Asik is much more athletic and is a significantly better rebounder than Perkins ever was.
Thats a no and a no.
Based on what? Last year, Asik was 4th in the league in rebound rate, Perkins was 79th.
Defense is a little harder to quantify, but if you watch Asik patrol the paint and compare it to Perkins, its not really an 'up in the air' kind of question. He's much more mobile.
Yes, compare last year's Asik to post-op Perk. That's certainly a fair comparison.
Okay, what's the comparison you want?
His overall average in boston? 16.4 Reb rate, significantly below Asik last year.
His best overall year as a full-time starter? 16.9, significantly below Asik last year.
Its not really a strong case that Perkins is the better rebounder. Better defender is a little murkier, but a lot of that relies on things that are unknowable and also tough to quantify. How would Perkins impact a team without a dominant defender next to him? How much of Boston's historic defense at the end of the last defense was Perkins?
One thing that we do know: Without a dominant defender next to him in Houston, Asik being on the floor was the difference between Houston being a top-10 defense, or a bottom-5 defense.