NIkola Pekovic

[Krapinsky]

I am really getting frustrated and aggravated by fans in these forums. Here I am trying to give helpful and useful info to you fans that really know nothing at all about this guy and at EVERY STEP I am called out and argued with. Forget about any more updates or info on Pekovic from me.

Love the info. Aprreciate the info. It's jsut your opinions that don't carry much weight.

Edit: sorry this was mean, but before i was just trying to help you from being antagonized and then you started whining, so i had no choice but to scold you.

[4ho5ive]

well when you dont bring any proof to the table its hard to believe anything you are saying. Not calling you a liar, but a link or something would be helpful.

[tvwolves7]

I would agree the updates are great. The issue I see he will have, which will be short term, is his physical play will cause a lot of foul problems. I have no idea if the european league calls ticky tack fouls, but I guarantee that the NBA will be calling a lot of ticky tack fouls on an aggressive/bruiser rookie.

On another note, talkbasket I would not take it personally. I had to take a double take myself when you stated he has a 50/50 chance of being an all-star. As of right now Al Jefferson is not an all-star. Your statement entails he will have to play to at Al Jefferson's current level or above to ever make an all-star squad.

Lastly, I do not doubt that he will be offered a good amount of money from both leagues. But as it stands right now, he plays so limited minutes its hard to see him getting more then MLE. Unless his minutes go up from now until then because of what you stated; playing better D and being a better rebounder.

[Calinks]

Talkbasket today is the first I have heard of you but I too appreciate the info. We could use a good liaison between the NBA and euro league to update us players we are looking at. Thank you for the information and don't hesitate to drop off tidbits of information. People are just wary of some of your assumptions and statements. We have seen player like Love and Marc Gasol a fair amount and it doesn't seem likely to us that our second round pick Pekovic could be flat out better than them already. If he is and if he does come here though that would be fantastic.

[skorff26]

Pekovic isn't as good as Love. Talkbasket has the opinion that there is more talent in the Euroleague than in the NBA (which is untrue).
If Pekovic was as good as Love then someone would have picked him a lot higher in the draft (if he was a lottery player than there is a chance that he would have come over anyway). Also Love has made big strides this year while Pekovic hasn't improved nearly as much.

So Love has improved more than Pekovic in the last year; so Pekovic would have to have been a lot better than Love at the draft; and he would have then been a top 5 pick.

[Krapinsky]

Pekovic isn't as good as Love. Talkbasket has the opinion that there is more talent in the Euroleague than in the NBA (which is untrue).
If Pekovic was as good as Love then someone would have picked him a lot higher in the draft (if he was a lottery player than there is a chance that he would have come over anyway). Also Love has made big strides this year while Pekovic hasn't improved nearly as much.

So Love has improved more than Pekovic in the last year; so Pekovic would have to have been a lot better than Love at the draft; and he would have then been a top 5 pick.

I believe Pekovic made it known that he did not want to be picked in the first round because he did not want to be locked into the rookie scale

[revprodeji]

Love the info. Aprreciate the info. It's jsut your opinions that don't carry much weight.

Edit: sorry this was mean, but before i was just trying to help you from being antagonized and then you started whining, so i had no choice but to scold you.

The guy has seen more Pekovic games than you have seen DeRozan highlights. He is in the small handful of euro fans that actually know something about the euro league and their players. He does come off rough sometimes, but his opinions about a euro prospect carry a great amount of weight.

[KWSN-Men]

rev, I think someone asked if he could speak English. He can very well, so you can see this because Euroleague posted his post game interview. So as you can see English is no problem for him because he has very good English.

http://euroleague2008.infrontams.biz/pu ... hp?id=3104

[mnWI]

Talkbasket is a delusional Euro-homer who has already been banned from realgm under a different name.

[TrentTuckerForever]

I read the other thread... talkbasket at one point says:

"He's a poor defender by Euroleague standards but so is Dwight Howard."

If he's really gone I won't miss him. All a statement like that says to me is that he doesn't have any perspective on NBA vs. Euroleague (i.e. the poor defenders in the Euroleague are better than all-NBA defenders like Howard.) What we're most interested in as Wolves' fans is how he might look in the NBA. If talkbasket feels Howard is a poor defender I'm not that interested in his other opinions. Quite possible he's as ignorant of the NBA game as he claims we all are of the Euroleague.

