My first reaction to the trade of Kendrick Perkins was outrage and confusion, as it seemed the Celtics gave away their best defensive player for no reason. Some would say Kevin Garnett is the Celtic’s best defense player, but Perkins has youth and has not yet reached his full potential . Garnett is the defensive leader unquestionably and is the more versatile defender, however Perkins is that enforcer down low. Perk is someone who can defend any center or power forward in the league with his brute physicality. Yet what seemed worse than losing their best interior defender in KP-43, was disrupting team chemistry.
This trade makrs the end of the starting five that had never lost a playoff series, and a tight knit group that played for one another. This trade disrupts such a close relationship between a group of men that won a championship together. Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and many others in the organization saw Perkins come into the league out of high school at age 18. Perkins would grow into one of the best centers in the NBA and help raise the Celtics' 17th Championship Banner. Kevin Garnett's comment: "it feels like we lost a family member" tells you just how close these players are. Now it is time to say goodbye to a part of this team, a key cog in the Celtic machine that churned out a championship and nearly another, falling short in game 7 of the NBA Finals.You have to feel for Perk who suffered a horrible season ending injury in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and you've got respect how hard he battled to rehab and get back out on the court this season. It is time to say goodbye to what so many of us thought was the strength of the 2010-2011 Boston Celtics, the Bigs. The front line of big men Shaquille O’neal, Kendrick Perkins, and Kevin Garnett that was going to nullify the size of the Lakers, Orlando’s Dwight Howard, and any other front line in the NBA. However, after simmering for a few days on this trade, I've come to understand that we are all just suffering from a little bit of Perkins separation anxiety.
The fans of Boston and his teamates loved Kendrick Perkins and it is sad to see him go, but its time to remember to trust Danny Ainge. A risk taker indeed at the General Manager position, but don't forget he is the magaican who transformed a 24 win team into NBA Champions (seemingly overnight). Yes, the vaunted front line is no more, and yes the team chemistry has taken a major blow, and yes the Big 5 will never have a chance to defend their title, but they are better now. Many (including myself) believe that if Perkins does not tear his ACL in Game 6, that the Boston Celtics would have prevailed over the Lakers. In that series the victor of each game won the battle of the boards, and the Celtics were outrebounded easily without Perkins in Game 7. This was the mission in the off-season: To overload the team with size and rebounders, and never be out muscled by a bigger team again.
Danny Ainge added free agent centers Shaq and Jermaine O'neal, and drafted 7'0 Semih Erden from Turkey. This was done so that never again would his team lose the rebounding battle in a playoff series. This was also in conjunction with the return of a healthy Perkins, but now he and Erden have both been traded away. The reason why this trade seemed so outlandish at first is because it seemed that Ainge had abaonded his plan of amassing rebounders.
Ainge cleared out roster spots for a reason and now the Celtics have added Troy Murphy, who is a proven rebounder and a skilled offense player to boot. The Celtics also replaced Semih Erden with another seven footer in Nenad Kristic, and had inside knowledge on the health of the O'neals. Shaq will be returning soon and Jermaine is on his way to being back on the court by the end of March. In the end these trades made the Celtics a much better offensive team, restored team depth, and finally ended the two year search for a replacement of James Posey.
In the 2007/2008 Championship winning season the Celtics had a wing player in Posey that could defend the Lebron James' and Kobe Bryants' of the NBA. In addtion they had someone reliable to knock down clutch outside shots. Most importantly they had a player who could spell Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, keeping the veterans fresh for closing out games. Yes, it does remain to be seen if Jeff Green can execute this very role, but he possesses superior atlethic talent (that Posey never had). Also, Green is taller, longer, bigger, and is starter material, as Posey was always a bench player. Taking nothing away from Posey who Iis an elilte sixth man, Green is simply a suped up verison of J.P. who averages more points, rebounds, and has serious untapped potential (in only his fourth year). Green averages 14.2 points per game along with 5.7 rebounds and was the third scoring option behind two superstar players on the Thunder.
The Celtics have improved greatly with these new acqusitions, and as sad as it feels to say goodbye to Kendrick Perkins, this team is better. The Celtics unquestionably got weaker on defense, but at the same time became exponetially better offensively. With big men Kristic and Murphy (who are forever more skilled than Perk offensively) the number one defense in the league (91.3 ppg) may have lost some muscle, but the team has gained rebounding, outside shooting, inside scoring, and most importantly healthy bodies.
It is importnat to remember that Kendrick did decline a contract offer from Boston eariler in the season and he got a far more lucrative from Oklahoma City (36 million over four years). He is also going to a great Western Conference team that was in desperate need of a defensive center like Perkins. Once the Separation anxiety subsides and the wins start rolling in, fans and teammates alike will move on.
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3 comments:
Well written. But we wont really know how good or bad things will get until playoffs are over.
The Patriot blog is a masterpiece!!Worthy of a magazine article
Agree with the analysis. Perk was a great role player but definitley replaceable. I agree that the biggest danger is the disruption of the chemistry but with a lot of upside potential on the flipside.
Also, the bad side of Perk seemed to worsen with the injury : slow decision making, slow getting to the hoop, puts ball on floor too much, can't get the ball in the net and did I say, slow? Then, he injures his healthy knee, probably because he was favoring it. You are right that Ainge knows what he's doing. He's improved the roster, now it's time for Doc and the new comers to commit to finding this new team's chemistry by playoff time.
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