What Kendrick Perkins has been during the lockout

[mjokc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p0lot1JT6Y The man is dedicated.

[GreenFaith1819]

Big fella working it out...that leg is looking better.

The west is in for a world of hurt this season, with a fully healed Perk and Serge up front for OKC.

[Celtics4ever]

There is no doubt he is a hard worker.

I thought he was lifting paltry amounts on the shoulder lift,  and the modified dead lift. In fact on the shoulder one he is barely lifting ten pounds.  I also thought he played below the rim alot for a 6'10" on those offensive moves.  I hope he does well and his work ethic as always is excellent but there is only so much damage a tendon can take before it goes to heck.

[KP43]

just look at my name, and profile pic... he is the most dedicated player in the game right now. TP for the vid by the way

[Marcus13]

[dang] shame we won't get to reap the benefits of this, but I wish nothing but the best for Perk and hope he rebounds from a bad post-season

[xmuscularghandix]

There is no doubt he is a hard worker.

I thought he was lifting paltry amounts on the shoulder lift,  and the modified dead lift. In fact on the shoulder one he is barely lifting ten pounds.  I also thought he played below the rim alot for a 6'10" on those offensive moves.  I hope he does well and his work ethic as always is excellent but there is only so much damage a tendon can take before it goes to heck.

Agreed. Perks strength was never an issue. It was his offensive fundamentals and his athleticism. Hopefully all this work helps, but he'll never be an offensive force.

[mgent]

There is no doubt he is a hard worker.

I thought he was lifting paltry amounts on the shoulder lift,  and the modified dead lift. In fact on the shoulder one he is barely lifting ten pounds.  I also thought he played below the rim alot for a 6'10" on those offensive moves.  I hope he does well and his work ethic as always is excellent but there is only so much damage a tendon can take before it goes to heck.

Agreed. Perks strength was never an issue. It was his offensive fundamentals and his athleticism. Hopefully all this work helps, but he'll never be an offensive force.

His fundamentals aren't all that bad anymore.  He's just deathly slow and lacking in confidence.

[mc34]

Agreed. Perks strength was never an issue. It was his offensive fundamentals and his athleticism. Hopefully all this work helps, but he'll never be an offensive force.

True, he'll never be a dominant offensive force, but people forget he scored 10 points a game on 60% shooting for us when he was healthy. That is more than adequate, especially for a complementary player

[GranTur]

Agreed. Perks strength was never an issue. It was his offensive fundamentals and his athleticism. Hopefully all this work helps, but he'll never be an offensive force.

True, he'll never be a dominant offensive force, but people forget he scored 10 points a game on 60% shooting for us when he was healthy. That is more than adequate, especially for a complementary player

He scored that much when everyone else was healthy too...residual points. He can't run/finish a fast break, and his isolation moves make him a BLACK HOLE.

[ballin]

Wait a second... you're ripping a player for their offense when they average .56% from the field playing 25ish minutes per game? Absurd.

It never looked pretty but it was effective. Of course, some people don't care about actual effectiveness, since they'd rather just judge a player based on the 'ol eye test...

[Roy H.]

He can't run/finish a fast break...

How many times is your center finishing the fast break?  Most centers help initiate the fast break by rebounding and making good outlet passes, which Perk was very strong at.

Not running and finishing the fast break is a valid criticism of a guy like Gerald Green.  For Perk, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[Celtics4ever]

Usually a good center will be a safety valve on the fast break and after the outlet go to the high post on offense.  He will be open for a jumper if the transition game fails and has a headstart back on the defensive end being at the high post.  This is especially true on the Flex offense.  I know some teams run the Flex like the Jazz.

[Roy H.]

Usually a good center will be a safety valve on the fast break and after the outlet go to the high post on offense.  He will be open for a jumper if the transition game fails and has a headstart back on the defensive end being at the high post.  This is especially true on the Flex offense.  I know some teams run the Flex like the Jazz.

Even in that instance, how many times is your most efficient offense having your center take open jumpers?  That works great if you've got Mehmet Okur as your center, but it's not the case with most guys.

I'm fine with having a center who plays good defense and who grabs rebounds.  That's the most effective way to start a fast break in my mind.  It's the guards and wings who should be out finishing the break; very few teams have the luxury of having a center who is fast / athletic enough to consistently being the one finishing on the other end.