[KWSN-Men]

Talkbasket today is the first I have heard of you but I too appreciate the info. We could use a good liaison between the NBA and euro league to update us players we are looking at. Thank you for the information and don't hesitate to drop off tidbits of information. People are just wary of some of your assumptions and statements. We have seen player like Love and Marc Gasol a fair amount and it doesn't seem likely to us that our second round pick Pekovic could be flat out better than them already. If he is and if he does come here though that would be fantastic.

Well, I think rebounding wise Love is better. Defense wise and shot blocking wise Marc Gasol is better. Offense wise neither of them can touch Pekovic. Overall as players, I do believe Pekovic is better than those guys, who are also pretty good. Let me put it this way, in Greece his nickname is "The Montenegrin Rapist" because he is basically raping opposing teams. He is not a perfect player by any means, but for his age and just this being his first year ever in a big Euroleague club........this guy is quite impressive, believe me.

His big problems are foul trouble and turnovers. He is much like Howard and Yao were having the same problems a lot with this when they were younger. I think in a couple years he would grow out of that.

[revprodeji]

Pekovic isn't as good as Love. Talkbasket has the opinion that there is more talent in the Euroleague than in the NBA (which is untrue).
If Pekovic was as good as Love then someone would have picked him a lot higher in the draft (if he was a lottery player than there is a chance that he would have come over anyway). Also Love has made big strides this year while Pekovic hasn't improved nearly as much.

So Love has improved more than Pekovic in the last year; so Pekovic would have to have been a lot better than Love at the draft; and he would have then been a top 5 pick.

Pekovic was considered a top-10 talent that year. I have read a couple things that say he would be easily top-5 this year. As a 2nd rd pick we can negotiate his contract. As a 1st he is stuck in a rookie slot.

Talkbasket does not think there is more talent in the euro. He thinks there is better basketball. Better defense, better coaching and better intensity. It is an honest argument. Pekovic is a very different player than Love, but Pekovic is incredible at what he does. His strength, intensity, left hand, Pek/Role are all upper-NBA tools. He is a below avg defender by euro standards, but is average by NBA standards. If anything his defense (*due to coaching) is better than Al/love. Pek gets good position as a rebounder and would be one of the best on most teams--but here we have dominate rebounders. Pek would have been a great player next to KG. He will be a great player with us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqke9iE19O0

When/If he comes over he is an equal in rotation/Minutes with Love. Hopefully we add some decent guards because this kid is real. He is a bigger part of our future then Foye or Gomes.

If you use Hollinger's system..

Scoring rate decreases 25 percent
• Rebound rate increases by 18 percent (there are more missed shots in NBA play)
• Assist rate increases by 31 percent (Euro scorers are tightwads with assists)
• Shooting percentage drops by 12 percent
• Overall, PER drops by 30 percent.

Look at these numbers

Pekovic, a rugged 6-11 F/C, was considered to be a mid-first round talent, but fell to Minnesota at #31 (the first pick of the second round) due to contract issues - he is not expected to make his way to the NBA until 2010-11. Considering the relative strengths of the 2008 and 2009 drafts, it's not a stretch to say that Pekovic could be a top 5 pick in this year's draft, though his upside is reduced now that he is 23 years old.
We've caught Pekovic a couple times on the Euroleague Game of the Week on NBA TV and have been impressed. It's a little jarring at first because he sort of resembles a guy like Peja Drobnjak physically, but he is really quite mobile and skilled, with good hands, touch and length, even if he is not the most athletic guy, per se.
...
Pekovic has averaged 13 points and 3.9 rebounds on .636 FG% in just 18.2 minutes per game in Euroleague play, impressive per-36 minute numbers of about 26 and 8.
...
Using [Hollinger's formula], Pekovic's per-40 minute numbers for the NBA look like this: 21.5 pts, 10.1 reb, .560 FG%
His 2007-08 stats translated to this: 18.3 pts, 12.0 reb, .514 FG%. Not bad.
All in all, Pekovic looks like a guy who's a pretty skilled and efficient scorer and rebounder, but not terribly strong on the defensive end. Potentially good news and bad news for Wolves fans, as you can never have enough skilled bigs, but those strengths and weaknesses sound an awful lot like those of Mssrs. Jefferson and Love - Minny could potentially be looking at a lot of 120-115 games in its 2010s.

http://www.canishoopus.com/2009/5/1/860 ... la-pekovic

[KWSN-Men]

Pekovic isn't as good as Love. Talkbasket has the opinion that there is more talent in the Euroleague than in the NBA (which is untrue).
If Pekovic was as good as Love then someone would have picked him a lot higher in the draft (if he was a lottery player than there is a chance that he would have come over anyway). Also Love has made big strides this year while Pekovic hasn't improved nearly as much.

