Why does Perk only play 25MPG? Is it medical?

[nickagneta]

First off, before I begin, I need to give out a TP to Who who in his, as always, objective and well thought out post in the Doc Venting thread brought up a point about Perk's minutes. I thought it deserved its own thread.

http://www.celticsblog.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=64&topic=17209.120

For those that want to read a very good, objectively reasoned out look at Who's post about Doc's rotations I provided the link. It's down at the bottom of the page.

What exactly is the reason for Perkins only playing 25 or so minutes per game?

Could it be that with the plantar fascitis being as bad as it was last year Perk was purposely held to 25 minutes per game so as not to aggravate the situation? I have no idea because I know nothing about plantar fascitis other than it is painful, it is in the feet, and it can last a long, long time if not properly taken care of.

Perk has seemed to mayure this year and isn't getting those stupid two personal fouls before the 8 minute mark of the first quarter, he's developed a really nice under the basket game with reverse lay-ins and slams, and he has become a presence on both man to man defense and help shot blocking. Even that really ugly across the lane hook shot is dropping more.

So why the holding down on minutes?

If it isn't for medical reasons then it  has been a serious flaw of Doc's all year. He's not a scorer but he does now own the best FG% in Celtic history(I hope that's right. I now he was fairly well ahead of the record last I checked). 6 out of every 10 times he shoots he scores. And he's the only starter who is consistently on the offensive boards.

Perk with 10 more minutes of playing time is nearly a double double guy. I can't see any other reason for not going with Perk more than a doctor saying in order to contain his condition this year he needed to control his minutes played?

Any other reasons that anyone else can think of?

Does anyone have the condition to enlighten us?

It might be very educational and revealing.

[wdleehi]

I haven't been able to think of a good reason why Perkins doesn't play more minutes, especially in the 2nd half. 

[Emperor Young]

he commits fouls a lot, plus powe needs to play as well..

[Redz]

I said it a couple of times yesterday, but I really thought Perk was the catalyst for Game 7.  At his best he adds a toughness this team sorely needs.

There has been a lot of documentation on this site on the topic of Doc's diversion against "going big", or maybe more speocifically a diversion towards "going small".  Some degree of this may explain your lack of big minutes for Perk. 

I think there are also some lingering habits of limiting Perks minutes because of injuries and lack of trust.

[KJ33]

First off, before I begin, I need to give out a TP to Who who in his, as always, objective and well thought out post in the Doc Venting thread brought up a point about Perk's minutes. I thought it deserved its own thread.

http://www.celticsblog.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=64&topic=17209.120

For those that want to read a very good, objectively reasoned out look at Who's post about Doc's rotations I provided the link. It's down at the bottom of the page.

What exactly is the reason for Perkins only playing 25 or so minutes per game?

Could it be that with the plantar fascitis being as bad as it was last year Perk was purposely held to 25 minutes per game so as not to aggravate the situation? I have no idea because I know nothing about plantar fascitis other than it is painful, it is in the feet, and it can last a long, long time if not properly taken care of.

Perk has seemed to mayure this year and isn't getting those stupid two personal fouls before the 8 minute mark of the first quarter, he's developed a really nice under the basket game with reverse lay-ins and slams, and he has become a presence on both man to man defense and help shot blocking. Even that really ugly across the lane hook shot is dropping more.

So why the holding down on minutes?

If it isn't for medical reasons then it  has been a serious flaw of Doc's all year. He's not a scorer but he does now own the best FG% in Celtic history(I hope that's right. I now he was fairly well ahead of the record last I checked). 6 out of every 10 times he shoots he scores. And he's the only starter who is consistently on the offensive boards.

Perk with 10 more minutes of playing time is nearly a double double guy. I can't see any other reason for not going with Perk more than a doctor saying in order to contain his condition this year he needed to control his minutes played?

Any other reasons that anyone else can think of?

Does anyone have the condition to enlighten us?

It might be very educational and revealing.

