Nikola Pekovic’s contract, Tiago Splitter

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The most pressing free agency question before the San Antonio Spurs is whether they’ll sign Tiago Splitter this month. And with that question comes another, how much will he cost them?

By most accounts, Tiago Splitter is the best big in Europe. Nikola Pekovic is another prominent Euro big, and a player who is often in the same conversation as Splitter and Yiannis Bourousis. They’re the cream of the crop of non-NBA centers.

Chad Ford is reporting that the Wolves, who own the rights to Pekovic, have reached an a agreement that will bring the Montenegrin to Minnesota next season. Pekovic’s deal may provide a model for the Spurs-and Splitter’s agent may use it to set the Brazilian big man’s market value.

How much better is Splitter than Pekovic? How does his market value compare to Pekovic’s? Pekovic’s deal is said to guarantee 13 million over 3 years. Roughly 4.3 million a season. D0 the Spurs offer Splitter a contract just north of that number, retaining a sliver of MLE for themselves? Or must the Spurs now offer Splitter the full MLE? Does Pekovic’s contract artificially inflate Splitter’s value?

My best guess is that Pekovic’s contract solidifies Splitter’s claim on the full MLE, but that it doesn’t somehow put the Spurs out of his market. We’ll see. The silver lining is that Nikola Pekovic’s contract with Minnesota has provided a baseline for the Spurs/Splitter negotiations.

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  • doggydogworld

    Does it help to retain a sliver of the MLE? A penny saved is a penny earned, as they say, but from a cap/tax perspective it seems like the vet min is more useful than a similarly-sized sliver of MLE.

  • http://www.poundingtherock.com Tim C

    Spurs need to get this thing done ASAP, if they haven’t already had a verbal agreement. Then focus on bringing in a SF, whether it’s Jefferson or a decent enough replacement. This is going to be a fun free agency period.

  • doggydogworld

    BTW, local sportscasters said there was no June moratorium against talking to Tiago because he wasn’t technically a free agent. I assume that means we’ve been able to sign him at any time. So why no contract yet? Or is it already signed and just not announced?

  • Tyler

    @ doggydogworld

    Splitter just finished up his season. Like any other job, you want to give the guy time to decompress before you put the full court press on. I wouldn’t read into it too much.

    And from a negotiation standpoint, you want to make him feel like he’s wanted, but you also don’t want to make it look like you’re desperate.

  • Manu G.

    Pekovic is not serbian, he is Montenigrian basketball player!!!!!

  • Bryan

    Yet further proof that David Kahn is an idiot.

  • Hobson13

    Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, now Nikola Pekovic. How many bigs do the Twolves need? Sure wish we could get Big Al.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Timothy Varner

    Kahn just signed Darko to something approaching mid-level money. Basically, he prefers Darko to Jefferson, who is not certain to be traded. Ladies and gentlemen, David Kahn.

  • Bryan

    He’s just trying to attain a glut of guys at several positions. Drafted 2 PG’s back-to-back last season, drafted something like 3 SF’s in this draft after trading for one, and now working on overpaying for his posts. As Borat would say, “Niiiiiice.”

  • Jim Henderson

    I’ve heard Kahn interviewed on a few occasions. He’s quite articulate, and seems like a smart guy (despite his blunders with the T-Wolves). That said, can somebody explain to me this, most of them CENTERS:

    A. Jefferson - 6’10”
    K. Love - 6’10”
    D. Milicic - 7’0″
    N. Pekovic - 6’11”
    R. Hollins - 7’0″
    O. Pecherov - 7’0″ (not sure if resigned)
    N. Jawai - 6’10” (not sure if resigned)

    What is this? Throw a bunch of centers against the wall and see if any stick? Is there any rhyme or reason here?

    As far as Splitter & the MLE: Peckov’s signing does artificially inflate Splitter’s value. That said, we need to offer him what ever we think he’s worth to us and just get on with it. We need to ascertain what money we actually have for free agency so that we can be proactive in making other deals. I don’t think we should spend much time quibbling over giving Splitter 5.0, 5.5 mil., or full MLE, leaving us with either zero, 1.0 or 1.5 mil. left to sign another player. The 1-1.5 mil. is pretty close to the average vet minimum anyway, and there’s no real restrictions there. Let’s just get Splitter signed and get it out of the way, or look for someone else for the MLE, before all the “good” ones are gone. This is BS, waiting around, hog-tied.

  • Bryan

    You’re probably right there, Jim. Just get the guy signed without worrying too much about whether you are giving him and extra 1/2 or full million per season. Get it done and address the SF.

  • Bushka

    David Kahn is operating at a level beyond the ken of mortal men apparently..I think he and Chris Wallace in Memphis are communicating via tin foil hats. Rudy Gay a max contract???? Makes Joe Johnson look like great value. Makes Manu’s new deal this year an absolute steal.

