Perk and Bynum. what's going on?

[wdleehi]

Offensively, we are harder to cover without Perk.

For whatever reason, this one is sound theoretically, but hasn't been true in actual practice.

Actually, it has been true in actual practice. Our players have simply been playing like crap until lately.

So the new players from the trade have stepped up and produced lately?  Some double digit scoring?  (I mean Perk did average 10 a game last year and this is suppose to be an offensive upgrade)

[Roy H.]

Offensively, we are harder to cover without Perk.

For whatever reason, this one is sound theoretically, but hasn't been true in actual practice.

Actually, it has been true in actual practice. Our players have simply been playing like crap until lately.

Eh, maybe.  The "cover everybody but BBD on the perimeter" defense hasn't looked all that hard to implement lately.

[LarBrd33]

Bynum is a stud when healthy.

Perk is perk.  Lets not overreact after every random game Perk puts up some numbers.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Offensively, we are harder to cover without Perk.

For whatever reason, this one is sound theoretically, but hasn't been true in actual practice.

Actually, it has been true in actual practice. Our players have simply been playing like crap until lately.

Eh, maybe.  The "cover everybody but BBD on the perimeter" defense hasn't looked all that hard to implement lately.

You're ignoring all the open looks that KG is getting for example and the single coverage. It ignores that Rondo had not been playing like he's supposed to until lately. It ignores that we've been unhealthy until recently (and we're still a bit banged up but better).

The problem has been execution, not teams having an easier time guarding us.

[gingerbreadman]

Completely off-topic fond memory of perk...

Remember in the early-mid 2000's, C's were playing Indiana in the playoffs, some weird foul situation occurred, and the Pacers were allowed to choose anyone on the C's bench to shoot free throws.

They pick 17 yr old ish perk, he's completely freaked out, misses both FTs.  (In hindsight, maybe he wasn't freaked out, maybe he will never learn to shoot FTs...)  And as I recall, the C's lost the game...

Please feel free to correct or elaborate on the details...

At least I can laugh about it now...

[Fafnir]

Completely off-topic fond memory of perk...

Remember in the early-mid 2000's, C's were playing Indiana in the playoffs, some weird foul situation occurred, and the Pacers were allowed to choose anyone on the C's bench to shoot free throws.

They pick 17 yr old ish perk, he's completely freaked out, misses both FTs.  (In hindsight, maybe he wasn't freaked out, maybe he will never learn to shoot FTs...)  And as I recall, the C's lost the game...

Please feel free to correct or elaborate on the details...

At least I can laugh about it now...

It was game 6 and the C's were up 1 point and the Pacers were intentionally fouling Pierce. Tinsley (I believe) hit Pierce hard after the refs were late calling it.

He threw an elbow into Tinsely for his second technical of the night. The Pacers made the tech and since Pierce was ejected the Pacers got to pick who shot the free throw. They picked Perk and he missed both.

Antione led the C's to a win in OT however. Also I believe Perkins was 19, if he was 17 he'd be the youngest draft pick ever by a huge margin.

[RJ87]

The Perk hate makes me sad.
 
Meanwhile, Jeff "the best player in the trade" Green, gets 7 rebounds the other night, half of them in garbage time, goes 3-9 from the floor (7-19 over his last 3 games), and people are talking about him like he is hall-of-fame player. Go figure. 

I literally just laughed out loud. Too funny and too true.

And before the "oh, you must hate Green" chatter starts, I like Jeff - quite a bit actually. But sometimes comments can get downright comical when the green colored lenses go on.

As far as Perk, I have watched a few OKC games since the trade and their system is better suited for his strenghts. I like him a lot in that Thunder system alongside Ibaka. People keep saying "they overpaid for a center with no offensive game" like OKC did no research on Perk. They've been interested in him for awhile, were going to go after him hard this offseason (with Miami likely offering him the MLE). Is it so hard to believe they like what he brings to the table (interior defense, championship pedigree, tougness) and don't have any unrealistic expections of him developing an offensive game?

[BballTim]

Offensively, we are harder to cover without Perk.

For whatever reason, this one is sound theoretically, but hasn't been true in actual practice.

Actually, it has been true in actual practice. Our players have simply been playing like crap until lately.

Eh, maybe.  The "cover everybody but BBD on the perimeter" defense hasn't looked all that hard to implement lately.

You're ignoring all the open looks that KG is getting for example and the single coverage. It ignores that Rondo had not been playing like he's supposed to until lately. It ignores that we've been unhealthy until recently (and we're still a bit banged up but better).

The problem has been execution, not teams having an easier time guarding us.

  I agree with much of this but I think that Ray's game has been hurt to a certain extent by having people other than Perk (and Shaq) set those picks in the lane when he runs through the lane trying to shake his defender.

[BudweiserCeltic]

The Perk hate makes me sad.
 
Meanwhile, Jeff "the best player in the trade" Green, gets 7 rebounds the other night, half of them in garbage time, goes 3-9 from the floor (7-19 over his last 3 games), and people are talking about him like he is hall-of-fame player. Go figure. 

I literally just laughed out loud. Too funny and too true.

And before the "oh, you must hate Green" chatter starts, I like Jeff - quite a bit actually. But sometimes comments can get downright comical when the green colored lenses go on.

As far as Perk, I have watched a few OKC games since the trade and their system is better suited for his strenghts. I like him a lot in that Thunder system alongside Ibaka. People keep saying "they overpaid for a center with no offensive game" like OKC did no research on Perk. They've been interested in him for awhile, were going to go after him hard this offseason (with Miami likely offering him the MLE). Is it so hard to believe they like what he brings to the table (interior defense, championship pedigree, tougness) and don't have any unrealistic expections of him developing an offensive game?