I don't think the issue is medical, although admittedly I am not sure.  I have had plantar fasciatis and it is very painful and it can take a year, sometimes more to heal, but usually when it does, it is resolved for good, I have heard nothing to suggest Perk has had a recurrence. It is mostly based on matchups and getting minutes for Powe, Posey, BBD and PJ.  Perk sets the tone early, but despite what you say, he does still have a tendency to get into foul trouble, and although he has shot free throws well in the Hawks series, that is also a limiting factor of his.  The Celts often go with a smaller, quicker team that can rotate extremely well on D.

I find it puzzling to suggest this is a major weakness of Doc's, I mean, how many more wins did you want this year beyond 66? Obviously, however he distributed the minutes amongst whatever players, the results speak for themselves.  Whatever Doc did, it seemed to work pretty well if one considers the W/L record as the ultimate measure.

Also, one more thing as Max would be sure to tell you, Perk did not have enough attempts to qualify for the FG% leaders, that was a myth that was perpetuated by the media, just taking his raw #s and saying it is the highest in Celtics history.  I mean, a batter who only has a limited # of at bats and hits .400, is not considered to be the highest average since Ted Williams, I guess baseball is more familiar to people in terms of the whole qualifying thing.

One

[Bankshot]

I said it a couple of times yesterday, but I really thought Perk was the catalyst for Game 7.  At his best he adds a toughness this team sorely needs.

There has been a lot of documentation on this site on the topic of Doc's diversion against "going big", or maybe more speocifically a diversion towards "going small".  Some degree of this may explain your lack of big minutes for Perk. 

I think there are also some lingering habits of limiting Perks minutes because of injuries and lack of trust.

I agree.  When Perk is doing well, he should be on the floor for 35+ mpg.  He should only play 25 mpg or less those times he's not playing well or is in foul trouble.

Why he isn't playing more as the OP asks?  Brain cramp by Doc when it comes to Perk?  I really can't think of any reason.  One of the reasons why Doc is not a great coach.  Can't always recognize which players should be on the floor. I lost count of how many times Perk played well or the C's just needed a big body in there, but was still screwed out of minutes by Doc.

[BudweiserCeltic]

In my opinion, it's a combination of him getting winded, foul trouble, and the circumstances of the game.

[Roy Hobbs]

I doubt it's medical; PF doesn't seem to be one of those things that you have to worry about recurring due to too much strain.  Also, I haven't noticed Perk grimacing in pain, or being limited physically in any of the games this year.  That doesn't mean it isn't happening, but things certainly don't give off that appearance.

I think Doc has just arbitrarily decided that Perk isn't going to play most of the second or fourth quarter minutes.  I don't really understand that.  Yes, Perk does commit some fouls from time to time, and yes, he's a relative liability from the free throw line.  However, he's often our best defensive big man, and he tends to sit out long stretches, which I don't quite understand.  This "strategy" bit us in back-to-back games against the Wizards earlier this year, when our lack of rebounding and interior defense contributed to consecutive fourth-quarter collapses. 

[pearljammer10]

Here's a reason...He's not that good. Look Perk has been impressive but the guy is still 23, he doesnt have the experience factor and he gets into foul trouble easily. Id much rather go small and use Posey as the power forward then have Perk in there at the end of games.

[Chris]

In my opinion, it's a combination of him getting winded, foul trouble, and the circumstances of the game.

This is pretty much my feeling as well.  He exerts so much energy on defense (as well as on the offensive boards), that he does get tired relatively quickly.  I think Doc's thinking is generally that he would rather have him playing 25 minutes going 100 mph, than 35 minutes going 90 mph.

I don't know if I agree with it, but I do think Doc has a better feel for the players physical limits than I do.

I really hope that he will be playing big minutes as the series go on though.  He is just so important to their defense.

[Who]

Firstly, thanks for the nice words Nick. As for Perk, I'm as confused by Perk's lack of playing time as you are.

