- Thunder general manager Sam Presti said acquiring Perkins is not a quick-fix move. “That’s not how I think,” Presti said. “It was more of, ‘We love Perkins. We want to get him in the program. We want to keep him in the program.’ He is so in our DNA.”
- “This is not a ‘win-now’ move,” Presti said. “This is not, ‘Let’s go for it.’ This is us methodically continuing to put pieces in place that we think can help us now and in the future. We traded for Perkins with the intent that he’ll be here for a while.”
- Presti said he is not concerned with Perkins’ health. “No, he’ll be fine,” Presti said. “We’ve reviewed all the medical records. He may miss a few games and we’ll be cautious with him. We’re looking both short-term and long-term here.”
- “Jeff Green is like my son. I love that kid,” Presti said. “This is by far the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make since I started this job.”
- “That was not an objective,” Presti explained. “There were only a couple of players I would consider, and Perkins happened to be one of them. If we could not have gotten Perkins, we would have been happy standing pat (with Green on the roster), but you can’t just get a guy like Kendrick Perkins. You can’t just get guys like that. It will cost you something. He’s a 26-year-old beast. He’s a championship-level, experienced guy, but he’s young. He fits our timeline tremendously.”
61 comments
vandromeda :
Perk extension will be heavily front loaded (with front bonuses), and somewhere in 7-10M$ per range (actually more affordable to OKC long term than spending similar money or more for Green), and he is just 2 years older than Green, but before you even think in this direction …
… could somebody explain to me why you guys think this trade is good for OKC?
On offense he doesn’t exist (you notice him only when he set moving screens), has terrible ball handling (hopefully ball will be never in his hands), and have FT% <60%, his Turnover ratio is terrible. On defense, he has great on man defense, but as a help defender he sucks. His rebounding rate is great, that's true. But he has very bad injury history (major knee reconstruction recently, several shoulder problems, current MCL sprain that could affect the same reconstructed knee), and he is very heavy (although he is not flying around, so I guess that limits chance for injury).
Green is: younger, at least same quality player if not better, with much better injury history. He is misused in OKC, he is obviously pure SF – not a twiner – that is forced to play out of position. But still, OKC gave away better, more healthy, 2 years younger player, middle 1st round lottery pick and depth (on SF and PF positions) for, I will agree, better fit. How is it good trade?
Because Green is unneeded depth, and second as much as low post scoring is nice, the real thing we needed was a Defensive Center who would stick it to others. Why do we need a Scoring Center like Kristic when we have the Leagues leading scorer, and the leading Duo. Not to mention Harden and Ibaka who both can go +15 a game any given night if given the chance to. Its the same reason why boston didn't need him to score.
And from Boston perspective I actually understand this trade.
Expect them to reactivate Sheed (who will spend the last month of regular season + first round of play-off to come into semi-reasonable shape) and to sign 1 PG and 1 big man from buyouts player pool.
Also, Krstic could be more useful for them because he will play with the best defensive PF in league (who is at the same time great help defender) so he will be much more protected on defense. And on offense he is light year better than Perkins.
Perk extension will be heavily front loaded (with front bonuses), and somewhere in 7-10M$ per range (actually more affordable to OKC long term than spending similar money or more for Green), and he is just 2 years older than Green, but before you even think in this direction ...
... could somebody explain to me why you guys think this trade is good for OKC?
On offense he doesn't exist (you notice him only when he set moving screens), has terrible ball handling (hopefully ball will be never in his hands), and have FT% <60%, his Turnover ratio is terrible. On defense, he has great on man defense, but as a help defender he sucks. His rebounding rate is great, that's true. But he has very bad injury history (major knee reconstruction recently, several shoulder problems, current MCL sprain that could affect the same reconstructed knee), and he is very heavy (although he is not flying around, so I guess that limits chance for injury).
Green is: younger, at least same quality player if not better, with much better injury history. He is misused in OKC, he is obviously pure SF - not a twiner - that is forced to play out of position. But still, OKC gave away better, more healthy, 2 years younger player, middle 1st round lottery pick and depth (on SF and PF positions) for, I will agree, better fit. How is it good trade?
@f5alcon
id love to see cook get some more min with thabo at the 3, cook has been doing a great job stretching the floor and hasnt been terrible defensively
"One consideration in making the deal for Ainge was the fact that Perkins was in the final year of his contract and it appeared the two sides weren’t close to an extension. The Celtics had reportedly offered him a four-year, $22 million contract. Perkins was reportedly seeking a deal worth $30 million over that same span."-Peter Forsberg ESPN.com
Sounds like about what we might have had to pay for Green. If Perk stays healthy, is worth that? I say probably yes.
