To answer a few of the comments:
"Are you high?"
No, not right now, but the weekend is still young.
"You've gotta love the beauty of someone who claims that Rondo does an atrocious job of keeping his man in front of him recommending that we sign Steve Nash. It's like posting on a Suns board that Nash isn't a great outside shot so they should replace him with Rondo."
I guess my point is I don’t view Rondo as a great defensive player. I recognize Steve Nash is a MUCH worse defender. However, Steve Nash is a MUCH better offensive player/shooter, with the ability to dish the ball as effectively as Rondo. So if you are going to sacrifice defense for offense, I would have preferred to do so at the PG position, rather than at the C position.
"Dear god...people are acting like they traded bill Russell."
I think this is a bit of an overstatement. I recognize Perk is not Bill Russell, nor is a he even an All Star. But I think he was a vital part of this team on the defensive side of the ball. I do find it interesting that the prevailing theme among fans and NBA analysts following game 7, was that “if Perk had been playing”, we would have won the Championship. But now that he is gone, he is “a skinnier version of Greg Kite”, as someone just mentioned in this thread.
"I have one question for the thread originator; if you didn't mean for this to be a "bash Rondo" thread, what exactly were your intentions?"
My intentions were to state that I would have liked Danny (and he may very well have) to explore a change at PG prior to this trade. I think there are other PG’s in this league that can effectively run this team (as mentioned, D. Williams, Ellis, Nash and others). I think from a defensive standpoint, which does win Championships, keeping Perk would have made more sense.
"Your a big Perk fan and its blinded your reason. We were winning .77 % of the time before Perk came back. .58% of the time with him this year.
Howard scored 28 on him in Feb, Robin Lopez 18 ( yes Robin Lopez) and Bynum scored 16 last time we played the Lakers. This defensive prowess you speak of has not been the same Perk from previous years. I think he lost a lot of mobility. You can bet your butts that the Celtics took note of these stats and trends. The reinjury is the final straw."
I appreciate this comment. I had not compared winning percentages, and specific stats of opposing players since Perk had come back from injury. Your point is well taken and maybe as you said, Danny saw this as a trend and decided to cut bait. I think my major problem with the trade is what you are now relying on in order to try and win the Championship this year. And that being that Shaq will not only be able to stay healthy, but will be able to battle the likes of Dwight, Bynam, etc for 30+ minutes during the playoffs, (without getting hurt, or fouling out). You are also counting on something out of Jermaine O’Neil which I think is fools gold at this point.
But I hope I am proven wrong and the new guys give us the boost we need, and the Center spot is not as big of a question mark come playoff time that I fear it will be.