy points in the paint, however they fail to see how he got there,
he is build like a HOUSE and strong like an OX, in the NBA he would have no problem what so ever against agile athletic Cs he would jst push them around, and would LOL against Cs like Bargninin and Okur,
He is maaad efficient for example in the euroleagu play-offs he has averaged almost 15 points in a little under 17 minutes grabbed 4.5 rebounds and on average the other team committed 5 fouls on him which means he shoot an average of 6 FTs in 17minutes. Now take into account that euro refs let a lot of small fouls go, he would get to the line even more in the NBA, where they blow the whistle for any damn thing.
Now his defense is nothing to write home about but it doesn't completely suck his lateral quickness is not great, but he is strong and intimidating. On defense in the NBA he wouldn't be horrid he would be OK, not good but OK.
The reason why he doesn't play more is not known to many people and is just speculation but is sure as hell not because of fatigue, it has more to do with Obradovic mixing it up with a fast agile C in Batiste who likes to stroke it from mid range and Pekovic who is an inside the paint kind of guy with nice back to the basket power moves. Also Obradovic likes to put pressure on the ball on defense which Batiste does great and Pekovic not so much. And lastly he is young and Obradovic probably doesn't want to risk it much.

To make it short Pekovic would do great in the NBA he would have an easyer job on offense because a lot of the Cs today in the NBA are really PFs, there are some soft Euros. He would to slightly worse on defense and would have a hard time guarding fast Cs but not as hard as them guarding him. And as i already mentioned his average in his rookie year if he would get around 25mins per game would be 15 and 8 easily. And ton get those 15 he wouldn't need a whole lot of balls because of his efficiency.

EDIT TO ADD: Oh yeah and if you want to see some games of him here is a link to some links of all 4 play off games, Pekovic plays for Panathinaikos every game is really good so i would make a point to watch them if i were you:
http://forums.interbasket.net/f55/eurol ... 8925/#post

He would not be the 3rd center. But 3rd big man. MN has Love/Al and would like to add a 3rd big. Each of those 3 guys would be playing starter minutes regardless of who starts. Pekovic would be playing a major role.

revprodeji wrote:He would not be the 3rd center. But 3rd big man. MN has Love/Al and would like to add a 3rd big. Each of those 3 guys would be playing starter minutes regardless of who starts. Pekovic would be playing a major role.

Well then if you would go after him hard and i mean like the Blazers went after Rudy with sending him videos of teammates asking him to come and such and if you make him see he would be very valuable to you i think you could possibly make him come.
The problem today is that euro players are not stupid anymore then don't want to play in the NBA for any price, they saw too many good young players go to the NBA and fail because they left too soon or the coach or the team didn't give them a fair chance and they don't want to see it happen to them.
If you really show a lot of interest in Pekovic and make him see you would really want him and need him he would may be come.
However he has it really good in PAO he has a nice contract a good coach he is in on of the best teams in Europe, compeating for the title in the Euroleague, etc.
I think he will come over in 2010/2011

revprodeji wrote:He would not be the 3rd center. But 3rd big man. MN has Love/Al and would like to add a 3rd big. Each of those 3 guys would be playing starter minutes regardless of who starts. Pekovic would be playing a major role.

I don't see why he would come to be the 3rd guy. He's the 2nd guy in Panathinaikos so why be the 3rd guy? Makes no sense considering he's probably actually a lot better than Kevin Love is. And regardless of what Marc Gasol makes, I am pretty sure it would cost a lot more than that to get Pekovic.

NBA has 48 minutes. 48 x 2 is 96. 96 divided by 3 is 32. On average each of those 3 guys would be getting 30-32 min a night. Regardless of if Pekovic/Love start with Al off the bench, or Al/Love or Pek/Love.

he is different than Love, but saying he is better is saying a lot. Love is one of the elite rebounders, has one of the highest BBIQ as well as passing abilities, he has a jumper that works very well off P/r and he is a couple years younger than Pekovic.

revprodeji wrote:NBA has 48 minutes. 48 x 2 is 96. 96 divided by 3 is 32. On average each of those 3 guys would be getting 30-32 min a night. Regardless of if Pekovic/Love start with Al off the bench, or Al/Love or Pek/Love.

he is different than Love, but saying he is better is saying a lot. Love is one of the elite rebounders, has one of the highest BBIQ as well as passing abilities, he has a jumper that works very well off P/r and he is a couple years younger than Pekovic.

