Absolutely not. We traded Perkins to fill a more valuable hole in our roster, and since then he's become a shell of who he was while in green.
And it opened a new hole that hasn't been filled yet. Courtney Lee as the backup 2/3 wouldn't be a hole, at least not nearly as much as Wafer and Pavlovic would have been. In fact he'd be a huge upgrade over Marquis who was plugging that hole when we were the best team in the league.
And we traded Perkins after Marquis went down.
Which was what opened up the hole.
The hole at backup SF.
The hole that we traded Perkins to fill.
The hole that was filled by Jeff Green: To be a backup for Paul Pierce. Which we needed. Much more than Perkins.
It was the right trade at the time, and while we do need an upgrade at the center spot now, let's remember that we had Shaq and JO that year, both of whom were projected to return to the floor in good health later in the season--(We've got to keep hindsight out of this when we evalutate that trade)....
Perkins is not the droids we are looking for, and that's even before we get into his salary, and his diminished ability.
None of this addresses my point. I know we traded Perkins after Marquis got hurt, maybe you didn't understand my comment.
Courtney Lee would be replacing Green.
Sasha and Von Wafer would've been replacing Marquis (who isn't as good as Lee to begin with).
Our team simply has less holes than it did that year. If you forget the injured O'Neals this team is better and deeper. Wilcox, Bass, and Sullinger is much different than Big Baby and Semih playing with an injury. Bradley, Lee, and Barbosa vs Delonte, Nate, and Marquis. The only hole I see is a big that can play defense outside of KG. Green isn't filling the same need for us as he did in 2010.
And as a side note, I don't think the consensus was or currently is "the right trade at the time."
Your premise seems to include us having Sullinger in the absence of the trade. I'm not 100% certain that would be so. We were able to take both Sully and Fab using the pick we got in the trade along with Green.
Also, in the absence of the trade, our draft position probably changes - up or down, is of course arguable.
Absence of the trade, of course, there is little chance Perk is still here anyway. He was headed for free agency and OKC or someone would have probably paid him that big contract that Danny was never going to match anyway.
Also, Green was acquired to back up Pierce within the context of the EC - where he needs to defend Lebron and Carmelo. Lee can't defend those guys. Way too small.
1. I think it's clear the Celtics would have taken Sullinger over Melo, especially for a win now team in need of big man help.
2. Why is the draft in question? He's talking about a new Green for Perkins trade.
Ah, sorry - I jumped in late and assumed this was yet another "I wish we'd never done that trade!" thread.
My bad.
In that case, no way. Green, even while still getting minimal usage, is still being way more productive in his minutes than Perkins is with his. And he still has recovery upside. His knees, arms, back, etc. are all sound, with no injury history and he should get better over time as he gets further from the heart surgery. People forget that he basically had to restart from scratch with basic things like just walking less than a year ago.
I don't like when people bash Perk, and I have posted many times arguing that he was, indeed very valuable for us before his injury in the 2010 finals. But I don't see the same player anymore.