Kendrick Perkins Traded to OKC

[BleacherBum2310]

I think the Celts are still the favorites to win the East, the Gap is alot closer though. I think this trade hurts them the Most against Orlando.. There aren't that many dominant Centers in the league anyway so I think they'll be fine, Chicago and Miami, I think Garnett could do a good Job on Bosh/Boozer.

I wasn't thrilled w/ this trade but it gives them versatility on the Offensive side of the Ball.. and Who knows Green might be a good defensive player on the Celts.. Ray Allen wasn't the greatest defensive player when he came to Boston a few years ago.

[TheMatrix31]

Quote: Originally Posted by Altimus

Losing game 7 had little to nothing to do with Perkins.

I don't know about that. LA was playing like crap, really bad.... and only back got in the game because they were outrebounding the hell out of Boston. Second chance points got them back in.

[ex carrabba fan]

Yes I would like to hear the explanation of that statement. Perkins had little to do with them losing game 7? Really?

Here's an interesting article:

Finally, Oklahoma City's two trades carry more than on-court ramifications.

Not only did they bring in talented centres and a good backup guard for expendable pieces; they also opened up some financial flexibility. After restructuring Nick Collison's contract earlier in the season, the Thunder found themselves right at the salary cap line, below it by mere pittance. Their two deals, though, have seen them open up $2,056,512 in cap room that they did not previously have.

This is significant for one simple reason.

Earlier in the season, Boston offered Kenny Perkins a contract extension, which he declined. Perkins said no because the extension that the Celtics offered, whilst the maximum they were allowed to offer under CBA extension rules, was probably lower than what Perkins could corral in the summertime on the open market. But by creating this small amount of cap room, OKC can now offer him a bigger extension than Boston could.

NBA contracts are only renegotiable if

a) they're going upwards, and
b) the team has cap room.

Because teams so rarely have cap room, and because it rarely behooves teams to pay their already-under-contract players more money, it almost ever happens. Indeed, before this season, I could not name you a single occurrence of it happening; it probably has at some point, yet that's a testament to how rare it is.

However, in this modern, sabermetric, MIT-laden internet-era NBA, executives are far more cap creative than they used to be. Therefore, this barely-used strategy has been used twice far already this season. Washington used their leftover cap room to increase Andray Blatche's salary, almost doubling his pay over the final two seasons of his contract and simultaneously tacking on a three year extension. Rather than chancing losing him on the 2012 open market, the team tied him in for five years for a total of $35,730,997, tying down a productive young player for a significant period of time. The Thunder themselves later one-upped this move with a $17.55 million extension for Collison that deliberately, humorously and yet craftily made him the fourth highest paid centre in the world ($13,670,000), behind only Amare Stoudemire ($16,486,611), Dwight Howard ($16,647,180) and Yao Ming ($17,686,100).

By simultaneously acquiring cap space with the underpaid Kenny Perk, OKC can now do a Baltche with him. OKC can use their cap space to renegotiate Perkins's current $4,640,208 salary up to as much $6,696,720. From there, they can concurrently offer a new four year extension totalling a a maximum of $33,818,436, or any number below that that they feel happier with.

Add in the extra negotiated salary, and that's over $35 million for four years that OKC can theoretically offer him, as-near-as-is $9 million per. In contrast, Boston could only offer circa $6 million per. It's a significant difference.

If Perkins thinks he can get that much on the open market, he's wrong. He's not even worth that much, especially with his current injury concerns. Yet if OKC anticipates his return to full health, and wants to tie in the defensive centrepiece that they have thus far lacked during the entire Kevin Durant era without running the risk of him hitting the open market, they can do so right now.

But they'll also have to do so right now.

Because there's a problem.

They only have until March 1st to do it.

So they'd better impress him quickly.

[bigeastbumrush]

Quote: Originally Posted by JBH3

It doesn't push them out of the "Championship conversation" because they were already the conversation in the east without Perkins. There's not another Eastern power that has a dominant big. At this point I don't think anyone is looking at Orlando, and getting scared of facing them. I thought the Magic would've excelled, but they've just fizzled.

You were saying...?

[Moses Shuttlesworth]

Celtics will be fine. As much as it hurts to see Perk leave, I've come to the realization that this board is always wrong.

[ex carrabba fan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moses Shuttlesworth

Celtics will be fine. As much as it hurts to see Perk leave, I've come to the realization that this board is always wrong.

WTH? hahahahahaha

I'm almost certain this board always has two sides of every issue. So I have no clue as to how you could rationalize such a dumb statement.

[Altimus]

Shouldn't have put little but I believe his impact is overrated.

Perkins played 5 full games. In those fives games here is the difference in rebounds for Boston.

(REB) = Perkins

-11 (3)
+5 (6) (Rondo 12)
-8 (11)
+7 (7)
+1 (7)

Does he make an impact? Yes. Is it a series changing impact, I don't believe so.

Bynum was MIA in the series offensively and seemed little to do with Perkins. Gasol's production didn't seem to improve in the two games without Perkins either based on the series.

As I said, we'll see but I don't think it is a doom and gloom trade.

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

Well like I said I see both sides. When you look around at who got what recently.... I mean jesus. I still won't feel bad for him if he doesn't see that money next year but at the same time I can't say he overestimated his value at all.

True, it is all relative.

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

Yeah I wouldn't go that far, but I would say that they aren't the same lock that they were before this. As for his worth in game 7, playoff basketball, especially a that stage of the game is all about defense and rebounding. Having over 30 rebounds between Gasol and Kobe in a defensive struggle of a game like that is huge. Second chance points are killer. If you're giving them up the other team is likely killing you and if you can keep the possesion alive snatching down the board in a game where the defenses are making dudes work they're asses off, that's huge. But whatever let's continue glossing over that aspect of ball for the Carmelos of the world cause they're good at putting the ball in the basket.

I don't think they were ever a "lock". They were the favorites and I think they still are.

As for last year's game 7 (and any game for that matter), it's next man up. The coach and team adjust their game plan to fit the players they have available. You can't just look at it like Perkins would've made up the difference in rebounding. What did the players that got his minutes contribute that Perkins wouldn't have? How were the other players used differently to be successful without him? It's pretty much impossible to measure all of those things, but we do know that the game went down to the wire, so the adjustments they made seemed to work pretty well. To say Perkins would've canceled out the rebounding while assuming everything else would remain the same, is basically suggesting that with Perkins, the Celtics would've blown out the Lakers in game 7. I really, really hope nobody actually believes that.