How Good would Peja Have Been In This Era?

iLLmatic860 · Post #1 » by **iLLmatic860** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 4:59 pm

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Peja with the ultimate green light??? Sign me up

Pelon chingon · Post #2 » by **Pelon chingon** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:02 pm

MVP caliber.

Ito · Post #3 » by **Ito** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:09 pm

3rd or 4th option on a good team.. how he was with the Kings before injuries slowed down Webber

asdlkm · Post #4 » by **asdlkm** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:09 pm

Lauri Markannen with a little more passing juice.

Lockdown504090 · Post #5 » by **Lockdown504090** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:15 pm

what he did in his peak season, just in like 8 fewer minutes and more efficently. Actually think he would be better on defense in todays game, not to say he was a train wreck

Collymore · Post #6 » by **Collymore** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:15 pm

Players like Peja are a dime a dozen nowadays.

dhsilv2 · Post #7 » by **dhsilv2** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:18 pm

Lockdown504090 wrote:what he did in his peak season, just in like 8 fewer minutes and more efficently. Actually think he would be better on defense in todays game, not to say he was a train wreck

Why would he be better on defense? I don't recall his foot speed being high, but he also didn't need it in that era like he would today.

JayMKE · Post #8 » by **JayMKE** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:23 pm

Just because a guy shot 3s 20 years ago doesn't mean you can scale up their production

Lockdown504090 · Post #9 » by **Lockdown504090** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:32 pm

dhsilv2 wrote:
Lockdown504090 wrote:what he did in his peak season, just in like 8 fewer minutes and more efficently. Actually think he would be better on defense in todays game, not to say he was a train wreck

Why would he be better on defense? I don't recall his foot speed being high, but he also didn't need it in that era like he would today.

one thing i notice with these euros from back then is that they didnt really seem to take the athletic training part of the game seriously. Like if you look at jokic,sabonis, luka, bogdan, theyve all made signifigant strides on their mobility and bodies in comparison to what guys did then. and on top of that he could play the 4 in this league and occupy a space akin to what tobias can do on defense for philly who also didnt have any foot speed and improved it some. We also have better hedge and recover schemes for guys that cant switch or drop like curry and i think peja is worth it offensively to do this stuff. In his day, he would be stuck guarding a guy like darius miles, maggette ron artest, mashburn. guys who are kinda trying to break you down off thebounce. In today's game, you just put him on whoever the 3nD guy who isnt allowed to dribble more than 2 times and ask him to try not to eff up rotations/help responsibilities. Hes still 6'9 with good length, speed and stamina. He can get 6 rebounds a game and be fine since we get rebounding from so many other posistions now. a guy like hart is grabbing 8.

Him and russ with a big like say ayton would be an extrmely tough out.

FuShengTHEGreat · Post #10 » by **FuShengTHEGreat** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:32 pm

I didn't trust Peja in the playoffs back then and that wouldn't change today. He was great at pouring it on when the Kings were running teams out the gym.

But in the close tight playoff games his pure shooting ability mostly went AWOL

Lockdown504090 · Post #11 » by **Lockdown504090** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:34 pm

FuShengTHEGreat wrote:I didn't trust Peja in the playoffs back then and that wouldn't change today. He was great at pouring it on when the Kings were running teams out the gym.

But in the close tight playoff games his pure shooting ability mostly went AWOL

I think thats more due to the playstyle. in this era its "keep shooting, keep shooting" and if a guys struggling, the goal is to get them better lookss, not do something else. the only guy i see really just unclutch in the playoffs is joe harris :lol:

TwitterFingers · Post #12 » by **TwitterFingers** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:36 pm

Pelon chingon wrote:MVP caliber.

That’s a bridge too far imo, but I do think he would have been a top 20 player

Mickey8 · Post #13 » by **Mickey8** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:38 pm

He was voted 4th or 5th in the MVP race that season. Then Weber came back from the injury right before the play off's began and he killed chemistry of the team. I think they would have went further without him in the play off's that season.

DAWill1128 · Post #14 » by **DAWill1128** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:46 pm

In a lot of ways I look at him like a taller Klay Thompson offensively. He was a beast off ball, cutting, curling, spotting up. The Kings ball movement was so amazing it seemed like they toyed with teams a lot of nights and then had to get up for the only four contenders the NBA had which were all out West.

Teams played big lineups when he played, so he was like a big small forward shooting over the top of defenders. In today's game he might play power forward and be brutal for guys at his position to chase off ball.

Tough question, do you want him shooting over the top of smaller guys? Or run bigger guys off the floor with off ball movement? Guards have a hard enough time with Klay so I can't imagine a power forward on Peja. Power forwards don't post up anymore so his challenges defensively would be less.

AbeVigodaLive · Post #15 » by **AbeVigodaLive** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:48 pm

Mickey8 wrote:He was voted 4th or 5th in the MVP race that season. Then Weber came back from the injury right before the play off's began and he killed chemistry of the team. I think they would have went further without him in the play off's that season.

I dunno.

