Perk Not Worried About Dwight

Perk continues to make it known that he's not concerned about Dwight Howard's presence in the Western conference.

I just said it's time to go to work,” Thunder center Kendrick Perkins said about Howard joining the Lakers. “I knew the hype was going to be over there on that end and all that. But I'm glad the attention is off us because we're the type that likes to put our hard hats on and do stuff and keep it under the radar. And at the end of the day, when you look at the box score, Oklahoma won. That's the way we like to keep it.”
“We are the Western Conference champs,” Perkins said. “So at the end of the day, we're not chasing nobody except for the ring. We're chasing Miami to get a championship. It's no guarantee who is going to be where. But we earned the Western champs so we're not chasing the Lakers, we're chasing a championship and that's what it's about.”

I've seen people suggest that the Thunder should amnesty Perk to sign Harden. To me, this is ridiculous. True centers are hard to come by and true centers who defend like Perk does are even harder to find. The Celtics have been looking for one ever since they let Perk go. I'd love to have him back on the Celtics, believe me. But Perk's importance to the Thunder is greater than ever with the Lakers bringing in Howard with the express hope of getting past the Thunder. And why did they bring in Howard? Because Bynum couldn't get past Perk and they are hoping that Howard can.

But Perk has always been able to play Howard well with single coverage. He knows how to keep him out of his preferred spots to shoot. In my opinion, it's not Perk who should be worried about Dwight, but Dwight who should be worrying about Perk.

“I'm a guy that will speak and tell you that I got a chip on my shoulder where KD might not tell you that he has one on his shoulder but he really do,” Perkins said. “Trust me, we're ready to get at it.”

I love Perk!!!