Perk the man to go to

[ToppersBsktball10]

I'm excited.

[moiso]

he's absolutely the perfect center for this team with his defensive mindstate.  But his offense has come such a long way, I'm curious what kind of numbers he would average on a different team.  I bet he could average 17 and 10.

[BrickJames]

he's absolutely the perfect center for this team with his defensive mindstate.  But his offense has come such a long way, I'm curious what kind of numbers he would average on a different team.  I bet he could average 17 and 10.

Quite possibly the funniest thing I ever read on this blog.

[moiso]

he's absolutely the perfect center for this team with his defensive mindstate.  But his offense has come such a long way, I'm curious what kind of numbers he would average on a different team.  I bet he could average 17 and 10.

Quite possibly the funniest thing I ever read on this blog.

He seems pretty equivilent to Emeka Okafor to me.  Those are Okafor numbers.

[Rondo_is_better]

he's absolutely the perfect center for this team with his defensive mindstate.  But his offense has come such a long way, I'm curious what kind of numbers he would average on a different team.  I bet he could average 17 and 10.

Quite possibly the funniest thing I ever read on this blog.

He seems pretty equivilent to Emeka Okafor to me.  Those are Okafor numbers.

Probably 14 and 10 would be his ceiling right now.


As for Perk on this team:

My old handle was PerkinsERA43 on the incarnation of this blog when Gerald was the main topic of discussion, and I started a thread entitled "Will GG ever be an all-star?". It got 175+ responses. Scintan was a primary contributor. This was a while ago.

That should be evidence enough that Perk has been my favorite player for a loooong time. 

I'm glad he's looking so good and I think he's poised for a great year.

[the_Bird]

He's not going to average 17 on this team, but stick him on a lot of other squads and he's be closer to 17 than to last year's 8.

What I love about Perk is how he DOES keep getting a little bit better every year; you can tell how much he's busted tail to keep improving.  Given that KG and 'Sheed both like playing outside, and that Leon is gone, we might be looking to his interior game a little bit more this season.  

The key's going to be - at some point, they may start doubling him when he gets the ball in the post, he's still someone that I'm worried about turning the ball over.  Now, it's tough to double on Perk given all the other weapons on the team, but he's still one of the guys that's most prone to turning the ball over.  I think he can do it, but when they do start doubling him in the post, he's got to be able to get the ball back out to the open man.  

In any case, he's (by far) the best Celtics center since The Chief.  

[MaineBleedsGreen]

His offense has come such a long way. I remember when I used to think his ceiling would be 8 and 8, and he'd never be more then a role player and he'd be replaceable. That's not to say I haven't always loved Perk for his work ethic, professionalism, heart, size, and scowl but boy was I wrong about his ceiling. I could definitely see him averaging 14 and 11 on another team, but only if he could get those fouls under control and stay on the court.

[Jon]

Perk is getting better and better and giving me reason to believe that he will be a cornerstone of the franchise for years to come. 

[clover]

And while the Perk love is gushing, I noticed that Rondo went out of his way to praise his intelligence on the court, his study and knowledge of the game.  Rondo values that in himself as well, so he doesn't say it lightly.

[the_Bird]

... but only if he could get those fouls under control and stay on the court.

See, I think that's a fallacy.

As per basketball reference, his fouls-per-36 minutes has come down every year since his second season:

03-04 6.2
04-05 6.4
05-06 5.4
06-07 4.9
07-08 4.6
08-09 4.0

I couldn't find the league average, but looking at individual big men with similar minutes-played, his foul averages aren't really that far out of whack.  He gets too many cheap offensive fouls setting picks, but overall he's not THAT much worse when it comes to fouling than any other big man (especially any of the real physical guys).  

It's really just those dumb moving picks that's still an issue.

[lon3lytoaster]

I remember in his first, and especially second year he used to almost throw hook shots through the backboard. He was terrible on offense.. And he looked like, as Tommy put it a couple years ago "A fat little blubbery whale."

Perk's put in a lot of hard work and it's paying off for him. He's still really young, too. Going to be 25 this season so he has a lot of time to continue improving. He might just have a chance to crack the 15-17 PPG and 10RPG marks a couple times in his career, especially with that new jumpshot of his.

