How underrated is Perk?

[Fafnir]

He might put up Ben Wallace-type numbers if he ever averages enough minutes.   Perk is only 24 and his minutes have gradually increased every season.

3.5
9.1
19.6
21.9
24.5
29.6

This season, he averaged 8.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2 blocks

Ben Wallace in his prime (age 27-29) averaged roughly 38 minutes, 7-9 points, 13-15 rebounds  and 3-3.5 blocks ...

If you project Perk's numbers this year to 38 minutes he's got:  11 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks  (which by the way is pretty close to what he's averaging in the playoffs.  37 minutes, 13 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks)

Maybe if he was averaging a double-double in the regular season people would pay more attention.

Ben Wallace in his prime had a lot more quickness and athleticism than Perk will ever have.  That's not to say the numbers might not get there, but they are different beasts.

Ben at his prime played defense a lot like Garnett does. Lots of activity and an awesome help defender. Fierce rebounder as well. Unfortunately his stone hands made the Pistons play 4 on 5 on the other end too much....

[Roy Hobbs]

In terms of today's NBA, there are very few centers who are better than Perk when considering both ends of the court.  Dwight and Yao, certainly.  Tim Duncan, if he's considered a center.  Then, there's a long list of guys who are debatable.  Nobody else is clearly better, though, in my opinion.

(Pau Gasol is probably the closest to being "clearly better", if he's a center.  That's only if you weigh offense over defense, though.)

[housecall]

Perk has taken giants steps in his game this season from the last few.He is more consistent in staying on the floor in games,something that is key in my opinion to how i view a player's growth.He is in the game during crunch time whereas in seasons pass,they couldn't always count on that. 

[spazmonkey]

Perk has taken giants steps in his game this season from the last few.He is more consistent in staying on the floor in games,something that is key in my opinion to how i view a player's growth.He is in the game during crunch time whereas in seasons pass,they couldn't always count on that. 

Agreed.  This thread (and Clifford Ray's comments) got me thinking about Perk's fouls.  Or rather, about feeling like he's making fewer stupid fouls than in years past. 

Per Basketball-Reference.com, his fouls per 36 mins are:

04-05 -- 6.4
05-06 -- 5.4
06-07 -- 4.9
07-08 -- 4.6
08-09 -- 4.0

Maybe part of this is due to ref's calling fewer "rookie" fouls on him now that he's been in the league for awhile.  But I think the majority of this is Perk playing smarter D.

Fewer fouls = More Mins For The Beast

[xmuscularghandix]

its seen in the fact that he didn't make All-defense.

[Reggie's Ghost]

In terms of today's NBA, there are very few centers who are better than Perk when considering both ends of the court.  Dwight and Yao, certainly.  Tim Duncan, if he's considered a center.  Then, there's a long list of guys who are debatable.  Nobody else is clearly better, though, in my opinion.

(Pau Gasol is probably the closest to being "clearly better", if he's a center.  That's only if you weigh offense over defense, though.)

Do you put Big Al over Perk?  I do....

[Thruthelookingglass]

Perk has taken giants steps in his game this season from the last few.He is more consistent in staying on the floor in games,something that is key in my opinion to how i view a player's growth.He is in the game during crunch time whereas in seasons pass,they couldn't always count on that. 

Talk all you want about the Big 3 or 4, but Perkins is our most consistent player.  Certainly not flashy or fast, he does what he does night in and night out, which is anchor our defense and lean heavily on the bad guys until he gets his hook shot or layup.  And his total game is clearly more valuable than all but yes, a handful of centers in the League.  Very proud of Perk and glad he is on the Celtics!!!

[pearljammer10]

In terms of today's NBA, there are very few centers who are better than Perk when considering both ends of the court.  Dwight and Yao, certainly.  Tim Duncan, if he's considered a center.  Then, there's a long list of guys who are debatable.  Nobody else is clearly better, though, in my opinion.

(Pau Gasol is probably the closest to being "clearly better", if he's a center.  That's only if you weigh offense over defense, though.)

Do you put Big Al over Perk?  I do....

Individual talent wise? No. Al has more skills and more talent, plus he is less experienced and has a higher ceiling than Perk. Is Perk a better role player, Yes. Does Perk fit this team better? Yes.

Big Al is the type of guy that has big man superstar potential if he can keep his head straight and stay healthy. A legit 20 - 10 potential guy. However, Perk is a true center. He is exactly what you want in the paint at that center position. Tough, hustler, great defense, good shot blocker, and his offense is becoming very good as well.

[kenmaine]

I'm guilty.
Now that he's very good and very consistent, it's easy to take Perk for granted. You have to love his attitude and hard work, and especially the scowl!

