Kendrick Perkins - Canton's Enforcer

[kookoo]

OKC is terribly coached. Westbrook and Durant are the only reason that team wins any games. I know it's been a while since he's been on a team with a good coach, but I can see him doing well here in limited minutes. Any coach can get good minutes out of superstars. Good coaches get good minutes from less talented players.

 

[Scar4343]

You're using a basic NBA.com stat to prove your point. The stats and link I posted are adjusted for who the individual player is playing with and then some. Look at the link you posted, Serge Ibaka is at the top. You think Perkins might benefit from playing next to the best shot blocker and help defender in the league? If basic NBA.com stats were sufficient enough the NBA wouldn't hire teams of MIT math wiz's to work on analytics..... sigh.

It never ceases to amaze me how conveniently people use stats and specifically small sample sizes to bolster arguments.

Perkins sucks. Everyone will be whining about him in no time. Enforcers are overrated. The spurs have won 5 championships without an enforcer. Give me a good basketball player any day over an enforcer, who can barely dribble and shoot.

I can't wait until a Tristan, Perkins, Delly lineup blows a 20 point lead and everyone comes in here whining.

Ill say it again, hes a fine insurance policy, but he should NOT be playing 15-20 minutes a game and it's not even a discussion.

Bolded and underlined, this is something I acknowledged in my post... Of course, this wouldn't explain why OKC's defensive points per posession was better with Perkins on the floor than Ibaka but whatever. You'll just reject any stats that anyone brings up. They don't fit your agenda.

Look, I get it. You hate Perkins. It's cool bro.

You have your panties in a bunch for no damn reason. There is no damn way that Tristan, Delly, Perkins will see enough minutes together to blow a 20 damn point lead.

Good lord, son..... all the damn red herrings and shit. Who the hell is saying he's going to carry the offense or play 15-20 minutes a game. No one.

By the way, didn't realize you were an MIT math wiz, kudos.

I'll enjoy watching the rest of the season and the playoffs. You keep on freaking out about our 9th or 10th man.

Edit: Changed defensive +/- in the first paragraph to defensive points per possession. I misremembered which one it was. Here's the link so I don't get accused of "making up stats" again: http://www.82games.com/1415/1415OKC1.HTM

 

[CLEfan330]

How the hell are people complaining about getting Perkins for free? My how some of you have short memories of the past 5 years. We are talking 4th big off the bench! I'm not sure who some of you expected to be able to acquire. Of all the options he's the best option for this team.

 

[cavsfever]

Perkins as the ninth or tenth guy on your team (after starting five and TT, Shump, Delly, hopefully Marion if he can fix his injury) is a pretty good thing to have as an emergency extra body. But have people watched him in the playoffs with OKC? He's just sooo bad now. It's most noticeable on offense where he actively screws up but he is really pretty slow and immobile on defense too. I just find it painful to watch him.

But hey, he's better than Haywood, and he can body up people in the post. Perkins represents some actual depth in the sense that he can give you bench minutes in something besides a blowout regular season win over the Knicks and not have the sky fall in. So unlike Gourimoko I don't view this as a bad move exactly. Just not too excited about it and he's not a guy I will particularly enjoy watching in a Cavs uniform.

 

[mrbeaks]

I believe it was Ben - somewhere back ten pages or so (apologies if I'm wrong) - who said Perkins might not be happy w/ DNPs. That concerns me, because the Cavs are zipping along tight now, and he couldn't be a worse fit for their style of play. There will be nights where there will be no use for him outside of garbage time. Will he put up with this without complaining. If so, cool. Otherwise... I mean, Gour nailed it with the playoff stats, but just use your eyes: do you see how a plodding, below-average player on both ends of the floor helps this team? The Cavs don't need an "enforcer". If a grizzly bear runs on the court and mauls LeBron, perhaps I'll change my tune. But until that tragic day, I'll trust the flagrant foul system to keep the game from turning into a Royal Rumble.

