The nationwide fascination with the Kendrick Perkins trade around the NBA world is crazy to me.
Judging by the way many people around the NBA are acting (who by the way, have forgotten more basketball than I will ever know) you would think the Thunder just acquired one of the league’s elite centers.
Forget the fact Perkins isn’t even healthy yet, I’m strictly talking about what I‘ve seen from him on the court for nearly a decade dating back to his high school days.
When did Kendrick Perkins become an elite center rather that just another guy?
I’ve followed Perkins for years and in my opinion he’s closer to Erick Dampier than he is Tyson Chandler.
The Thunder needed an inside presence on both ends of the court, not just on defense.
When I discussed the trade with legendary Mavs play-by play guy and basketball/sports junkie, Chuck Cooperstein, he said Perkins’ ability to set screens could be a valuable asset to the Thunder and could free up more shots.
The ironic thing about that statement is that “setting good screens” was a hidden asset Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle used to credit Dampier with during his time in Dallas.
We’ve all seen Dampier play offense.
Perkins is an offensive liability and the recent post-trade reaction has exposed him as an overrated defender as well.
When the Celtics were at their best in the playoffs Perkins averaged six points, six rebounds and one block.
Stats aren’t everything, but what’s more alarming is that Perkins consistently struggled to stay out of foul trouble despite playing behind arguably the league’s best defensive point guard (Rondo) and power forward (Garnett).
Perkins was on the court 25 minutes per-contest in Boston’s two deepest playoff runs. To put that in perspective; that’s about four minutes more than Shaq was on the court for Cleveland last postseason.
There’s no disputing that having a center that can give six fouls in the postseason can be valuable, but it isn’t as valuable as people around the NBA are making it.
Is it worth trading your third best player, who also happens to be a team captain?
Oklahoma City and a lot of NBA people seem to think so, I respectfully disagree.
When people see a player perform in the postseason they tend to overrated their importance. Also knows as the Al Davis disease. See: Larry Brown and Desmond Howard signings.
The Thunder will now rely on the streaky shooting of James Harden in crunch time; will play 4 on 5 on offense and are worse today than they were a week ago.
Mavs Perspective
Oklahoma City’s trade is a homeless man’s version of the move the Mavs made last year when they traded Josh Howard for Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler.
The Mavs acquired an inside presence in Haywood, who might be better than Perkins, but were able to get back equal scoring production for Howard in Butler.
It would be like if the Mavericks gave up Howard, but only got Haywood in return.
The Thunder gave up scoring, but got none back.
Scoring might not have been a problem in Oklahoma City before the trade, but it will become one now.
Bold Prediction: The Thunder will fail to replace Green’s production, be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and Perkins will struggle to make a big difference, but “health” will be used as a bailout excuse by the people currently onboard with the trade.
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