[Roy Hobbs]

In terms of today's NBA, there are very few centers who are better than Perk when considering both ends of the court.  Dwight and Yao, certainly.  Tim Duncan, if he's considered a center.  Then, there's a long list of guys who are debatable.  Nobody else is clearly better, though, in my opinion.

(Pau Gasol is probably the closest to being "clearly better", if he's a center.  That's only if you weigh offense over defense, though.)

Do you put Big Al over Perk?  I do....

Oops...  overlooked the big fella, who is playing center pretty consistently now.

I think Big Al is better than Perk in terms of overall talent, yes.  In terms of our team, if KG is healthy I'd rather have Perk for the next year or two.

[Mr October]

Perk definitely gets the love on this blog. And I've noticed alot of national media folks have nothing but good things to say about him lately. Perk is a great fit for our team. 

Now how much are going to have to pay him to keep him in 2011? (Yet another reason why the C's wouldn't give Posey the 4th year by the way)

Perkins is playing his way into a nice $50/5 contract. He's already worth 40/5 no question...

[Celtics17]

I once saw Ben Wallace standing about 2 maybe 3 feet from the basket and an opposing player was getting ready to launch a 3 pointer and Wallace took two large steps and jumped past the three point line in an attempt to block the shot. I dont think Perk would get quite that far on the same play. But, Perk is in my opinion the best player in the league if you have to guard an opposing big man within 4 feet from the basket. He's just too strong to push around and is actually very good at anticipating shots. Whoever said Perk was the key to the win last night was dead on!

[gkiteisscal]

I think Celtics fans understand how valuable he is, but he is underrated by those outside Celtics nation, especially on the defensive end.  He's not a great offensive option, and that's probably what keeps people from recognizing how good he is, but he's great defensively, and gets a ton of blocks.

Absolutely.  People outside Celtic nation don't care at all.  I tried explaining to my NBA-obsessed friend in Seattle why Perk was the key to last night's game and his response was simply... "haha... iunno man... Eddie won that game for you.  He's not going to shoot like that every game"... and I continued to explain why Perk might be a tough matchup for Dwight, because Dwight isn't use to going against solid defensive guys that can match up with him in size and strength... and his response was simply "Dwight's gonna get to his average eventually ... a down game means an up game soon".    Sure, he might be right... but the point is... few outside Boston will tip their hat to Perk's impact.  They are still trying to wrap their mind around the idea that Rondo isn't just the beneficiary of the big 3...

I couldn't agree with you and disagree with your friend more.  I do not want to belittle Eddie's play last night, he was fantastic.  But the C's jumped out on the Magic b/c they got stops.  They got stops b/c they can play Howard one on one and force Orlando's shooters to take bad/contested shots.   This resulted in long rebounds by the guards and transition hoops. 
This is how you beat the Magic, and as long as Perk can stay out of foul trouble the C's have a good chance of taking this series in 5 or 6 games. 

Also, I do not like the Wallace/Perk comparison.  The numbers may be similar at the end of the day, but how they get those numbers are much different.  I do not think there is a good modern comparison for Perk.

[paintitgreen]

My favorite Perk play was in I believe the third quarter of last night's game. Orlando ended up with a score off a jumper on the play but bear with me. Perk is on Howard down low, otherwise the court is spread out and there's nobody in/near the pain except Perk. Alston got by Rondo and was coming straight at the line. Perk stood in the middle about 4 feet in front of the rim. Nobody else was in shouting distance. Perk made no movement at all, just stood ready. Alston passed it outside to reset the offense when he was five feet in front of the basket. Didn't even test Perk, just knew that Perk would reject him if he brought a shot at him so he sent it back out to see if they could get something on the perimeter. That play told me a lot about Perk, along with his defensive reputation, has grown. Orlando respects him A LOT. When teams are more willing to put up contested jumpers than to let their point guard try to take our center one-on-one, that is hugely important for our team, and a big reason I think we'll win this series. I LOVE Perk.

[cordobes]

In terms of today's NBA, there are very few centers who are better than Perk when considering both ends of the court.  Dwight and Yao, certainly.  Tim Duncan, if he's considered a center.  Then, there's a long list of guys who are debatable.  Nobody else is clearly better, though, in my opinion.

(Pau Gasol is probably the closest to being "clearly better", if he's a center.  That's only if you weigh offense over defense, though.)

Andrew Bogut comes to mind quite easily.

Anyway, Perkins is a solid rebounder, an excellent post defender (who needs to be paired with a more agile and mobile PF to be effective) and a decent offensive player, who commits too many turnovers for the kind of production he offers on that side of the court. He's been very good this playoff; he's the kind of player I like because he plays within himself.