Saturday Morning Cartoons: Perk is better than you think

Happy offseason everyone. Thank you for your incredible support of Daily Thunder throughout the season. Onward!

As the postseason went on, I grew more and more frustrated hearing people gripe about Kendrick Perkins. One prominent website tweeted yesterday, “All those articles praising the acquisition of Kendrick Perkins by the Thunder look pretty outdated now, no?” Now I was part of it in the Dallas series because he just wasn’t a good matchup, but it was as if some thought he had no value in the wins over Denver and Memphis. He was actually pretty solid in both of those series.

Perk said he wants to come into camp next year at around 265 and gave himself an “A” for his mental impact on the team but a “D” for his actual play this season.

That’s not totally fair because he was never healthy or in shape. He didn’t get a training camp because of a major knee surgery and was trying to get into shape while playing. Once he heals up a bit more over the summer and gets his legs back, we’ll see a much better Perk.

You saw Perk fall down a whole lot during games and that’s an obvious sign that a guy is either tired or just out of rhythm. He’s not comfortable with the way he’s moving or playing and he’s off balance a lot. That was Perk during the two months he played for OKC.

Perk said in his exit interview — which is fantastic by the way — that Sam Presti showed him video of himself from the past few years and told him that they’re going to get him back to that point and even better. That’s the guy Presti signed for four years. That’s the guy the Thunder are counting on to patrol the paint. Perk noted that the last three years he’s been in the top 10 in blocked shots. He was in the top five the past few years in dunks. He said some of the baskets he gave up “wasn’t him” and that even he was disappointed in his own post moves.

And we didn’t see hardly any of that during his time with the Thunder. Clearly, he wasn’t right. The fact Perk valiantly battled through in this postseason just showed his toughness and determination. He lumbered around like he was Greg Oden during the playoffs. That’s not him though, as you can see. He’s better than that; he’s just got to get right.