Again, if Perk is cool with a drastically reduced role, then fine. But if this guy is asked to contribute in a meaningful way... well, you'll see.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I actually think the Cavs do need an enforcer. There have been several games where someone was hard fouled and we just don't have that guy that runs up and gets in the face of the guy who deals the hard foul, or gives a hard foul in return. Teams need a guy like that.

 

[cavsfever]

I believe it was Ben - somewhere back ten pages or so (apologies if I'm wrong) - who said Perkins might not be happy w/ DNPs. That concerns me, because the Cavs are zipping along tight now, and he couldn't be a worse fit for their style of play. There will be nights where there will be no use for him outside of garbage time. Will he put up with this without complaining. If so, cool. Otherwise... I mean, Gour nailed it with the playoff stats, but just use your eyes: do you see how a plodding, below-average player on both ends of the floor helps this team? The Cavs don't need an "enforcer". If a grizzly bear runs on the court and mauls LeBron, perhaps I'll change my tune. But until that tragic day, I'll trust the flagrant foul system to keep the game from turning into a Royal Rumble.

Again, if Perk is cool with a drastically reduced role, then fine. But if this guy is asked to contribute in a meaningful way... well, you'll see.

Yep. Blatt needs to put him at the end of the bench, break glass in case of emergency slot. Hopefully he will be OK with that, and hopefully Lebron didn't promise him more.

I think Lebron tends to be overly impressed with guys who were good once upon a time. Perkins was pretty solid on those Celtics teams that went to the finals and played an important role for them -- arguably if he hadn't gotten injured in the 2010 finals then that team wins two titles and not one. But man has his game fallen off.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

Perk is just really bad. Hope he doesnt take anyone's minutes. I'd prefer not to play him if we have a choice.

Who's mins will he take? Jones, Haywood? He is here as the 4th big and won't be anywhere close to the floor in tight games(outside injury). It is depth and he can help take mins in games like today that is a blow out. Also to compare him at the thunder vs here is not fair. Different systems and will be asked to do a different role.

 

[Jordan]

Here's my viewpoint on the Perkins trade:

From reading this entire thread and looking over 82games and basketball reference it seems to me Perkins is still a solid defender directly under the basket, is worth 6 fouls, has been a great leader and teammate everywhere he has played, and is 6'11. On the other hand, he is very bad in stretch D situations, cannot play big minutes, highly limited offensively, and does not have a super high upside.

My take, therefore, is that he is a guy who when we play against teams that run out two, slow bigs, can play 15-20 good minutes per night. Against an Atlanta, San Antonio, etc. it may be better for him to not play at all. I think he has his place on the team, and will look better against OKC, but I don't think he is a true "rim protector" anymore. In my mind, that's fine, because we have Mozgov.

 

[theSTEREO.]

Nate Jones on Twitter often brings up that people rarely take the human element into account with NBA teams, and it's a huge factor.

Is Perkins better that your typical replacement center at this point in his career? Maybe not by much. Maybe in some areas and not in others.

But the one undisputed fact is that the players he's played with and the organizations hes been with have been fiercely loyal to him, and have pained to let him go. Even OKC hung on time after time to Perk, even when they could have amnestied him years ago with little penalty, even when fans and media mocked Perk for his declining skills. Both OKC and Boston only traded him in the end when the chance to grab a young potential franchise pillar (Jeff Green, Enes Kanter) popped up.

So maybe Thomas Robinson could have had some sort of intangible upside, maybe Dalembert would've been more durable, maybe Jermaine Oneal would've blocked more shots. But as many have pointed out, Perk is a terrific teammate and a rock in the locker room, on the practice floor, on the bench and on the floor, and who can show off a ring and a deep playoff resume when a player might question his advice. It's the same reason we see Miller, Jones, a and Marion's corpses still on this roster despite our ability to easily waive them.

After all of our troubles this year, the value of strong veteran leadership should be blindingly obvious.