His defense is painfully underrated by other teams, too. We wouldn't be nearly as good without Perkins. Hope he gets an all-defensive team nod, he really deserves it.

Him and Rondo, I think are going to keep us a pretty good team after KG, Paul and Ray leave. Hope they both spend their entire careers in Boston.

[LarBrd33]

I refuse to buy into hype from 2 preseason games, but I will say that Perk may have been the 2nd best player on this team during the playoffs last year (behind Rondo).  In 14 playoff games, he averaged 12 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks.  57% shooting.. 36 minutes a game.

Most impressive thing was that he proved to me that he might be one of the only players in the entire NBA who can slow Dwight HOward.  I'm not saying he can shut down Dwight... but Perk's defense on Howard was the only reason our beaten and bruised team (without it's heart and soul, KG) was able to take the East Champs to 7 games.    Dwight destroyed the Cavs in the next round. 

If these rumors of increased mobility and improved offense are true, Perk might be capable of carrying that playoff performance into the next season.

[Atzar]

I refuse to buy into hype from 2 preseason games, but I will say that Perk may have been the 2nd best player on this team during the playoffs last year (behind Rondo).  In 14 playoff games, he averaged 12 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks.  57% shooting.. 36 minutes a game.

Most impressive thing was that he proved to me that he might be one of the only players in the entire NBA who can slow Dwight HOward.  I'm not saying he can shut down Dwight... but Perk's defense on Howard was the only reason our beaten and bruised team (without it's heart and soul, KG) was able to take the East Champs to 7 games.    Dwight destroyed the Cavs in the next round. 

If these rumors of increased mobility and improved offense are true, Perk might be capable of carrying that playoff performance into the next season.

I understand wanting to see more of his offense before you pronounce it 'better,' and I definitely agree with that.  After far as mobility goes, though, just look at him.  Watch him play.  You could watch him for five minutes and notice that he's substantially quicker than he used to be.

[LarBrd33]

I refuse to buy into hype from 2 preseason games, but I will say that Perk may have been the 2nd best player on this team during the playoffs last year (behind Rondo).  In 14 playoff games, he averaged 12 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks.  57% shooting.. 36 minutes a game.

Most impressive thing was that he proved to me that he might be one of the only players in the entire NBA who can slow Dwight HOward.  I'm not saying he can shut down Dwight... but Perk's defense on Howard was the only reason our beaten and bruised team (without it's heart and soul, KG) was able to take the East Champs to 7 games.    Dwight destroyed the Cavs in the next round. 

If these rumors of increased mobility and improved offense are true, Perk might be capable of carrying that playoff performance into the next season.

I understand wanting to see more of his offense before you pronounce it 'better,' and I definitely agree with that.  After far as mobility goes, though, just look at him.  Watch him play.  You could watch him for five minutes and notice that he's substantially quicker than he used to be.

I haven't had a chance to watch any of the preseason games.  I'll have to take your word for it right now.   None of the highlights have shown him. 

[the_Bird]

I remember in his first, and especially second year he used to almost throw hook shots through the backboard. He was terrible on offense.. And he looked like, as Tommy put it a couple years ago "A fat little blubbery whale."

Perk's put in a lot of hard work and it's paying off for him. He's still really young, too. Going to be 25 this season so he has a lot of time to continue improving. He might just have a chance to crack the 15-17 PPG and 10RPG marks a couple times in his career, especially with that new jumpshot of his.

His defense is painfully underrated by other teams, too. We wouldn't be nearly as good without Perkins. Hope he gets an all-defensive team nod, he really deserves it.

Him and Rondo, I think are going to keep us a pretty good team after KG, Paul and Ray leave. Hope they both spend their entire careers in Boston.

What scares me more than a little...  

I don't think there's a player on our roster who's got much more trade value than Perk.  He's a legit center, one of the best in the conference, he's young and getting better, a proven Dwight-stopper, and he's absurdly - ABSURDLY underpaid on his current contract.  We don't have many bad contracts on this team, but Perk making $4M per is just crazy, he's probably worth 2.5x that.

So, if Danny wants to make a splash, use some of the expiring contracts to pick up a real impact player.....   who do you think everyone else is going to be asking for?  Magnify that if you're worried there's not going to be money to re-sign Perk once Rondo gets paid.