It's an interesting idea, although I think the possibility of needing wings to guard LeBron and Wade for a 7 game series helped too. Although I don't think one loss to an athletic team indicates a glaring flaw in Chicago. Thibs is a good coach, I'd imagine he's got plans to counter that kind of approach in the future.
It's a real balancing act trying to keep enough horses up front to be able to bang with the Lakers while still having the wings to suppress Miami's strength and attack Chicago's weakness. I hope we have enough to do it.
What's interesting is that the way the playoffs look today, we will face Miami and CHicago rather than Orlando -- which seemed like a certainty a month ago. Perk's strength was against the beef of Howard and Bynum/Gasol. If all goes well, we won't see either the Magic or Lakers.
Perk obviously is a big help against the Magic or Lakers, but I wouldn't minimize his defense against teams like the Heat or Bulls, either. Perk is both a great one-on-one and team defender. He makes smart rotations, and knows how to cut off penetration. When Lebron, Wade, or Rose gets by the perimeter defense, Perk was there to disrupt shots, or to at least make them play with a hard foul.
In fact, it's in team defense that I think we're hurt the most. Shaq can still guard opposing centers at a high level; he's good at putting a body on people. Where he's not as good is at making rotations, defending the pick-and-roll, etc. He's simply too immobile / slow at this point to do so consistently, and as a consequence he picks up a lot of cheap fouls. (As for Krstic, unfortunately he fails to be even average at either one-on-one or team defense).