Kendrick Perkins Out Up To Six Weeks

[jonathanlambert33]

Kendrick Perkins will be out up to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a left groin strain.

Perkins sustained the injury last Thursday against the Miami Heat.

Perkins has appeared in 54 games (all starts) averaging 3.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 19.7 minutes per contest.

Via RealGM Staff Report

 

[Pugz]

he needs to be out for his career. dude is a bum

 

[jonathanlambert33]

He would be useful elsewhere, he just doesn't fit what OKC wants to do offensively or defensively. The guy is still one of the better defensive centers in the league.

 

[elcheato]

this guy is still one of the worst players in the league

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Maybe in relative terms of his contract, but if all players were making the same money, that simply is not true.

 

[Pugz]

he can't help a team at all, offensively, and hes probably one of the worst dudes to have in a lockeroom. hes an egomaniac, and has a crummy attitude.

 

[Elite]

If you thought they were better without Russy, watch how much better they are without this fuckhead.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I can't believe I'm sticking up for the guy, but all we hear is stories. Do we have any real evidence that he damages a locker room? There's two sides to every story, and we've heard both sides of what you said, and then him actually being a good teammate and an all around nice guy. I don't think his demeanor on the court really tells you anything about the person he is behind closed doors.

I can remember when the Hornets acquired Robin Lopez, I heard all kind of stories about him. How he has a bad temper, isn't particularly liked, etc. Turns out, none of that stuff was true. He was one of the nicest guys in the locker room, and probably one of the most well liked guys in the locker room.

You're right about the offense, fwiw. But I could name a number of centers that don't bring nothing to a team offensively.

 

[Pugz]

this dude takes shots at all of the leagues best as if he even sniffs their talents. being around that will just bring you down because you'll wonder what he thinks of you. ill never have respect for this asshole.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

At the same time, do you think anyone cares what Perkins thinks of them?

I get what you're saying, I don't like the guy either, I guess I'm just playing devils advocate lol

 

[Pugz]

you don't want teammates hating one another.

 

[elcheato]

I truly don't believe he helps that much defensively, either. And he's not that good of a rebounder.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I truly don't believe he helps that much defensively, either. And he's not that good of a rebounder.

I made the comment earlier that Perks does not fit what Oklahoma City wants to do defensively. They are more than likely one of the top three most disruptive defenses in the entire league. They bring pressure as hard and as far out as any other team in the league. They use their bigs to not only hedge hard or ice PnRs, but they also use them to frequently bring traps on the ball, especially along the sideline. They preach no middle, they jam the roll man with a help defender harder than any other team in the league, and they always have a guard (usually the helper) or swingman coming to the nail. They also switch screens more often that the majority of teams in the league, and I'm not talking just on ball screens like high screens, spread screens, shake screens, etc, but they also switch off ball screens everywhere on the court as well.

Does any of that sound like something that fits Kendrick Perkins? He would be much better suited for defenses who are more passive (or "old school") who don't rely on helping so much, or pressuring so much. Chicago, Memphis, and Indiana come to mind. Though Chicago doesn't really fit into the no middle category. Memphis and especially Indiana preach squaring your man up nomatter where he is on the floor, they want to be directly between the ball and the basket. Those teams don't really ask their bigs to be mobile and hedge high on screens either. Their coverages are predicated on helping, but also staying home. They want to lend a small amount of support, but also want to stay at home. They like to shadow the ball handler, with minimal help on the roll man.

 

[footballplaya52]

 

 

[BwareDWare94]

So....does Steven Adams take his starting job for good?

 

[elcheato]

I made the comment earlier that Perks does not fit what Oklahoma City wants to do defensively. They are more than likely one of the top three most disruptive defenses in the entire league. They bring pressure as hard and as far out as any other team in the league. They use their bigs to not only hedge hard or ice PnRs, but they also use them to frequently bring traps on the ball, especially along the sideline. They preach no middle, they jam the roll man with a help defender harder than any other team in the league, and they always have a guard (usually the helper) or swingman coming to the nail. They also switch screens more often that the majority of teams in the league, and I'm not talking just on ball screens like high screens, spread screens, shake screens, etc, but they also switch off ball screens everywhere on the court as well.

Does any of that sound like something that fits Kendrick Perkins? He would be much better suited for defenses who are more passive (or "old school") who don't rely on helping so much, or pressuring so much. Chicago, Memphis, and Indiana come to mind. Though Chicago doesn't really fit into the no middle category. Memphis and especially Indiana preach squaring your man up nomatter where he is on the floor, they want to be directly between the ball and the basket. Those teams don't really ask their bigs to be mobile and hedge high on screens either. Their coverages are predicated on helping, but also staying home. They want to lend a small amount of support, but also want to stay at home. They like to shadow the ball handler, with minimal help on the roll man.

In an "old school" defense, I still don't want him. If you aren't going to rely on help on the perimeter, there is going to be dribble penetration, and I don't want Perkins as my last line of defense. I feel as if he's always been an overrated one on one defender too, which was always what everyone leaned on with him. "Oh he can body up Dwight!" He's slow, unathletic, not versatile on defense, among other things. I wouldn't want him other than as my 5th big

 

[jonathanlambert33]

In an "old school" defense, I still don't want him. If you aren't going to rely on help on the perimeter, there is going to be dribble penetration, and I don't want Perkins as my last line of defense. I feel as if he's always been an overrated one on one defender too, which was always what everyone leaned on with him. "Oh he can body up Dwight!" He's slow, unathletic, not versatile on defense, among other things. I wouldn't want him other than as my 5th big

Every team relies on help on the perimeter, it's just a matter of how aggressive their help is. Normally a step or two (depending on how good the outside shooter is) would you be average help, but some teams take it further. Every team sends a man to the nail, but OKC for example has their help two or three steps further off their man because they feel they can get back in time to contest. Indiana uses the ball and basket method, while having their help defenders a step or two off. Close enough to help off dribble penetration, close enough to recover.

You say he's slow and unathletic as if that's a huge negative. I know everyone wants the flashy big who can come from the weakside to reject shots at the rim, or a guy that can sky over the offense to grab boards, but some of the leagues best big defenders, even in the league today, are the lumbering types who don't necessarily move well but they understand where they need to be, and their instincts do a lot of the work for them. Maybe Perk isn't the most graceful on his feet, but I'm watching him against guys like Dirk, Aldridge, Kaman, Vucecic, etc and he's doing a good job on them. He gets great position defensively, his footwork is really solid, and his instincts and quickness are at work to let him contest shots. I saw guys like Dirk, Aldridge, and Kaman trying to pump fake and jab step him into oblivion and it wasn't happening and it resulted in poor attempts. How slow and unathletic you are doesn't matter if your instincts are good enough to still beat guys to a spot, and that's something I saw him do time and time again in what I've watched of him.

The numbers back that up too. He's still one of the best post defenders in the league allowing just 31% shooting, while forcing a turnover 11% of the time. His roll defense is good as well, allowing 39% shooting. All numbers that are very comparable, and in some cases better, than guys like Roy Hibbert, Marc Gasol, and Dwight Howard. They also all allow a worse shooting percentage at the rim than Perkins, which I would say means he's a pretty solid last line of defense.