 

[CosmoKramer]

But why does our 4th big have to be in his prime?

Because that's the last time he was worth being on an NBA court.

Perk peaked in his early 20's in a perfect situation for him in Boston, after he tore his ligaments in his knee in Game 6 of the 2010 Finals he's never been the same player. OKC got a shell of the two-way center Perk became playing around the Big 3 in Boston, I don't think enough posters realize the drop in his game since the injury.

In his final two seasons as a Celtic Perkins was a consistent 10/9 threat with 2 blocks a game in 28 minutes a night. That's right in line with what Mozgov is currently giving us, which is telling of how important Perkins' game was to Boston's success. Compare that to the player he was in OKC. He barely averaged more than 5 points a game for the Thunder at his best, and despite still playing over 25 minutes a night his rebounding and block numbers plummeted. He's just never been the same player.

In '08-'09 he was tying Yao Ming for 6th most blocks in the league and swatting 2.6 shots a night in the playoffs during a Celtics' Finals run. His last two playoff trips with OKC saw him block 11 shots in a combined 594 minutes, which is about as bad for a non-offensive threat rim-protecting big man as you can get. This guy will not become more valuable when the playoffs roll around, he'll become even more of a burden against good teams.

Hopefully he's not too upset when his ten minutes dries up come playoff time, our eight-man rotation has looked excellent over the past month and half. We've looked great with Love [35], TT [28], and Mozgov [28] soaking up over 90% of available big minutes, and that's not even factoring in any minutes for the best small ball PF in the NBA in LeBron James. Why fix what's not broken?

I can get behind this as shaky insurance against a Mozgov injury, but I genuinely hope Perk is buried on the bench apart from blowouts. His leadership can help us from there.

 

[Jack Brickman]

As far as Robinson goes, I just don't see his fit on this team. Yeah, he may have some hypothetical "upside," but what need does he fill? He's basically just a destitute man's Tristan Thompson, and we already have a regular Tristan Thompson. What this team needs is a backup center, not another backup power forward. Perkins isn't a great player at this point in his career by any means, but he can provide some decent defense at the five if Mozgov gets into foul trouble.

As long as he spends most of his time on the court with Kevin Love, I'm not terribly concerned and think he'll fit in really well in the fourth big role.

 

[Notorious]

I believe it was Ben - somewhere back ten pages or so (apologies if I'm wrong) - who said Perkins might not be happy w/ DNPs. That concerns me, because the Cavs are zipping along tight now, and he couldn't be a worse fit for their style of play. There will be nights where there will be no use for him outside of garbage time. Will he put up with this without complaining. If so, cool. Otherwise... I mean, Gour nailed it with the playoff stats, but just use your eyes: do you see how a plodding, below-average player on both ends of the floor helps this team? The Cavs don't need an "enforcer". If a grizzly bear runs on the court and mauls LeBron, perhaps I'll change my tune. But until that tragic day, I'll trust the flagrant foul system to keep the game from turning into a Royal Rumble.

Again, if Perk is cool with a drastically reduced role, then fine. But if this guy is asked to contribute in a meaningful way... well, you'll see.

Maybe you should watch videos of the Heat vs. the Pacers and the Bulls the last few years. Things ramp up in the playoffs.

 

[Rick Astley]

OKC fans have trashed him time and time again for not being the 9m player that he is and not being the one traded during the Harden fiasco. If you wanna know his real value, just ask yourself why Chicago tried to sway him away from Cavs even though they have a ton of frontcourt players and where he's not gonna see any court time.

 

[DatDudeZ3]

The only way Perkins will disappoint you is if you have absurd expectations... Like if you expect him to be the 4th big off the bench and average 5 ppg and 7 rpg, you will be disappointed... He's like Delly, he can have a great game and not even show up in the stat sheet. I'm excited for Perkins to bring us toughness and defensive presence down low. K Love, Mozzy, TT and Perk is a hell of a big rotation.