1) If you want a backup center, draft Pekovic (if he agrees to join next season), not a college guy. And don't spend the 30# in an european prospect, trade down if that's the goal.
2) If not, draft a solid sg/sf ready to take TA's minutes next season.
3) Just trade it.
hard to find a big guy at #30 in America with impact possibility. European guy makes sense from cap perspective and development perspective. Certainly they should not draft an inferior guy at #30 because he is a foreigner, but if there is a lottery talent at #30 because of buyout concerns, you should not hesitate to pull the trigger. Pekovic is a good selection (if he is this level of talent) regardless of when he can show up. I'd rather not stage fire sales with the pick like Phoenix does.
as far as taking Allen's minutes? I am more intrigued by letting a veteran do that.
The thing with Pekovik is that he's not the prototypical draft'n'stash guy (and besides that, he's really atypical for a euro big). I wouldn't say he's got lottery level talent (I wouldn't be very assertive stating the opposite as well), because probably he'll never be more than a solid backup/bellow average starter in the NBA, if he ever shows up.
On the other hand, he's already there: he completely outplayed Splitter, who will almost certainly be the 1st big from the bench or a starter for San Antonio next season, or every other big man in Europe, including former NCAA champions and NBA players; if he was playing in the NCAA last season, he would be inflicting tremendous damage there, putting 40/20 games night in night out with little effort (mostly because he already has 2 season playing pros under his belt, of course). He's the only guy available at the 30th who could have an impact since day one.
The downside is that his game is almost simplistic and very physical: he gets position in the paint, he receives the ball and he scores in the offensive end; he outmuscles, contest the shot of his opponent and rebounds in the other end. I think he'd be able to overcome the fact that he'd be facing bigger bodies and faster players in the NBA to some extent, because he's really a great executer and a hard worker. He can only offer you bread and butter, but he's astoundingly good doing it. And he's not a stiff. But he's far from the "athletic freak with raw skills" or the "skinny/ unathletic but skillful" guy who are usually drafted and stashed. Or maybe, with proper coaching and without the pressure of having to lead his team to wins, he can add some other things to his game; he's a late bloomer and only 21. I don't know... Anyway, he'll most certainly be one of the most well-payed players in Europe in the short-term (if not the most), and I have a hard time believing he'll leave that for a rookie contract in the NBA. I'll try to write a post about the european prospects in this draft during this week.
About TA's minutes: as long as we keep Posey, I'd rather have a veteran as a pg/combo guard, and then have a rookie able to handle some minutes and garbage time at the 2 and the 3. Something like this:
Rondo/veteran/Pruitt (House/Cassell?)
Ray/veteran/House?/rookie
Pierce/Posey/rookie