    I cannot for a second understand where Kahn is driving the Timberwolves free agent bus.

    It’s like he wants to build two teams at once so they can play each other in scrimmages during the off season…He wants to be four deep at all positions.

    The other crazy thing is that he is pitching to David Lee….Is that still happening? He is planning on playing 4 PF’s and Ricky Rubio. With Pecherov and a dozen SF’s coming off the bench.

    Nathan Jawai was playing in the D League for Sioux City last time i looked. I pay attention because he is nominally of Aussie Heritage and thus we share a deeply personal bond…

    Tiago gets the max and much as Tim posted, he either gets it soon or we go get a wing.

    I love him, think he is the absolute must have, but if we have to wait for him all month and then he blows it we really really get screwed.

    The only other option that would negate this is the signing of R.J to a long term actual player value contract, would give us a lot of breathing room.

  • Filipe

    It’s not right compare Pekovic and Splitter despite both being Euro bigs: Pekovic is a very good back to basket scorer (best one in Europe probably), but rebounds worse than Bargnani and can’t guard a chair. He is an all O, no D player. It’s hard to get a feeling of how much Spurs might offer Splitter from Pekovic contrct.

  • Bushka

    I think Filipe that even though he is not ideal, he is still a Euro Big coming to the NBA. The most we can give is the MLE so its either applicable or not.

    The thing that puzzles me here, is Splitter has to know that the MLE is his top dollar achievable right now, so why is this taking any time at all? Are they negotiating the years only? Do we have any tweetage?

  • Jim Henderson

    Bushka
    July 1st, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    “David Kahn is operating at a level beyond the ken of mortal men apparently..I think he and Chris Wallace in Memphis are communicating via tin foil hats………..it’s like he wants to build two teams at once so they can play each other in scrimmages during the off season…He wants to be four deep at all positions.”

    That’s a good one, Bushka!

    Filipe
    July 1st, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    Well, based on what you just said, it sure looks like we’d be pushing the full MLE for him. Bottom-line: offer him what we think he’s worth up to the MLE - tell him we need to move on this, that we’ve got other moves to make that are critical to the franchise, and give him a time deadline - if he balks, pursue other options. Then, we can either look for another player or two for the MLE, and another one for the LLE, or if Splitter is hung up on a $ problem with the full MLE, see if his market value is higher, and consider offering his rights in a trade to a team that is interested in him & has cap space. Either way, enough of this sitting on our hands. We need some movement by early next week (when the big guys probably start to move), or our risk of missing out keeps going up. As I’ve said previously, I’d offer the full LLE right now to Joel Anthony, while Miami still needs all the cash they can get to lure in the big names. This is not rocket science. We need a young athletic “rim protector”, with or without Splitter. You’re not going to get a better one for the price. Lets just do it, and hope that Anthony accepts it. Let’s be smart, but decisive!

  • Miguel

    I hate to break it to you, but once again, Splitter is NOT the best big man in Europe. He’s the best big man in SPAIN. Not in “Europe”. HUGE difference.

    Spain is just ONE country in Europe.

    And to be honest about it, in Spain he is the best currently, but not the most talented. Ante Tomic who plays in Spain is a much bigger talent than Splitter is.

    In Europe, the best center is hands down Ioannis Bourousis. And truth be told, Splitter is no better than other centers in Europe like Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Aleks Maric and so forth.

    All this “Splitter is universally regarded as the best center in Europe” crap is ridiculous. US media is such a joke. Splitter has never been known throughout Europe as the best big man on the continent. I can assure you of that. If the Spurs say otherwise then they are just full of it.

    Splitter is a great player, and easily will be a starter in the NBA. I mean EASILY. But he is not this one of a kind unseen center in Europe. It’s really comical how all these “reports” just totally make up such ridiculous BS and make absurd claims like that.

  • http://www.google.com Dev

    hope splitter comes..a big guy but doesn’t look physical enough to compete with bigs from LA/magic…looks like spurs will be an international team eventually.

  • Bryan

    Wait a minute, Miguel? Europe ISN’T a country? What, exactly, is Spain? Never heard of it.

    What’s wrong with the US and its media?

  • Nick (Italy)

    @ Miguel

    I agree in general with you on Splitter, but Batiste (still a great player at Euro level) is definitely worse than him…

  • Jim Henderson

    Miguel
    July 1st, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    “In Europe, the best center is hands down Ioannis Bourousis. And truth be told, Splitter is no better than other centers in Europe like Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Aleks Maric and so forth.”

