How much would you pay for Nikola Peković?

He is a very good big, and given a different venue he could be to us what Memo Okur was to the Jazz once he left the Pistons. I would be a liar if I didn't think he would be a solid signing, as he would allow Robin to move to the bench, giving us a great starting 5, and an even better bench.

I would throw $10 mil his way, but not much more than that. What would you pay him?

Hmm never thought of it like that with Lopez moving to the bench, always somehow assumed that Lopez would be dealt if we acquired another starting 5.

As I've said before I'd throw money at Pek before I throw it at Jennings or Bledsoe. He's a monster and would pair up with Davis SO well.

There is absolutely no reason to move Lopez. Why people think we need to do that is beyond me. He has a great contract, and is performing very well. You keep him, not move him.

So what do you do with Smith?

$12m-13m. I'm willing to overpay slightly because I think he's a perfect frontcourt mate for AD, and would instantly make this a tougher and better rebounding team. In that situation, would move Robin or Jason Smith for wing help or a point. Probably Robin, as in that scenario I value Jason's P&R defense and spacing over Rolo's efficient post scoring.

I would love to hang on to Lopez in this scenario. However I would also love an upgrade at Pg therefore I'd be willing to move him say for Bledsoe or whomever. I think smith is a sufficient bench 5.

But to your question 12 is my max. 10 is my preference but I think that will be matched.

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

There is absolutely no reason to move Lopez. Why people think we need to do that is beyond me. He has a great contract, and is performing very well. You keep him, not move him.

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I like Lopez, he's a good player on a good deal. Those are the attributes that make him a valuable asset to either keep or trade. In this situation, he's a 4th big behind 3 extremely good players, which isn't neccessarily a good use of that value. You could keep him in, his contract isn't that excessive for a 4th big, but it's diminishing returns at that position when there are other holes on the roster. In this situation, he's an ideal trade chip.

I would be giving up a few inches in height, but gaining a good bit in versatility if I took a good hard look at J.J. Hickson in lieu of Pekovic...or how about Hickson and an additional solid 25 lbs. on AD as well?

Hickson is more versatile than Pekovic positionally (4/5 vs. true 5), but in terms of skillets, I don't think so.

Is Pek really that big of an upgrade to the Front Court of Lopez, Anderson, Smith, and Davis?

Unless we are planning to move Lopez and Smith, why do we need to spend 12 million on Pek?

This season stats for Pek:

Vs the NBA:

31.4 MPG
51% FG
8.7 RPG
16 PPG

Vs the Hornets

30 MPG
67% FG
5.5 RPG
24.5 PPG

No wonder people here think he is worth 10+ million. They see him destroy the Hornets and thinks he is a world beater.

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Originally Posted by Inner_GI

This season stats for Pek:

Vs the NBA:

31.4 MPG
51% FG
8.7 RPG
16 PPG

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Even with those numbers he is worth 10+ million. Maybe not to us, but someone will pay him

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Originally Posted by Emilio

Even with those numbers he is worth 10+ million. Maybe not to us, but someone will pay him

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I agree, but if we have Lopez and Smith on this team, I think I could find other pieces I'd be willing to pay 10 million dollars to.

I don't think we need him. SF and PG are more questionable.

I actually don't have a problem with Lopez and those line drives he throws at the rim. But Pek would be a huge upgrade in terms of rebounding. I'd give him 10M.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2174/pekovic.gif





Max.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

I don't think we need him. SF and PG are more questionable.

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This. Smith is perfectly fine as a 2nd big off the bench. I think we can find someone to fill that last big spot for a lot cheaper on the FA market. Just an inside presence. A banger who gets boards. I don't think Pek offers THAT much of an upgrade. We have bigger holes.

Pass.

I like the bigs we have on this team. That being said, 10 mil a year for Pek with the idea that Lopez will be moved for more parts. I like Smith better as the back-up to Pek in this scenario as he can play the 4 or 5.

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Originally Posted by Savagetaint

I like the bigs we have on this team. That being said, 10 mil a year for Pek with the idea that Lopez will be moved for more parts. I like Smith better as the back-up to Pek in this scenario as he can play the 4 or 5.