I've seen Love plenty. Right now I would take Pekovic over him without even hesitating. Jefferson is a different story though, he's better. But still, I don't think the MLE would get Pekovic I could be very wrong, but I doubt it. You would be bidding against a super rich club from Europe and they would have no problem giving him more than that.

it would be hard to give him more than that without knowing what kind of production he would have in the states.

Love and Pekovic are so different the comparisons are hard to make. if anything, I think they would compliment each other very well.

Why would Marc Gasol come to the states of Pekovic would not?

(*btw, thanks for the insight on Pekovic)

Pekovic will join the NBA in the Summer of 2010, assuming he gets an offer that matches or comes close to his current salary (somewhere near the Gasol ballpark) and the Wolves or whatever team gets his draft rights, show him a solid project and how he fits there. I'm 99.9% sure this prediction will prove to be true.

revprodeji wrote:Someone wrote this about Pekovic on a respect wolves site. Could anyone affirm or deny parts of it? of course I have not seen as much of Pekovic that I would like, but he seems like a very good player.

I share the criticisms others have made. The author of that post doesn't know a lot about European basketball - not even who are the current Euroleague champions. I also find the Pekovic-Milicic comparison quite puzzling. In fact, they're almost polar opposites.

I don't think he's a "legit 6'11'". He's somewhat undersized in terms of height for a NBA center, albeit not by a lot. However, he's extremely strong - large shoulders, big frame, plenty of muscle and, more importantly, very physical. He thrives with contact; he's very atypical for an European big man, especially the kind of finesse scorers that usually make the NBA. He's the classic back-to-the-basket bruiser, with a very limited but highly effective offensive arsenal. He has a dunk, a jump hook turning to both sides, a baby hook and not a lot more. But he's very good getting position, sealing and finding the space to get a shot - and hitting them, even when heavily contested. He'll be a nightmare for the smaller bigs in the NBA, teams without a strong post defender on the court will have to double him since day one. He's an average rebounder and he'll be an average rebounder in the NBA - he won't steal a lot of boards but he'll box out every play and crash the glass vigorously. As a passer, he used to be quite unimpressive, to put it gently, but it's an aspect of his game I feel he's been improving a lot this season. The idea he doesn't play more minutes due to stamina issues is bizarre.

Where I disagree with others on this thread is when it comes to defence. That's why I don't like this:

revprodeji wrote:He would not be the 3rd center. But 3rd big man. MN has Love/Al and would like to add a 3rd big. Each of those 3 guys would be playing starter minutes regardless of who starts. Pekovic would be playing a major role.

I already have doubts about the Love/Big Al tandem - as I believe the defence will always be suspect. Love is solid but lacks height, Al is a really bad defender and can only guard centers. Add Pekovic to the rotation and you'd really need to surround those guys with All-D 1st team kind of players.

The same reason Pekovic will go to the line even more in the NBA is why the intimidating factor can be overstated. In Europe he can use a physicality he won't be allowed to in the NBA. He's slow-footed and lacks the lateral quickness to be a good NBA defender. He can do a passable job defending low post players, as he can guard opponents man-to-man, straight up from behind and push them off their sweet spots, due to his pure strength, but he'll be a liability defending the pick'n'roll, or faster players, or perimeter oriented big men or even as a help-defender. And not a small liability, I don't think.

Pekovic can't be compared to Gasol salary wise and he's either 2.10 m or 2.12 m so yes he is 6-11. Panathinaikos would give him a big raise to keep him. There's no relation to those two situations at all. The problem with Pekovic was exposed again today. He didn't play defense and was just fouling like crazy getting abused by the 35 year old center Tomasevic against PAOK in the A1.

Like I said, he's perfect for the NBA. He's all offense and no defense.