So Love has improved more than Pekovic in the last year; so Pekovic would have to have been a lot better than Love at the draft; and he would have then been a top 5 pick.

I have NEVER said there is more talent in the Euroleague than in the NBA. That is not true and never have I said it.

[KWSN-Men]

Talkbasket is a delusional Euro-homer who has already been banned from realgm under a different name.

See this is it. I'm out, it's just not worth it.

[KWSN-Men]

I read the other thread... talkbasket at one point says:

"He's a poor defender by Euroleague standards but so is Dwight Howard."

If he's really gone I won't miss him. All a statement like that says to me is that he doesn't have any perspective on NBA vs. Euroleague (i.e. the poor defenders in the Euroleague are better than all-NBA defenders like Howard.) What we're most interested in as Wolves' fans is how he might look in the NBA. If talkbasket feels Howard is a poor defender I'm not that interested in his other opinions. Quite possible he's as ignorant of the NBA game as he claims we all are of the Euroleague.

You don't understand the Euroleague. Howard would be sup-par defense wise in the Euroleague because he's a real big man. You have to be able to guard on the perimeter in Europe as a big man. I am through though trying to explain everything to NBA fans. You guys are the kings of stereotyping and blanket statements.

[revprodeji]

Talkbasket is a delusional Euro-homer who has already been banned from realgm under a different name.

Even if you think he is a homer, he has watched plenty of Pekovic to offer more than most. Most of us are limited to DX, youtube and the occasional article.

[Krapinsky]

Love the info. Aprreciate the info. It's jsut your opinions that don't carry much weight.

Edit: sorry this was mean, but before i was just trying to help you from being antagonized and then you started whining, so i had no choice but to scold you.

The guy has seen more Pekovic games than you have seen DeRozan highlights. He is in the small handful of euro fans that actually know something about the euro league and their players. He does come off rough sometimes, but his opinions about a euro prospect carry a great amount of weight.

I think you're underestimating my love for Derozan here.

[4ho5ive]

Pekovic isn't as good as Love. Talkbasket has the opinion that there is more talent in the Euroleague than in the NBA (which is untrue).
If Pekovic was as good as Love then someone would have picked him a lot higher in the draft (if he was a lottery player than there is a chance that he would have come over anyway). Also Love has made big strides this year while Pekovic hasn't improved nearly as much.

So Love has improved more than Pekovic in the last year; so Pekovic would have to have been a lot better than Love at the draft; and he would have then been a top 5 pick.

Pekovic was considered a top-10 talent that year. I have read a couple things that say he would be easily top-5 this year. As a 2nd rd pick we can negotiate his contract. As a 1st he is stuck in a rookie slot.

Im pretty sure i remember reading that Peks was a late lotto pick last year, not a top 10 talent.

[TrentTuckerForever]

You don't understand the Euroleague. Howard would be sup-par defense wise in the Euroleague because he's a real big man. You have to be able to guard on the perimeter in Europe as a big man. I am through though trying to explain everything to NBA fans. You guys are the kings of stereotyping and blanket statements.

I thought you were gone? Well if not, allow me to explain my stereotyping and blanket statements. See, most people that post here, on the message board of an NBA team, don't watch the Euroleague. We either don't have the opportunity or don't care to. We watch the NBA.

You watch a player who was drafted by an NBA team. We want to know how that player would look IN THE NBA. We don't want to be lectured about Euroleague defense. We want to know how Pekovic would look playing defense in the NBA. You obviously don't know that (because you claim that Dwight Howard can't defend the perimeter), but instead of saying that you don't know, or that your experience in watching Pekovic does not, in your opinion, translate to the NBA game, you say that we're morons.

If you'd like to post here, please understand that our questions come from the perspective that we actually care about - the NBA perspective. That doesn't make us insensitive, uninformed or prejudiced. It makes us NBA fans first. Your transparent baiting of people into arguments about the NBA vs. Euroleague is better suited for the International board or the Stupid, Pointless Arguments board.

[mnWI]

Talkbasket is a delusional Euro-homer who has already been banned from realgm under a different name.

See this is it. I'm out, it's just not worth it.

Yep, you are so done with me. Again. Good luck finding that ignore button this time. At least I'm nice enough not to rat you out about your old identity. Hopefully someday you'll get over yourself.