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Which is exactly what he does now... we don't need another 4 when we've got Davis/Anderson playing there. Smith is almost exclusively a 5 now, as was Monty's plan all off season. He rarely plays w/ Lopez and is the pick and pop C option.

I'd rather keep Lopez and Smith for the price of 1 Pek and a new Big.

He is a starting caliber center on a championship team. No one is pushing this dude around down low. he is part of the zod trio(superman reference) for gods sake. In this league, it is almost impossible to get a top notch guy if you don't draft him. Is it the biggest weakness on our team- heck no. But it is an upgrade where the only asset we lose is money. We can still upgrade the other positions with other moves and pieces. This would just shore up our 2,4,5. We still need starting caliber 3 and upgrade at 1, with 3 being the most crucial.

There is more than one way we can build a successful team. This is just one route I think is plausible.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

I don't think we need him. SF and PG are more questionable.

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this

I'm still in the boat that Davis will be our future starting center with Anderson starting at power, so pass on Pek in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

I don't think we need him. SF and PG are more questionable.

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Agreed. I'm keeping an eye on Miller though. He showed a lot of good things last night.

FYI, Wolves are playing the Spurs on ESPN and the commentators are raving about this guy. The are continuously talking about how big he is and his ability.

Regardless of what position Davis and Anderson are labeled under ... how is Pekovic going to be on the court in the last seconds of the game on this future Pelicans team? We can't take Davis or Anderson off the court with the game on the line. If coach thinks they can all be on the court, I'd be cool with it, but I just can't see how we wouldn't be at a disadvantage vs. a team with athletic swingmen (which is pretty much the playoffs)

Our $$ has to be spent on our backcourt.

The money should be spent on a SF!

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Originally Posted by Primetime

Regardless of what position Davis and Anderson are labeled under ... how is Pekovic going to be on the court in the last seconds of the game on this future Pelicans team? We can't take Davis or Anderson off the court with the game on the line. If coach thinks they can all be on the court, I'd be cool with it, but I just can't see how we wouldn't be at a disadvantage vs. a team with athletic swingmen (which is pretty much the playoffs)

Our $$ has to be spent on our backcourt.

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Pekovic is the answer. You go with the guy who can create his own offense, rebound, and shoot a high percentage late in games.

Would love to have that monster down low. I'm sick of teams scoring in the post so easily on us. I like Lopez, but if we could get Pek I would be fine moving Robin to fill some more pressing needs.

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Originally Posted by LAedwardo87

Would love to have that monster down low. I'm sick of teams scoring in the post so easily on us. I like Lopez, but if we could get Pek I would be fine moving Robin to fill some more pressing needs.

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If that's what you want I'm not really sure Pek is the guy for that.

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Originally Posted by AD23forMVP

If that's what you want I'm not really sure Pek is the guy for that.

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No? I don't really know how he fairs on defense. I would assume he would be a solid anchor in the post and allow AD to roam around and get blocks. But he would definitely be a big upgrade in offense and rebounding.

I will never understand the love for Pekovic on this board. We need to spend our money on a SF... Robin Lopez's deal is great and we don't need to move him now.

"We need to spend on a SF" sounds great in the abstract, but what are you really saying? Your options are
1. Spend the entirety of the $15-16 million on Iguodala (if he exercises his ETO) or Josh Smith (if you are operating under the same delusion that he is a perimeter player that he is). Luol Deng is probably available for our pick, and is also priced in this tier. I don't necessarily agree with doing this for a couple of reasons, but okay.
2. Spend a smaller sum (like probably 5-6 million) on a guy like Cory Brewer, Earl Clark, Chase Budinger or Nick Young and use the remainder of cap space on a guy like Jeff Teague around like 9 million per. I don't think this represents a massive improvement, but it's certainly a realistic option.
3. Bargain-bin hunt. The Aminus, Martell Websters, Dorrell Wrights of the world should cost around 2-3 million per year. Unless we we feel like having a very depressing offseason, this would be paired with a big signing like Pekovic or Brandon Jennings.
4. Trade some asset for another small forward. This could be paired with option 3. Our tradable assets at this point in time in decreasing value are Ryan Anderson, our 1st round pick, Robin Lopez or Greivis Vasquez (not sure who is more valuable to teams), Jason Smith, Eric Gordon (may have negative value), Austin Rivers (may have negative value). This expands our options significantly depending on who we trade.
5. Draft a guy. This isn't really spending, and would need to be paired with one or more of the above.

