No, we can't - not even close
with Perk, the Celtics were leading the East with an excellent shot at the title in 2011 - this team, as much fun as they have been, isn't close to that team's level.
please don't play out the argument that, well, Rondo's injury in the 2011 playoffs vs Miami would have negated our title shot that year. we keep Perk and we probably have home court throughout the playoffs that season (unless the Spurs make the Finals) and we never would have seen Miami until the East finals.
and please save the argument about Perk's stats - his value, especially to this group of Celtics, goes way beyond the boxscore.
finally, may i remind you - Danny Boy has been looking for a solid center ever since he gave Perk away. that trade was an Ainge ego trip and he is still trying to justify it.
wouldn't you rather be sitting here tonight with another banner already in the rafters watching Danny trying to sustain an aging team than enjoying Jeff Green's improved play of late, which i suppose is the point of this thread ?
I actually would not.
You actually would not have seen this current team have their 2nd title already??
Then you must be either a transplanted Hawks, Magic, Suns, Jazz, Nuggets, Trail Blazers or maybe Warriors fan who loves an entertaining team that just plays for the 2nd round every year ....... or you are just insane.
I've said this once, I've said this 10 million times (slight exaggeration)
1. Perkins suffered a season ending injury against the Lakers, and big men don't have a history of returning well from major injuries.
2. When Perk came back god knows how long it would have taken for him to return to form, if ever. Also he could have gone 3 more games, reimburse himself, been out again.
For the above reasons, we have no way at al of even imagining whether we'd have won a title or even finished with a better record of we kept Perk.
Next thing:
3. We had Shaq, Perk, Jermaine and Semih Erden. That's 4 centres on our roster, and all of them had been injured at some point in the season. We had no way of knowing if wed have either one of those guys healthy come playoff time. We needed a healthy center.
4. Perk was asking more than we could offer to extend his contract. If we kept him we already knew he'd sign elsewhere the next season and we'd lose him for nothing.
5. In the trade, along with Jeff, we got Nenad Krstic. He was a solid big who had been healthy all season.
Put all of this together and Danny would have been an absolute moron to keep Perk. He had no choice as a GM bit to trade him, and right now I think were better off with KG at center anyway.