At least during the regular season there was reason to Doc's madness and that was James Posey. Doc liked that smaller lineup with Posey at power forward (almost 3/5ths of Posey minutes were at power forward). Whether I agree with it or not I can at least understand it. Posey at the four changes the whole complexity of the game and gives many different advantages to Perk. Posey can spread the floor with his shooting. He can guard combo-forwards. You can speed up the game. You get more scoring. Another ball handler. Another cutter off the ball. There's a lot of big differences in having Posey play power forward and there's advantages there. Doc wanted those so he played Posey minutes as a big which ate into Perk's time. Okay but that was in the regular season and that's changed in the playoffs.

Posey has been a lot more of his minutes at small forward in the playoffs. He's getting all the backup minutes on the wing since Eddie House and Tony Allen were removed from the rotation and hardly any as a big man. By my reckoning he's played around (minutes as a big game-by-game 5+1+0+2+0+0, the 5 came when TA played) , so that's 8 minutes out of the 164 he played in this series. A far cry from the almost 60% he played there during the regular season.

You'd assume Perk's minutes would go up with less minutes for Posey at power forward but they haven't. They're stagnant.

So, why give potential Perk minutes to the other two backup bigs? Okay, Powe (17.7mpg) can score better than Perk and he's a better offensive rebounder. But why PJ Brown (7.5mpg)? Why Glen Davis (7.9mpg)? What do they offer that Perk doesn't? Perk has a larger impact on the game than either of them, why cut Perk's minutes for them? I can't figure that out. That makes no sense to me. I'd like to hear him explain that.

It's clearly not just the Hawks because he's giving two big men minutes all the time. Perk is as mobile as PJ Brown. It wasn't matchup issue. Performance issue? Seemed fairly steady to me through the seven games.

Doc played him 27, 27, 34 minutes over the last three so his time went up as the series went on.

...................

Maybe it is just a question of stamina.
Maybe Doc thinks Perk's performance decreases throughout the game the more minutes he plays.
Maybe Doc thinks Perk gets worn out after consecutive 35 minute game.

[wdleehi]

In my opinion, it's a combination of him getting winded, foul trouble, and the circumstances of the game.

This is pretty much my feeling as well.  He exerts so much energy on defense (as well as on the offensive boards), that he does get tired relatively quickly.  I think Doc's thinking is generally that he would rather have him playing 25 minutes going 100 mph, than 35 minutes going 90 mph.

I don't know if I agree with it, but I do think Doc has a better feel for the players physical limits than I do.

I really hope that he will be playing big minutes as the series go on though.  He is just so important to their defense.

Even if that is the case, it is uneven.


He will play most the 1st, almost none of the 2nd.

Most the third, almost none of the 4th.


If it was about him getting winded, he wouldn't play most of any quarter.

[jay_jay54]

I have been wondering about this all season.Most teams who watch film in preparation for a game,probably pick up on this routine of Doc.You can almost always count on attacking our interior in the the second,and most of the fourth,because Perkins will most likely be on the pine.I felt this was one of the problems in the Hawkes series,Perk doing the heavy looking on,but it didn't surprise me,because it is routine.If we can figure this out,just imagine what the Cavs are preparing to do.A tp to Nick,and Who for bringing this subject up,because i thought i was alone on this.

[jay_jay54]

One other thing i left out,i think if it was medical,the media in Boston would be all over it,and we probably would have  heard it through Greg,Donny,Tommy,or Mike by now.When did they let anything slide by them,without making it public knowledge.The announcer who does the locker room interviews,would have picked up on it by now.

[MBz]

I don't know why he isn't playing as much as he should be, but I have been complaining about it as well.  He is going to be extremely important this upcoming series.  I do not think Powe is going to be effective this series covering Big Z.  He's just too big and Powe isn't strong enough to stick with him.  We're going to need a lot of Perk's defense and rebounding this series or else we're going to get killed on the glass.  I still don't think Powe is a good defensive rebounder, he gets a lot of offensive boards, because people usually fade off him when they need to double KG, Pierce, Ray Allen, whomever it may be and it allows him to get position fairly easy, but we NEED Perk in there this series to keep Z, Wallace and Varejao off the glass.