@dream catcher
cook will probably play some SG and thabo behind durant. i doubt they recall mullens but they could if they felt they needed depth, we just need to let dwight get his and stop everybody else
kapono might be nice, but he is definitely a defensive liability, but if he has his stroke goin he could be a nice piece
Durant can't get hurt.
But I'd say they need to use the last roster spot and add another perimeter type forward just in case.
16 of the 19 lineups used 25+ minutes for the season are now gone. So much for that stability. The 3 remaining Ibaka-Collison lineups were positive, 2 barely and 1 very strong but only used 27 minutes. So it is starting almost completely over.
What is our lineup going to look like tomorrow?
Westbrook/Maynor
Sefolosha/Harden
Durant
Collison
Ibaka/Aldrich
?????
the only spot where we are shallow is SF, only durant, harden and thabo can play that position
If you move Thabo and Collison to forward then they have 6 guards, 4 forwards and 4 centers. Maybe split the difference.
If you count Thabo as a guard they have 7 guards, 2 forwards and 5 centers (if you keep Collison here).
so assuming we can re-sign perkins this summer who else should we be looking at acquiring? should we still try and get AV and have a really solid 4/5 combo with those two plus ibaka and collison and trade aldrich for a scorer?
So is anyone else just worn out from today?
Around 1 pm, I almost posted that I'd be glad when the deadline passed because even though I didn't expect the Thunder would make a move, you just have that anticipation. Then it did happen. I'm thrilled, but worn.
@okc baby
rose hasnt looked great, basically like what russ does except the team needs him to be hero mode because there isnt a durant there
@thehitman123
6 10 is tall enough, dwight howard is only an inch taller and nobody says he isnt a real center
@justin
Height does matter to a limited extent in being able to see over your man. But I read size as height although I agree that his reach is the critical issue.
Perkins listed at 280 makes the top 10 in the league on listed weight, for good and not so good & risk.
thehitman123 :@Thunder
S
Perkins is 6’10 which is probably average or even undersized for a centre
Height doesn't matter, reach matters. You don't play with the top of your head. Perkins is a wide body, strong, and has a great standing reach. He has excellent size for the position.
some initial thoughts:
1. overlooked part is darnell's point abt upping the toughness quotient. frontcourt especially is tough and physical.
2. size- all starters are average or above average for their position. this will be a great advantage in the slow it down playoffs.
3. positional defender combined with a shot blocker = definitely a huge upgrade on defense. no question.
4. depth- great depth at every position. maybe not three but cook is serviceable there. durant can also rest on the court sometimes when he plays w/ harden.
5- rebounding. we will not be outrebounded by the warriors. awesome.
some questions
1- everyone says kendrick perkins is so humble, hard working etc. But he just seems so mean lol. i dont think ive ever seen the guy smile. maybe ill like it better when he's on our team.
2- will this clog the paint for russ' drives? Now we cant really run the pick and pop (i guess with ibaka but thatll need to be practiced more) and even when russ drives perkins will always be there.
3- offense even more so predictable now. green at least wildcard in games cuz of his versatility. it will really only be russ drive, kd one on one or potentially harden playmaking- good options, but really predictable.
not to be sappy but we should have a post like an ode to jeff. he never complained, was always a team first guy, and had good character. a great guy to represent the team.
Joshua G :
What’s the gist of Hollinger’s analysis on Insider? and what grade did the trade get (also Insider)?
Hollinger says we're contenders, and that the fact that Ibaka will start for Green has as much or more benefit than Perkins coming over. Low risk, high reward trade that doesn't have long term ramifications if it does not work out with Perkins. He also likes Nazr.
What's the gist of Hollinger's analysis on Insider? and what grade did the trade get (also Insider)?
Green and Nenad good being to a rebuilding Cavs or Nuggets team. They will be fine. We need to worry about getting offense now.
royce we need shirts for the new guys, and a new NWA style shirt with our new roster, my current one is going into my thunder collection now, along with my opening day shirt and my 1st playoff game shirt
@Danny
just imagine what those guys are going through. thinking they made it to the deadline and last minute get traded. when we get our new guys hopefully we give them a nice oklahoma welcome.
Good video. Wish you'd throw in a bit of Jeff after KD's buzzer beater against the Knicks. Everyone else was celebratory. Green looked like you just shot his dog. I've gotten the feeling he had been pulling away from his teammates.
Crap. Now I'm sad about the trade again.
Good vid however.
I knew this was coming, but I'm still sad that it had to happen (even though I am excited about my team's new roster). Uncle Jeff and Nenadz were a part of my favorite moments as a sports fan.
Bummer.
Trackbacks
Headlines
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- Report: Mo Cheeks to interview with the Pistons
- Thunder land the 12th pick in the 2013 draft
- Thunder donate $1 million to aid with disaster relief
- Kevin Durant donates $1 million to disaster relief
- Serge Ibaka named first team All-Defense
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