Any stats fiends wanna compare his defensive efficiency numbers last year in games KG played vs. games KG did not play?
I have a hard time blaming Perk for all of our defensive deficiencies after KG went down. Some of it was that BBD was put into the starting lineup, meaning Mikki Moore was our primary backup center. Some of it was that Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were absolutely exhausted, and could give less on the defensive end. Very little, of any, of the breakdown was due to Perk.
TP to Who for the breakdown.
And to be clear, I wasn't saying it was Perk's fault that our DEF numbers as a team got worse (I wasn't even certain that they did).
Instead, I was asking someone to compile the DEF numbers for Perkins specifically in games that KG plays versus does not play. I asked for last year in particular as a single season would be a cohesive body of work to make as valid a comparison as possible.
Again, what I was getting at is that I doubt Perk is nearly as effective defensively without good defenders around him. You can say that about most players I bet - but I would also bet that the elite defenders in the league are just as good defensively no matter what team they are on.
I don't think Perk is anywhere near that level.
I did a breakdown one time where I looked at the defensive production of the top 5-man units for the Celtics last year, and I remember it being interesting. I looked at the production when Rondo/Pierce/Allen were all playing together and the big men were either KG + someone else or Perk + someone else. The results were strikingly that without KG the defense stunk, but without Perk there wasn't much difference. Let's see if I can find it again...
(From 82games.com http://www.82games.com/0809/0809BOS2.HTM . Off = points per possession, Def = points allowed per possession. Remember, Rondo/Allen/Pierce are the constants, so I'll just list the big men combos)
1) KG and Perk: 1.12 Off, .98 Def
2) Baby and Perk: 1.09 Off, 1.15 Def
3) KG and Scal: 1.22 Off, .96 Def
4) Powe and Perk: 1.11 Off, 1.08 Def
5) KG and Baby: 1.14 Off, .96 Def
6) KG and Powe: 1.18 Off, .88 Def
7) Scal and Perk: 1.25 Off, 1.00 Def
As you can see, no matter who KG was paired with up front (Perk, Scal, Baby, or Powe) the defense was outstanding, giving up less than a point per possession with our main perimeter crew. But for Perk, the only time the defense game up less than a point per possession was when he was paired with KG. I think that result looks pretty robust across several combos. The specific numbers might change based on sample size, but the trend is abundantly clear.
Moore-Perkins: 1.08 0.97
Good point. I didn't scroll down that far, I only looked at the top 10. Still, KG doesn't have a combo with Moore so there's no 1-to-1 comparison the way there were for the other 3 combos that I mentioned. Plus, that combo didn't play very many minutes together. Here are the totals (again, Rondo/Allen/Pierce are the constants):
KG + Perk: Def .98 in 1074 minutes played
KG + (Baby, Powe, or Scal): Def .94 in 254 minutes played
Perk + (Baby, Powe, Scal, or Moore): Def 1.11 in 554 minutes played
I mean, it's a pretty clear and consistent difference. Considering that teams get approximately 100 possessions per game, KG + anyone-else-but-Perk gave up about 17 fewer points per game than Perk + anyone-else-but-KG.
And looking at it qualitatively, it matches the intuition. Perk is a great on-ball post defender, but he is limited in the space he can cover. As such, he did better with a mobile PF (Scal, Moore) and not so great with PFs that also want to be in the paint (Powe, Baby). With KG, it didn't much matter, whatever big man he was paired with made a lock-down defensive tandem.
Bringing it back on topic, I would say that Perk is one of the best on-ball post defenders in the NBA and a good defensive role player overall. By the playoffs last year he was showing definite signs of improvement as well, so he could still get better. I think top-3 is still a stretch, but given the right situation (which this team is) and the right teammates (which this team has) he is a very valuable player.
Topic: Kendrick Perkins: Where does his defense rank among centres? (Read 7869 times)