1: Perkins trade Destroyed team chemistry---cost us a Ring...we were KILLING the entire league--Danny Outsmarted himself. For Jeff "Asleep at the wheel" Green and a center that Doc stopped playing.
2: Telfair trade--I punched my Dashboard when I heard the news on the radio.
3: Drafting Marcus Smart---but I actually like this move now.
We weren't killing the league with Perk that season. Shaq went down and we were never good enough to beat Miami after it. The only playoff game we won against them was the one Shaq came back, he was shot the next game after a few mins and Mia never looked back.
People forget that Perkins was also hurt himself, and we traded for Green (who was needed because Pierce was suffering as well when and Daniels went down, and we needed more bodies for Carmelo/LeBron to guard) and along with Green we acquired Kristic as well. Wasn't a world beater, but more than serviceable a at a time when all our bigs were pretty much unhealthy, we got a healthy center for a turn. Too bad he himself got hurt entering the Playoffs.
I'm still not sure how people can view the trade for Perk in such a negative way even at this time, aside from personal emotional reasons. But it was a good trade and we won it by a landslide. Team chemistry wasn't what destroyed that team, but health. Having Perkins wouldn't have changed that one bit.
I laugh at the idea that of "we were killing the league with Perk that season". Actually no, we were killing the league with SHAQ. Perk missed all games up to late January. He then played 12 games and injured himself again. We traded an injured Perk.
The Perk trade was a shock to me at the time and was completely unexpected - but also completely necessary.
Looking at it in hindsight, we very clearly won that trade. Kristic gave us far more production that season then Perkins ever would have given his health situation...Jeff Green gave us multiple seasons of 15+ PPG scoring, and Perk went on to become one of the worst players in the entire league after the trade.
Anybody who thinks we would have had a better shot at a title with Perk on the roster has no clue. We had a far better shot with Green and Krstic had Kristic stayed healthy. He did get hurt and ended up missing the rest of the year, but he was healthy at the time of the trade and there was no way for Danny to envision he'd get hurt.
Krstic had his limitations sure, but he was a better all round player then Perk was, and Green (for all his flaws) gave us starting production for a good couple of years.
People also completely ignore the fact that the decision to trade Perk was not as simple as wanting an upgrade - Perkins basically forced Danny's hand by refusing to sign the contract extension he got offered, and by insisting on a ridiculous salary that he wasn't close to being worthy of. Thunder gave him that contract, and they later lived to regret it. Much like Tony Allen, Danny wanted to keep Perk, but he wanted too much money - more then Danny could realistically offer.
People don't like the trade because he got a ring with us, and because they got accustomed to seeing that same starting five step on the court each day, and as a result people allowed themselves to get emotionally attached to him as a Celtic.
As a player Perk was a pure role player in the strictest sense - he wasn't a great rebounder, he was almost completely useless offensively, and his defense was solid but not elite. He was made to look better when playing in Boston alongside Rondo, Ray, Pierce and KG - he got a ton of easy looks from those guys, and it allowed him to play a very simple and pigeonholed role. When he left that big 4, his weaknesses were very clearly exposed.