1. Stojakovic finished 7th for MVP in 2004.*

2. I think Trenton Hassell had more to do with shutting down Stojakovic in Round 2 than Chris Webber did. Stojakovic shot only 35.7% for the series. Remember, this was the year BEFORE the handcheck rule was put in place. And Hassell was a very handsy defender who bodied up Peja for that entire series. Turns out, Hassell was one of the casualties of the new rule. He was atrocious on offense and simply not fast/good enough for the new type of defense needed. He turned into a negative defender immediately.

3. Who was going to guard Garnett in that series if Webber didn't play?

[Note: I do think he'd do pretty well in this era though. He consistently shot above 40% on threes on more than 6 per game. Someone will have to offer me some analysis on why that would NOT translate in today's game. * I was wrong.]

dhsilv2 · Post #16 » by **dhsilv2** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:50 pm

Lockdown504090 wrote:
dhsilv2 wrote:
Lockdown504090 wrote:what he did in his peak season, just in like 8 fewer minutes and more efficently. Actually think he would be better on defense in todays game, not to say he was a train wreck

Why would he be better on defense? I don't recall his foot speed being high, but he also didn't need it in that era like he would today.

one thing i notice with these euros from back then is that they didnt really seem to take the athletic training part of the game seriously. Like if you look at jokic,sabonis, luka, bogdan, theyve all made signifigant strides on their mobility and bodies in comparison to what guys did then. and on top of that he could play the 4 in this league and occupy a space akin to what tobias can do on defense for philly who also didnt have any foot speed and improved it some. We also have better hedge and recover schemes for guys that cant switch or drop like curry and i think peja is worth it offensively to do this stuff. In his day, he would be stuck guarding a guy like darius miles, maggette ron artest, mashburn. guys who are kinda trying to break you down off thebounce. In today's game, you just put him on whoever the 3nD guy who isnt allowed to dribble more than 2 times and ask him to try not to eff up rotations/help responsibilities. Hes still 6'9 with good length, speed and stamina. He can get 6 rebounds a game and be fine since we get rebounding from so many other posistions now. a guy like hart is grabbing 8.

Him and russ with a big like say ayton would be an extrmely tough out.

Sorry but Westbrook, Ayton, and Peja? Man that team is giving up 130 a night without 2 serious defensive monsters lol.

But yeah i could see him improving some there today. I also don't recall his wingspan. If he wasn't pretty wide, that would also limit him. I'd add he wasn't really bad back then, due to his height anyway. But today if he gets caught in a switch setting,I think you could target him more.

Michael Jordan · Post #17 » by **Michael Jordan** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:53 pm

More 3pt FGA meaning more PPG.

Same with Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, etc.

Lockdown504090 · Post #18 » by **Lockdown504090** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:01 pm

dhsilv2 wrote:
Lockdown504090 wrote:
dhsilv2 wrote:
Why would he be better on defense? I don't recall his foot speed being high, but he also didn't need it in that era like he would today.

one thing i notice with these euros from back then is that they didnt really seem to take the athletic training part of the game seriously. Like if you look at jokic,sabonis, luka, bogdan, theyve all made signifigant strides on their mobility and bodies in comparison to what guys did then. and on top of that he could play the 4 in this league and occupy a space akin to what tobias can do on defense for philly who also didnt have any foot speed and improved it some. We also have better hedge and recover schemes for guys that cant switch or drop like curry and i think peja is worth it offensively to do this stuff. In his day, he would be stuck guarding a guy like darius miles, maggette ron artest, mashburn. guys who are kinda trying to break you down off thebounce. In today's game, you just put him on whoever the 3nD guy who isnt allowed to dribble more than 2 times and ask him to try not to eff up rotations/help responsibilities. Hes still 6'9 with good length, speed and stamina. He can get 6 rebounds a game and be fine since we get rebounding from so many other posistions now. a guy like hart is grabbing 8.

Him and russ with a big like say ayton would be an extrmely tough out.

Sorry but Westbrook, Ayton, and Peja? Man that team is giving up 130 a night without 2 serious defensive monsters lol.

But yeah i could see him improving some there today. I also don't recall his wingspan. If he wasn't pretty wide, that would also limit him. I'd add he wasn't really bad back then, due to his height anyway. But today if he gets caught in a switch setting,I think you could target him more.

his sons about 6'6 -6'7 with a 6'10 wingspan, based on what i can tell peja is hovering around 7 foot ws. yeah, i think he can cover some 3s and 4s with how many of them dont really do anything with the ball. but like i think switching sometimes on a guy like bane from mephis would be his ceilling defensively. juice is probably worth the squeeze though, Im watching the shots he can make... its going to be hard to stop him from getting off 10 good 3s. hes going to get fouled plenty too with how little space he needs. he could go crazy if you put him in duncan robinsons role when he was playing well and he could do better as a overall player.

ItsDanger · Post #19 » by **ItsDanger** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:12 pm

Not about Peja, but these 3 discuss the differences between eras.

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SFour · Post #20 » by **SFour** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:13 pm

a few days ago I randomly learned he has a kid (instagram).....could potentially make it to the NBA so you might get your answer.

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