At what point do we bench Perk?

[BballTim]

We won't have to bench him. He benches himself with silly fouls.

And it's without question that we were a better team last night on the floor without him. He is a massive playoff disappointment - I disagree in total with his defensive performance; he looks confused out there and he's busting several assignments - and I'm ready to consider moving him to upgrade the position.

Then why was he on the floor during the big run in the 2nd and 3rd quarter?    Why was he a plus 13 on the floor?  (even with the struggles the starters had in the 1st quarter)

It amuses me to see people villifying Cassell and defending Perkins. Neither has been remotely effective in this series.

Now, if Sam I Am was one of Danny's draft choices, I'm sure that would be different.

Perkins is a journeyman at best. We can probably survive his blown defensive assignments and his total lack of offense against Detroit.

The thought of him playing Gasol will keep me up at night.

The position must be upgraded in the off-season.

  If Cassell played good defense on a consistent basis then there would be fewer calls to bench him. He doesn't play good defense and he doesn't pass much. If he doesn't hit his shot he's wasting a spot on the floor. Perk's doing a good job helping to contain LeBron. Consider that he'd scored 30+ against the Celts 9 straight times before the playoffs, that he hit 30+ in 4 of the 5 games vs Washington, and that he's shooting 31% against us.

  Is Perk a journeyman center? Maybe. Is he a future all-star? Probably not. But he's done a good job this season. When the season started most people had us winning around 48-50 games and being the 3rd or 4th best team in the East. The general school of thought was that Rondo and Perk would be liabilities to counter the advantage we'd get from the big 3. Rondo and Perk both played even or better against their counterparts and that has a lot to do with how well the team did.

  Can we upgrade from Perk to a center that consistently outplays his opponent? Probably. But at what cost? Start listing the centers that are better than Perk. Be realistic, as opposed to the long lists people were coming up with this year of PGs better than Rondo, or the almost endless list of players that were seen as better than big Al t the beginning of last year. Figure out what we'd need to trade to get one of those above average centers. We'll probably be better off sticking with Perk.

[EJPLAYA]

That is not the general consensus. Perk is a big man who came directly out of high school where he didn't learn the fundamentals of playing down low in college. He has a great mean streak and loves to do the dirty work. He has gotten progressively better each year. For example:

He doesn't commit near as many fouls at the top switching on the pick and roll.
He is doing a very solid job hitting free throws 10% posteseason increase off his 61% career numbers. Some have been huge in the playoffs
If I am not mistaken, he finished the season as the highest fg% in Celtic History! Boy. He must stink...


Sure he needs to improve and has a tough time against this team for some reason, but he is a very inexpensive young center who has a lot of upside.

[OriginalODb]

I'm glad that the general consensus, finally, is that Perk flat out stinks.  I kind of feel sorry for the guy...wait no, not really.  He's not a likable player - at all.

I'd argue he is the worst starting center in the NBA.  Please, try to find one worse.  Really.  It's too bad we have to put up with his crap for another year.  He has shown no signs of improvement at either end of the floor.  Yeah, he's 23, and his contract is chump change, but he's in his FIFTH year and really doesn't add anything to the team except the ability to hack the crap out of people.  We could easily find a more capable stiff to fill that role.

Eddie Curry, Darko, J. Petro, Nazr Mohammed, Mark blount,

A quick search of depth charts shows that those are some starting centers. I would take Perk over all of them.

Perk is horrible on offense, that is true but he makes up for it on defense and he doesn't need to score on this team. I can't remember where I saw it but I read something where the celtics were 19 points higher per 100 possesions with perk on the floor. granted this has a lot to do with the rest of the team but he knows his roll and performs it for the most part well

[arctic 3.0]

I'm glad that the general consensus, finally, is that Perk flat out stinks.  I kind of feel sorry for the guy...wait no, not really.  He's not a likable player - at all.

I'd argue he is the worst starting center in the NBA.  Please, try to find one worse.  Really.  It's too bad we have to put up with his crap for another year.  He has shown no signs of improvement at either end of the floor.  Yeah, he's 23, and his contract is chump change, but he's in his FIFTH year and really doesn't add anything to the team except the ability to hack the crap out of people.  We could easily find a more capable stiff to fill that role.