I guess I typed this out because I got frustrated with the vagueness of "pay a small forward". There's more than one way to build a team, but there are few good options at small forward for us to throw much money at in the current free agency market.

Supposedly Evan Turner is on the block.

People talk about how Granger would be a bad pick up because he is pushing 30, and is a fringe all star. What the hell is Andre Iguodala? He is also pushing 30, has been to 1 all star game, and instead of Granger's ability to hit the long ball you are trading that in for AI's def. and jumping?

It's like saying you prefer vomit over crapping your pants.

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

It's like saying you prefer vomit over crapping your pants.

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It's true... I'd rather vomit than crap my pants. lol I don't think I want to pay 15-17 million for Vomit though.

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Originally Posted by Inner_GI

It's true... I'd rather vomit than crap my pants. lol I don't think I want to pay 15-17 million for Vomit though.

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But you would pay $15-$17 to crap your pants.

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

People talk about how Granger would be a bad pick up because he is pushing 30, and is a fringe all star. What the hell is Andre Iguodala? He is also pushing 30, has been to 1 all star game, and instead of Granger's ability to hit the long ball you are trading that in for AI's def. and jumping?

It's like saying you prefer vomit over crapping your pants.

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Dude, you can't compare Granger to Iguodala! Smh....

I'll pass on both but if I had to choose, I'll take Iggy!

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Originally Posted by BallSoHard

Supposedly Evan Turner is on the block.

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That's an interesting thought. What do you think they'd want?

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Originally Posted by BIGBREED

Dude, you can't compare Granger to Iguodala! Smh....

I'll pass on both but if I had to choose, I'll take Iggy!

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It's not that hard to compare the two. I think some people have this false sense of amazement with AI, but they are the same guy. 1 all star appearance between them. Both excell at one thing. Hurray!

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

It's not that hard to compare the two. I think some people have this false sense of amazement with AI, but they are the same guy. 1 all star appearance between them. Both excell at one thing. Hurray!

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I don't know what you look at or even know how much you understand basic basketball info, but

Iggy is more athletic, better defender, more versatile as a player, more impactful offensively and defensively to any team. Iggy has better footwork, more speed on the wing and on the break, plus his game is well respected in the Basketball community to have been selected to represent the USA men's basketball team as a member!

Granger has had a pretty good career but he's an overachiever! Great guy who's maxed out on his abilities. Gotta love that about him, but he and Iggy are not the same buddy! #StopIt

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

It's not that hard to compare the two. I think some people have this false sense of amazement with AI, but they are the same guy. 1 all star appearance between them. Both excell at one thing. Hurray!

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This is just wrong, wrong wrong. I feel like you would be the guy that ranks QBs in the NFL via Superbowl wins.

Go read this:

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...andre-iguodala

I am assuming you guys don't follow Granger, so we will leave it there.

Great deflection. :hihi:

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

But you would pay $15-$17 to crap your pants.

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No way Granger is worth 15-17 million.

Never said Granger is worth $15-$17 mil. He is worth $12-$13 based on what he gives you on offense, and defense, but he is not an elite player. And neither is AI.

Main difference between Granger and Iggy is that Granger's health is a serious concern. Iggy's is not. And Iggy is probably the best perimeter defender in the league, even now. That won't be going anywhere in a year or two.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Main difference between Granger and Iggy is that Granger's health is a serious concern. Iggy's is not. And Iggy is probably the best perimeter defender in the league, even now. That won't be going anywhere in a year or two.

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Granger's health is an issue now, but his shot is what has made his career, not speed, or hops.

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

I am assuming you guys don't follow Granger, so we will leave it there.

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And it's obvious that while following Granger, you never left the state of Indiana!




FYI:
I follow basketball players from High School/AAU, to College and well into the Pro's

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

Granger's health is an issue now, but his shot is what has made his career, not speed, or hops.

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I know. I'm just saying. But good as a healthy Granger is, I don't think anyone would say he's the best in the league at anything.