    There’s no way that Bourousis is the “best center hands down”. In fact, none of the guys that you mentioned is a better all-around player than Splitter, with the possible exception of Maric. And Batiste is 33 years old, so you can’t really say he’s comparable, even if you wanted to (which I don’t), in terms of current day NBA value. I do agree that there is several centers in Europe that are close to Splitter. It’s not like Splitter is the God of centers in Europe. In fact, Maric is a better rebounder, and did beat Splitter out for 1st team All-Euroleague in 2009-2010.

  • J

    If Splitter wants to play in the NBA, he has to work it out with the Spurs. He doesn’t get to talk to multiple teams and go to the highest bidder. The Spurs need to offer him a fair deal so he isn’t unhappy out of the gate or decide to stay in Europe. The Spurs are about $4M under the cap with Jefferson opting out, and between that and the $2M small exception, they should be able to sign Splitter without using any of the MLE.

  • J

    The Spur’s brain trust seems to agree with Miguel in that it has been reported that the Spurs have offered Ioannis Bourousis a contract:

    http://www.interbasket.net/news/2009/06/06/greek-center-ioannis-bourousis-to-nba-spurs/

  • J
  • Jim Henderson

    J
    July 2nd, 2010 at 7:38 pm

    “If Splitter wants to play in the NBA, he has to work it out with the Spurs. He doesn’t get to talk to multiple teams and go to the highest bidder.”

    Who’s suggesting that “Splitter” gets to solicit his services to the highest bidder?

    “The Spurs need to offer him a fair deal so he isn’t unhappy out of the gate or decide to stay in Europe.”

    Any way you look at it, we can only afford to offer him up to 6 mil. Maybe that’s not enough for him. Then what? If the Spurs can get the right piece back, why not consider a sign & trade with him to a team that has some more cap space?

    The fact is, we need a 6 mil. dollar player added to this team THIS year. We can’t wait around for Splitter forever. We can’t afford to hold onto a non-performing asset interminably, and continue to hope for a day that may never come. No, it’s now or never for Splitter. Either he takes the 6 mil. in the next week, or look to trade his ass. Period!

    J
    July 2nd, 2010 at 7:45 pm

    “The Spur’s brain trust seems to agree with Miguel in that it has been reported that the Spurs have offered Ioannis Bourousis a contract:”

    The link you provided does not indicate that Miguel was right about Bourousis. The article was from a year ago. We drafted Splitter in 2007, believing that he would come over by 2009. When he didn’t, the Spurs probably got impatient, and looked to Bourousis as a potential replacement (and if a deal could be arranged, perhaps looking into trading Splitter’s rights). If anything, this article confirms that Splitter was thought by the Spur FO to be ABOVE Boursousis in the pecking order of Euro centers, since he was drafted 2 years prior to the Boursousis inquiries. In any event, the article certainly does not support the contention that Boursousis is the best Euro center, “hands down”.

  • RaiderEd

    Splitter needs to be here next season or his value starts waning to both the Spurs and the rest of the league in trade value. Jefferson, I hope, does go in a sign and trade for someone like Al Jefferson or David Lee.

  • Miguel

    Jim Henderson has not seen these players in Europe. It is obvious. Bourousis is a better, bigger, stronger, more athletic, more talented version of Okur. He is much more talented than Splitter is.

  • Jim Henderson

    Miguel
    July 6th, 2010 at 1:16 am

    He’s a better SHOOTER, not a “hands down” better player. Otherwise, explain to me why his overall numbers are are about the same as Splitter’s. Also, if Bourousis is so good, why does he only average 16 mpg.?

  • Miguel

    Jim Henderson, clearly from your comments you have no knowledge of anything about the Euroleague.

  • Jim Henderson

    Miguel
    July 7th, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    Miguel, I know how to review tape, I know how to properly assess stats, and I know how to evaluate talent, for both the NBA and the Euroleague.

    Now, what special knowledge do you have about the Euroleague, and by what methods? Perhaps you can share with us your wisdom.

  • Miguel

    Jim, just stop pretending to be an expert when clearly you are not one. Your statements are classic NBA only fan that does not know a thing about the Euroleague, be pretends to know all about it.

    Youtube, draftexpress, NBA marketing, whatever player I heard of, anyone drafted by the NBA, etc……….”Euroleague basketball knowledge”.

    You probably even think Wicky Wubio is the best point guard in Europe (like all NBA fans) when he’s barely even an average level Euroleague player.

    Please spare me the NBA only fans BS. I have heard it a million times and it’s always the same nonsense.

  • rob

    Splitter would be better than any other big on this team not named Duncan.

    So…will he be coming or not?

    Spurs should hope so since there isn’t any other big out there with the youth and comparable talent available to pursue at this time.

  • Jim Henderson

    Miguel
    July 8th, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    You’re an arrogant SOB. ALL you offer is YOUR own godly opinion, never backed up by anything but insults. Why don’t you take YOUR elitist Euroleague expertise and stick it up your ass. That’s where it belongs.

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