As a longtime Perkins supporter, I'm quite frankly shocked, to say the least, at some of the Perk comments here.
But...what is the saying nowadays......"To Each His Own"...?
But anyways....
OKC has, unfortunately, caught lightning in a bottle in the form of a seemingly rejuvenated Tim Duncan, Manu, and Parker - especially Tim.
I haven't seen Tim play like this in about 3-4 years, to be honest. He's drinking some of the same stuff our own KG is drinking.
Manu has managed to get healthy, for a change. He's gone through such a rough stretch health-wise the last few years.
OKC is experiencing the Perfect Storm, unfortunately.
Perk? To be honest, from what I've seen he hasn't played THAT bad...Tim Duncan has benefited from a system that has kept him fresh up to this point, and the man obviously smells blood in the water...his (and the Spurs) window is closing, and he's well-rested. Tim Duncan is simply putting it out there on the floor - all of it.
With that being said, Perk's perfect storm would be if he had KG to play alongsides, IMO. Perkin's play during this series CANNOT be attributed to simply HIM.
Look at Scott Brooks...the man had SERGE of all people sitting for most of Game 1?? I could tell during the media's question and answer period that he admittedly seemed to be searching for a way to shake things up with his bigs.
Scott Brooks hasn't been in this kind of situation before with his team, to where it seems as if nothing is working vs their opponent.
Westbrook is getting exposed, too...he is still an explosive scorer but his defense is lacking at times.
Durant isn't stopping people, either.
Let's be real, here----if The Boston Celtics can somehow get by MIA, and meet (probably) the Spurs in the NBA finals - does ANYONE here see Manu and Parker scoring like that against BOS?
Nope.
What is happening to OKC is NOT just Perk's fault, as I am interpreting some of the posts here to state. He is STILL a top 5-Defensive Center in the game.
I'm betting that he'd still average 10 pts, 9-10 rebs if he still played alongside KG.
What's happened with the trade has happened...I'm looking forward to Jeff Green perhaps coming back next year, and looking to see what Danny does with that draft pick we acquired.
But Kendrick Perkins is just NOT as bad as some here are stating.