Erick Dampier, who's contract dwarfs perks.

perks defense is enough to keep him in the starting lineup. he knows how to read an opposing offense, he is a reliable help defender and he plays hard nosed man to man d against the biggest men in the league. anything he produces on offense is frosting.

[JHTruth]

I laugh at Perk bashing most of the time here. He's always the easiest target to bash on our team because of his somewhat plodding style and lack of offensive prowess.

Perk fills his role very well most of the time. One, Big Z is simply too big for him to rebound a ton in this series. Secondly, Perk is often the one at the top as Big Z sets the pick for LeBron at the top so Perk switches and has to push LeBron to the wing instead of straight to the rack. Big Z can usually get his jumper over Perk easily but come on, Z is 7-3. Maybe Yao could defend him?

Do people really expect Perk to dominate against one of the biggest teams going? Puulleezzee..

[jay_jay54]

Its a tough situation we are in with Perk.If it was a different position,i suggest doing what Pop has done in the series the Spurs are playing aganist the Hornets.First,he replaced Finley in the starting liineup with Ginobili,tonight he started Oberto instead of K.Thomas,its called making adjustments as you see fit.Are you suggesting Doc maybe start BBD or Powe,bringing Perk off the bench?

[DrD]

I trust Perk to come back from a couple of bad showings. And I completely disagree with what the op said about his offense. Of late, besides the last couple of games, Perk has been lights out from the field. Early on in the series he was even converting the 2 to 3 iso plays that the team runs for him each game (plays that have been criticized in the past by many-a-celticsblogger). Both his hook and his fall-away shot have been dropping for him for most of the playoffs.

So I'm not the only one who cringes when Perk begins to pound the ball, I mean dribble, 10 feet from the rim as he begins his descent on the basket?
Or when he gets the ball right under the hoop, takes a stand still dribble or two, then waits until someone can tee up behind his head?

Does he have a good game every now and then? Yes, when he rebounds and hustles. Just because he's only 23 that's no excuse. In two years, the younger Rondo has learned 10x more than Perk has in five years on this squad.

The only reason KP has a starting role on this team is because he has KG to cover for him. In fact, if Perk had been a point guard playing under Doc, he'd be with Marcus Banks right now.

His style gets magnified in the playoffs because he gets more repeated focus. Make no mistake though, he has been the same all year long. It's not just that the bigger Ilgauskas outshines him, which one would expect anyway.

Do I support Perk as a member of the Celtics? Yes, but let's be real......he's no Chief, Cowens, Walton, Russell......maybe a little closer to Acey.

[BASSTHUMPER]

yall clownin perk.....lol

he'll dunk on anyone one of u....lol

i love parish...mr robert but he wasnt all that great of an offensive play..it was easy to knock the ball out his hands and missed many easy buckets.he did hit his free throws....he is a physical presence jus like perk...you need a big body to close the lane block shots rebounds..he has done his job..

[EJPLAYA]

I trust Perk to come back from a couple of bad showings. And I completely disagree with what the op said about his offense. Of late, besides the last couple of games, Perk has been lights out from the field. Early on in the series he was even converting the 2 to 3 iso plays that the team runs for him each game (plays that have been criticized in the past by many-a-celticsblogger). Both his hook and his fall-away shot have been dropping for him for most of the playoffs.

So I'm not the only one who cringes when Perk begins to pound the ball, I mean dribble, 10 feet from the rim as he begins his descent on the basket?
Or when he gets the ball right under the hoop, takes a stand still dribble or two, then waits until someone can tee up behind his head?

Does he have a good game every now and then? Yes, when he rebounds and hustles. Just because he's only 23 that's no excuse. In two years, the younger Rondo has learned 10x more than Perk has in five years on this squad.

The only reason KP has a starting role on this team is because he has KG to cover for him. In fact, if Perk had been a point guard playing under Doc, he'd be with Marcus Banks right now.

His style gets magnified in the playoffs because he gets more repeated focus. Make no mistake though, he has been the same all year long. It's not just that the bigger Ilgauskas outshines him, which one would expect anyway.

Do I support Perk as a member of the Celtics? Yes, but let's be real......he's no Chief, Cowens, Walton, Russell......maybe a little closer to Acey.