The problem with this analysis is that the Thunder can afford to overpay him because they won't be playing the free-agent game anymore. We're up to our last chances with this group, and will soon need the cap space to transition forward.

If this was a couple of years back, I would gladly overpay for Perk because it would have been a non-issue in factoring players we could sign other than owners' willingness to spend.

[RJ87]

The Perk hate makes me sad.
 
Meanwhile, Jeff "the best player in the trade" Green, gets 7 rebounds the other night, half of them in garbage time, goes 3-9 from the floor (7-19 over his last 3 games), and people are talking about him like he is hall-of-fame player. Go figure. 

I literally just laughed out loud. Too funny and too true.

And before the "oh, you must hate Green" chatter starts, I like Jeff - quite a bit actually. But sometimes comments can get downright comical when the green colored lenses go on.

As far as Perk, I have watched a few OKC games since the trade and their system is better suited for his strenghts. I like him a lot in that Thunder system alongside Ibaka. People keep saying "they overpaid for a center with no offensive game" like OKC did no research on Perk. They've been interested in him for awhile, were going to go after him hard this offseason (with Miami likely offering him the MLE). Is it so hard to believe they like what he brings to the table (interior defense, championship pedigree, tougness) and don't have any unrealistic expections of him developing an offensive game?

The problem with this analysis is that the Thunder can afford to overpay him because they won't be playing the free-agent game anymore. We're up to our last chances with this group, and will soon need the cap space to transition forward.

If this was a couple of years back, I would gladly overpay for Perk because it would have been a non-issue in factoring players we could sign other than owners' willingness to spend.

I'm not sure what you're objecting against, since I make zero mention of the Celtics inability/unwillingness to pay him this offseason or any reasoning behind it. My point is that just because C's fans think OKC overpaid him according to our expectations of him, doesn't make it so. I was actually looking at this from OKC's perspective.

[BudweiserCeltic]

The Perk hate makes me sad.
 
Meanwhile, Jeff "the best player in the trade" Green, gets 7 rebounds the other night, half of them in garbage time, goes 3-9 from the floor (7-19 over his last 3 games), and people are talking about him like he is hall-of-fame player. Go figure.  

I literally just laughed out loud. Too funny and too true.

And before the "oh, you must hate Green" chatter starts, I like Jeff - quite a bit actually. But sometimes comments can get downright comical when the green colored lenses go on.

As far as Perk, I have watched a few OKC games since the trade and their system is better suited for his strenghts. I like him a lot in that Thunder system alongside Ibaka. People keep saying "they overpaid for a center with no offensive game" like OKC did no research on Perk. They've been interested in him for awhile, were going to go after him hard this offseason (with Miami likely offering him the MLE). Is it so hard to believe they like what he brings to the table (interior defense, championship pedigree, tougness) and don't have any unrealistic expections of him developing an offensive game?

The problem with this analysis is that the Thunder can afford to overpay him because they won't be playing the free-agent game anymore. We're up to our last chances with this group, and will soon need the cap space to transition forward.

If this was a couple of years back, I would gladly overpay for Perk because it would have been a non-issue in factoring players we could sign other than owners' willingness to spend.

I'm not sure what you're objecting against, since I make zero mention of the Celtics inability/unwillingness to pay him this offseason or any reasoning behind it. My point is that just because C's fans think OKC overpaid him according to our expectations of him, doesn't make it so. I was actually looking at this from OKC's perspective.

Consider it an "in addition to" to your post. It speaks towards the idea of what actually is an overpaid player and what it means to a team. To the Thunder, for example, it's almost irrelevant how much they're paying for him (without going to extremes), that they have him is important. So in that regard I agree with your assessment.

To a team like us, in our position and future plans, then yeah the overpaying argument is more spot on than not I would think.

That said, if you're going to overpay for someone, you can't go that wrong with a defensive minded center with a limited offensive game (not a disastrous one as some) as long as it doesn't affect your free-agency buying power. And of course, team needs.

In a vacuum? Sure, let's say he's overpaid. But for the Thunder, what they need and what he brings for them? Far from it.

[CelticG1]

The Perk hate makes me sad.
 
Meanwhile, Jeff "the best player in the trade" Green, gets 7 rebounds the other night, half of them in garbage time, goes 3-9 from the floor (7-19 over his last 3 games), and people are talking about him like he is hall-of-fame player. Go figure. 

I literally just laughed out loud. Too funny and too true.

And before the "oh, you must hate Green" chatter starts, I like Jeff - quite a bit actually. But sometimes comments can get downright comical when the green colored lenses go on.

As far as Perk, I have watched a few OKC games since the trade and their system is better suited for his strenghts. I like him a lot in that Thunder system alongside Ibaka. People keep saying "they overpaid for a center with no offensive game" like OKC did no research on Perk. They've been interested in him for awhile, were going to go after him hard this offseason (with Miami likely offering him the MLE). Is it so hard to believe they like what he brings to the table (interior defense, championship pedigree, tougness) and don't have any unrealistic expections of him developing an offensive game?

Pretty sad if teams were going to go after him with the mid level. 34 year old JO, Mike Miller, and Steve Blake? got the midlevel last year. If teams were going to go after him with the mid level than I doubt they really are interested in getting him that bad

[More Banners]

Mark effing Blount had a 20-20 game with us (in his contract year, of course).  Just to point out the perils of a small sample size...

[xmuscularghandix]

Your point with Bynum is valid.

Perk rebounds free throws and uncontested misses. Don't let the box score fool you.

Interesting. Why don't more players boost their stats this way, I wonder?

More players have an offensive game to worry about.

While collecting misses off FTs and under the opposing team's basket? What type of offense are we talking about? 85 footers?

 

[Army_of_One_Nation]

David Lee of the Warriors had a good back-to-back rebounding games this week.