I think a lot of fans are expecting too much scoring from the center position.  Here are the leading scorers among "traditional" centers last season:

D. Howard - 22.9 points
B. Lopez - 20.4 points
A. Bogut - 12.8 points
R. Hibbert - 12.7 points
C. Kaman - 12.4 points
M. Gasol - 11.7 points
J. Noah - 11.7 points
A. Bynum - 11.3 points
E. Okafor - 10.3 points
M. Gortat - 10.2 points
T. Chandler - 10.1 points

Which one of these guys is running and finishing fast breaks, or is hitting open jumpers from the high post?  A handful do one or the other, perhaps, but most of these guys aren't going to be all that effective as break finishers.

[slamtheking]

Usually a good center will be a safety valve on the fast break and after the outlet go to the high post on offense.  He will be open for a jumper if the transition game fails and has a headstart back on the defensive end being at the high post.  This is especially true on the Flex offense.  I know some teams run the Flex like the Jazz.

Even in that instance, how many times is your most efficient offense having your center take open jumpers?  That works great if you've got Mehmet Okur as your center, but it's not the case with most guys.

I'm fine with having a center who plays good defense and who grabs rebounds.  That's the most effective way to start a fast break in my mind.  It's the guards and wings who should be out finishing the break; very few teams have the luxury of having a center who is fast / athletic enough to consistently being the one finishing on the other end.

I think a lot of fans are expecting too much scoring from the center position.  Here are the leading scorers among "traditional" centers last season:

D. Howard - 22.9 points
B. Lopez - 20.4 points
A. Bogut - 12.8 points
R. Hibbert - 12.7 points
C. Kaman - 12.4 points
M. Gasol - 11.7 points
J. Noah - 11.7 points
A. Bynum - 11.3 points
E. Okafor - 10.3 points
M. Gortat - 10.2 points
T. Chandler - 10.1 points
Which one of these guys is running and finishing fast breaks, or is hitting open jumpers from the high post?  A handful do one or the other, perhaps, but most of these guys aren't going to be all that effective as break finishers.

that's pitiful.  Looking at that list of averages for centers makes me yearn for the days when centers could actually score and were a focal point of many offenses.  that's just truly disappointing.

Not that the centers of old were fast break finishers (except maybe Dan Issel in Denver) but at least they could score.

[Roy H.]

Usually a good center will be a safety valve on the fast break and after the outlet go to the high post on offense.  He will be open for a jumper if the transition game fails and has a headstart back on the defensive end being at the high post.  This is especially true on the Flex offense.  I know some teams run the Flex like the Jazz.

Even in that instance, how many times is your most efficient offense having your center take open jumpers?  That works great if you've got Mehmet Okur as your center, but it's not the case with most guys.

I'm fine with having a center who plays good defense and who grabs rebounds.  That's the most effective way to start a fast break in my mind.  It's the guards and wings who should be out finishing the break; very few teams have the luxury of having a center who is fast / athletic enough to consistently being the one finishing on the other end.

I think a lot of fans are expecting too much scoring from the center position.  Here are the leading scorers among "traditional" centers last season:

D. Howard - 22.9 points
B. Lopez - 20.4 points
A. Bogut - 12.8 points
R. Hibbert - 12.7 points
C. Kaman - 12.4 points
M. Gasol - 11.7 points
J. Noah - 11.7 points
A. Bynum - 11.3 points
E. Okafor - 10.3 points
M. Gortat - 10.2 points
T. Chandler - 10.1 points
Which one of these guys is running and finishing fast breaks, or is hitting open jumpers from the high post?  A handful do one or the other, perhaps, but most of these guys aren't going to be all that effective as break finishers.

that's pitiful.  Looking at that list of averages for centers makes me yearn for the days when centers could actually score and were a focal point of many offenses.  that's just truly disappointing.

Not that the centers of old were fast break finishers (except maybe Dan Issel in Denver) but at least they could score.

I should amend that list a bit; I went by basketball-reference.com's list of "centers", which differs markedly from ESPN's.  If you go by ESPN, it adds guys like Bargnani, Big Al, David Lee, Nene, and Duncan.  Still, not a great list, and not a lot of break finishers.