Absolutely WAY over the top in your criticism about Perk. You don't even believe all of that. The guy has the highest fg% in team history for a season! He is solid player. If we had some great offensive center we'd be in even more trouble. We can't get Ray enough shots with KG, PP and Rondo, let alone another guy who cares about points. He is a stud. Plain and simple. You play with 5 all-stars from the NBA and match them up against the top half of the teams in the league and they get beat most times. You need pieces to make a good squad and Perk is one of those.

[BrickJames]

If I am not mistaken, he finished the season as the highest fg% in Celtic History! Boy. He must stink...

KEN-DRICK PERKIINNNSSSSS......_{from Paul Pierce}  nuff said

Eddie Curry, Darko, J. Petro, Nazr Mohammed, Mark blount

Ok Curry, fine.  To be fair though he probably won't be starting next year under D'Antoni (or elsewhere)  The rest, including Blount, and Dampier(!) in another post, I'd rather have.  To each his/her own I guess.

Perk just irks me with his awful play compounded with his inflated ego.  Bibby was spot on with his criticism of Perk - big talkin' tough guy all of a sudden.  Pollard stinks too, but at least he doesn't run his mouth.

Sure, maybe I'm undervaluing Perk's ability to get into the heads of his opponents.  He is built like a large edifice...but he plays like one too.

[BballTim]

Perk has never been efective as a celtic. He is a monster of a rebounder when he is by himself. The ball has to fall on top of him for him to rebound. He has putty hands. How many balls fall out of his hands? How many balls are taken away from him game after game? He can only score when he can dunk the ball. Anybody 6.10 can dunk a ball when standing underneath the basket. He scored 1 point last night. He is utterly useless, except when he is lucky. And that mean look of his is his only constant. He can hardly defend anybody. He is 6.10 and at least 280 and he is an invisible force 90% of the time.

  According to 82games, opposing centers are shooting about 42% against Perk in the playoffs. They shot about 47% against him during the regular season. Both seem awfully low for centers. His defense seems to be much better than you think. His rebounding hasn't been that great (about 12.6 per 48 minutes. Luckily he limits the opposing centers to a slightly worse number (about 11.. During the season those numbers were reversed, but Perk was only outrebounded by opposing centers by about 1 rebound per 48 minutes. The numbers don't bear out your claims.

Ive been saying this since the end of the first season he started playing regularly. He has had a extremely few games where he has been effective; I cant say he  has ben ineffective 100% of the times; but we need a lot more than he can give us. We gotta upgrade that position ASAP. We wont beat Detroit, if we beat the Cavs. Ive been watching detroit games now and they have around 4 guys rebounding on both ends of the court at all times. It will be too much for Perk, who will not go out of his 3 ft. zone underneath the basket.

  Detroit's been outrebounded during the playoffs. They were outrebounded by Orlando (led by DH), but they only managed to outrebound Philly by .3 boards per game.

[Reyquila]

If I dunked 100 shots out of 102 shots I take, I would certainly expect to have the highest % of made baskets in the league, except for one that dunked 101 shots out of 102 he took. If that is one of his better traits; no more need be said. As to Perk having an easier time against the pistons, provided we play them, I dont think so. He will be swarmed by so many defenders he wont know what sport he is playing. I would say Big Baby, due to his mobility, would be more efective against the Pistons, again, provided we play them. Even Powe is a better fit. I agree Perk is the best center we have; we have no other true center.

[Reyquila]

If Detroit was so severely outrebounded by Philly and Orlando, then I was mistaken; sorry. If we beat the Cavs then we will only have to worry about Orlando or Philly, whichever wins their series. Detroit wont be a problem then. I was just waiting to see Perks gobble up Detroit. Now he will have to deal with probably Howard, who ate up the Pistons. Right?

[teaguelife]

Ha. I called Perk out on the site weeks before the playoffs began, and I was called everything from a 'Mavs troll' (this was after the Dallas victory) to a bandwagon fan who did not know what I was talking about.

I love when Perk picks up quick fouls at the ****' 3 point line, because that means we see Powe or Big Baby, undersized and all.

[MVP]

People hating on Perk just don't know what they are talking about. They are expecting him to be Bill Russell or Shaq. Yeah, he is not great on the offensive end...but that's not his role. His role is to be a defensive presence and an enforcer. All the stats support Perk's impact on the defensive end. He is not going to make an all star team, but he fills an important role on the team and we can't have 5 all stars in our starting line-up. Some people have to accept doing the dirty work and that's what Perk does.