Danny said repeatedly after the trade that he thought Shaq deserved and needed to start.
Perk said repeatedly before the trade that he was going to come back as the starter, no question about it.
Don't you think that Danny's take was post-trade spin? All year long, Doc reiterated that Perk was the starter. We never got to see a rotation where Shaq backed up Perk, but there's no reason to believe that it wouldn't work. Shaq was a good soldier all year long.
It's not like we're talking about a couple of 40 minute per game guys here. Regardless of whether we're talking about Shaq or Perk or Krstic, they're going to be in the 20 - 25 minute range in the playoffs. Therefore, you have to consider the center rotation as a unit, versus as individual parts.
Thus, the argument becomes not Perk vs. Krstic, or Shaq vs. Perk, but rather Perk/Shaq/JO vs. Shaq/Krstic/JO. In that instance, I prefer the prior group. That group sacrifices some offense, but improves the defense and defensive rebounding. I think the latter skills are more important in the playoffs, but reasonable minds can disagree, I suppose.
Of course, the trade can't fairly be evaluated solely by looking at the centers. However, if people want to view it through only that prism, then I feel pretty confident in saying that we downgraded.
