Assuming a cap of around $55 million ... the following teams will have $8+ million in cap space:
(1) Indiana -- Roy Hibbert is Indiana's long term center so rule them out.
(2) Houston -- Yao Ming's future is up in the air. I doubt Morey will want to pay a limited player like Perkins a large long term deal though.
(3) Memphis -- Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph will be free agents. They'll almost definitely choose Gasol over Perk anyways. So rule them out.
(4) Milwaukee -- Andrew Bogut so they're not in the mix either.
(5) Minnesota -- Hard to know what GM Kahn is thinking. Possible destination for Perk.
(6) New Jersey -- Brook Lopez
(7) New York -- a plodder like Perk doesn't fit into D'Antoni's offense. They should under no circumstances pursue Perkins ... but I'm not sure Donnie Walsh understands that so they might be an option too. Albeit pretty far down the fallback list.
[8] Oklahoma City -- A very good fit. They need a defensive anchor and physical presence at center.
(9) Sacramento -- Doubtful with DeMarcus Cousins pegged as a franchise cornerstone.
(10) Toronto -- Possibly, yeah. They still believe Bargnani is a natural PF playing out of position and they want to improve their defense.
(11) Washington -- Depends on JaVale McGee's future but at the moment that is uncertain so Perk could be a possibility here too.
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Summary
- 11 teams with enough cap space to sign Perkins
- I would rule out five of those teams due to their current options at center (IND, MEM, MIL, NJN, SAC)
- Two more teams that I would deem unlikely to pursue to Perkins (HOU, NYK)
- Three teams with unclear front offices (TOR, MIN, WAS) who may or may not get in the mix for Perk.
- One team who would be a very good fit and who would be likely to pursue a player like Perkins. The Thunder do seem to be highly concerned about long term cap flexibility and their ability to retain their young talent so they may only pursue a guy like Perkins if they can get him on a bargain. I wouldn't be surprised to see them drop out of the race if the contract went above $40 mil/5 years.
So two highly unlikely teams + three maybes + one team who'll be interested in Perk but won't offer silly money.
TP for the research
OKC just might be the bigger bidder for Perk but I honestly think NY and Houston will pursue him to some extent as well.
NY is a playoff team that could then move Amare to PF where he belongs. Perk also finally offers them a defensive presence in the middle. If NY doesn't wind up with Melo and breaking they're piggybank to do so, don't be surprised to see them really pursue Perk. For that matter, if they get Melo and still have the $ to go for Perk, I think they make that move.
Houston is an outside choice. Yao is likely done and Perk is from that area. It has that 'playing for the home team' feel for Perk. Houston is also a playoff team if they can get their center position solidified. They won't break the bank for him but they'll show some interest.
