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Nikola Pekovic

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oasis05

oasis05

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With Love off the market, the Cavs are expected to make a play for Wolves center Nikola Pekovic, a restricted free agent. That’s no surprise — as Pekovic is exactly the type of pick-setting, rebounding and scoring inside presence the Cavs could use. - FOX SPORTS OHIO
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With monroe, drummond, boozer, noah, hibbert, david west, the cavs lack of beef up front is notable. Minnesota lists him at 6'11 290 pounds. Could be the size the cavaliers are looking for to compete in the central. Asik has decent size, but 7' 255 doesn't really make us big. Cavaliers are fairly mobile up front, but lack the 'bruiser' that pekovic obviously is. We don't have an interior scorer that can just bully his way for dunks and lay ups. Could be a big fight with minnesota coming up.
 
Cavs could sign Pekovic for as high as 12-13 million per year and still have room for a 20 million max deal next summer, as long as they don't sign anyone else this summer to anything more than a one year deal and provided they can deal Andy and Gee for expiring contracts at the trade deadline or for 2nd rd picks before the draft next year.

So they could pitch a MAX FA the opportunity to come in and play with:
Kyrie
Pekovic
Tristan
Dion
Bennett
Karasev
Zeller
our 2014 first rund pick
+ after signing said MAX player, we would have the 2.6 million room exception and the veterans minimum to add pieces
In addition to that, we'd still have a plethora of future draft picks to continue to add to the talent base or use in a trade for established talent.
 
As I posted in the Asik thread, I slightly prefer Asik only because he's a better defender (and a year younger). And in that sense, I think, fits a little better with the needs of our current roster. But Pek does have one major advantage: if we signed him it would be to a new contract, presumably 4 years which is 2 years longer than Asik's current deal. Asik expires right around the earliest time we could be in true contention. He might re-up, he might not. We'd control Pek without any worry of him bolting right through the heart of our projected "peak" years of this contention cycle. That's certainly worth something.
 
highlight video of his offensive moves.
[video=youtube;PhR5Dnuu_pg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhR5Dnuu_pg[/video]

Looks pretty right hand dominant. Youtube does show video of him working on his left hand, though I don;t recall him going to his left hand in games. The 290 listing is probably similar to Garnett's 6'11 listing. the guys arms are thicker than the other players legs. His arms are likely twice as thick as noel's legs.:chuckles: He doesn't really look too bad on defense, might be underrated by the timberwolves not playing any defense. He runs back on defense, looks pretty slow defending the perimeter, but not sure what you expect from 300 pounds. He has low defensive rebound number, but does box out. Probably haven't had a player this physically imposing since vitaly. Sign me up.

I think the comparisons to Al Jefferson are unsound. This guy is a decent defensive player.
 
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Will be interesting to see what the Twolfs do, do they really want 30+ million locked up in Love, Pekovic and Williams?
 
Wolves already said they are going to keep Pekovic.

I think that is code for saying we are going to have to offer a ridiculous amount to get him.
 
I think he's a player you sit down with and discuss terms. He's great at the right price and the right contract structure. CG needs to decide how much he's willing to value him at and not get caught trying to out bid. Minnesota will match but that just makes them vulnerable cap wise in 2014/15. The new CBA requires expert cap management
 
If Flip wants any chance of keeping Kevin Love, letting Pek go would be a really bad way to start.

I think that is why you are seeing him say he is essentially going to match any offer for Pek.
 
Pek seems even more awkward than Andy.
 
I think portland will be going after him as well.
But if we can get Pek, this would be one of the best offseasons in a while.
Then we sit and let 2014 roll in.
 
I agree, we can get Pek, then trade Andy this year at the trade deadline or release him in the offseason to get enough cap for 2014. I think if you can sign Pek, we would not need to sign any other FA players. Maybe a few 1 year deals, but I like the front court with Pek and TT. We could then have Andy as the high energy 6th man, and maybe even start Bennent at the 3.
 
I just don't know how we get Pek.

It sounds like the Minnesota owner is not going to go full on max on him, but it sounds like they plan on matching any reasonable deal.

Wouldn't that stand to reason Grant would have to make him an outrageous offer to get Minnesota not to match? I don't see him willing to do that.
 
Offer him a contract that Grant deems appropriate and let Minny decide if they want to match. I would rather not over-pay and if Minny does match they lose flexibility with their cap and it makes it even more likely that, should they have a bad season, they would consider dealing Love, or even Pek himself. Just don't over-pay.
 
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