And, when a player sets great screens, one of his teammates is open and that will be Russ or KD for the score. Perk also boxes out. That leaves the lane open for a teammate to grab a rebound. The Celtics found out that life after Perk wasn't easy. They still haven't replaced that toughness that he brings - even with KG on the team. This is one of those cases where Thunder fans who call for the team to amnesty Perk don't know what they've got till it's gone.
Asked Monday morning if there is a competition to start at center, Thunder coach Scott Brooks said: “No. Perk is doing exactly everything we want him to do. He anchors our defense, sets great picks, does a lot of good things that a lot of guys don’t do that you never really get credit for. Hash has played well, too. We have two good players in that spot that help us, that impact the game in ways the stat sheet doesn’t show. No, there’s no competition.”
Brooks is well-aware of Perkins detractors. “The good thing about that is the people don’t make the decision,” Brooks said of fans who want the Thunder to part ways with Perkins. “I look at what he does for us and I get to see it every day. … What he does day in and day out is perfect for what we need. We’re not going to go to him and say, ‘Perk, you need 12 points tonight.’ That’s not how we win. He has to continue to bring that toughness, bring that spirit every night, and he does it. He sets great screens. Unfortunately nobody keeps track of that, including myself, but my eye tells me he sets great screens.”
Though some Celtics fans wouldn’t mind seeing him back in Boston, Perkins said he is fully committed to the Thunder. “I’m there. I feel good with these guys,” Perkins said. “From the day I got there the whole organization and city embraced me, so it’s been great.”
Before the game, both Thunder coach Scott Brooks and Celtics coach Doc Rivers spoke about the importance of the 28-year-old center, whose impact goes beyond the box score. “Perk’s never going to have big stats,” Rivers said.
“That’s not why you have Perk on your team. He does a lot of other things. You can’t put a number on identity or perception but there is a number. I don’t know what it is, but Perk gives their team that.”
The NBA is still new to Oklahoma City, so it is not very surprising that Thunder fans have looked at the box score and wondered what the big deal is. They see a 6-foot-10 defensive specialist who averages 4.2 points and 4.6 assists per game and wonder how this guy can be more valuable than Serge Ibaka, who averages 14.7 points and 3.4 blocked shots per game. But Perkins is more valuable that Ibaka, not that Ibaka is a slouch.
“The good thing about it is, ‘the people’ don’t make the decisions,” Brooks said. “I look at what he does and I get to see it every day. It’s easy [to say] when you see it through the box scores or you see it once a year, but what he does day in and day out is perfect for what we need. We’re not going to go to him and say, ‘Perk, you need 12 points tonight.’ That’s not how we win. He has to continue to bring that toughness, bring the spirit of competition every night and he does it.”
Memphis forward Zach Randolph has been fined $25,000 for confronting Oklahoma City's Kendrick Perkins in the lockerroom area following their ejections with 2:05 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Grizzlies at Thunder game on Nov. 14, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball OperationsI guess Zach found out that if you mess with Perk, you're going to pay for it. :) .
#ThunderHolidayAssistKD/Perk distribute 100s of T-Giving meals @ Urban Mission. Thanks @homelandstores & @coxoklahoma twitter.com/okcthunder/sta…
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 17, 2012
Personally I loved their swagger last night. You have to feel for a fan base that starts talking about tanking and the lottery 7 games into the season. Enjoy...Perkins: “I'll meet you by the bus.” Randolph: “I'll beat your (expletive).”Sounds like Perk. Also sounds like ZBo. Nothing here, keep moving. But, the refs apparently felt that these two guys meant it and didn't want it to come to blows on the court so they ejected both of them. Now, in typical David Stern fashion, the league is "looking into" the incident, including reports that the altercation became physical in the locker room after their ejection. And in typical Perk fashion, had this to say about the incident,(again from NewsOK)
Asked Thursday what led to the incident, Perkins said: “Just too much talking. I wasn't frustrated, but at the same time I have a problem with losing. … You do have to see this team three more times and we can't be showing no signs of weakness.”Perk will never back down anyone. If the Thunder shows weakness, the next game the Grizzlies will try to exploit that. Perk isn't going to give them the slightest inkling that the Thunder are worried or scared of the Grizzlies. That's one of the things I love about Perk.
- “It kind of had me scared today in the film room the way the coaches were. I thought we were playing the damn Dream Team tomorrow.”
- Perkins went on to say the Cavs “are the best pick-and-roll team in the league.” “You’ve got (Dion) Waiters and you got (Kyrie) Irving who can come off and pull up at the 3 at any time,” Perkins said. “I think Irving’s shooting 46 percent. Waiters is shooting 52 percent from the 3, and they both can split the pick-and-roll, get in the paint and cause havoc. So it’s a lot on the bigs. And you’ve got Varejao who’s going to set good screens. So it’s a good challenge for us.”
Perk admitted he remembers the Thunder suffering a 96-90 home loss to the Cavs last year. He said it’s on his mind now. “They snuck up on us,” he said.Perk never forgets. The article also talks about Perk's full court press of Pistons' point guard Brandon Knight. Perk was firing himself the way he knows best, with defense.
Brooks on Perk’s one-man, full-court press: “We just put that in. The Perk. The Perkinator. He was all over the place. He had a lot of energy, and it was good. We do that with certain teams, (what) we call shadow the backcourt with certain bigs that we don’t feel that are comfortable enough handling the ball, bringing the ball up and making plays. There are some bigs that do like (Joakim) Noah, for instance, in Chicago. We didn’t want to do that with him because he’s a guy that can bring it up the court and make a good play out of it.”
- Brooks went on to praise Perk’s overall performance against the Pistons. Perk matched his career high with six assists. “Perk had a good game,” Brooks said. “I didn’t realize he had that many assists. I mean, he really had a solid game for us defensively and offensively.”
- Perk said he was going for 10 assists. “I never had 10 assists before, but I was trying to get it,” he said. “But I was just getting back to that stage of trying to actually set the tone, showing guys, especially young guys that you can also have fun not just scoring the ball but passing the ball also. So just trying to build good habits. That’s about it.”
- Perkins said Serge Ibaka’s continued growth offensively is not surprising to him. “I knew he was going to get it rolling. I watch Serge, he comes in every night about 7 o’clock getting extra work in. He works so hard, man, and he’s always working on his craft so it’s just paying off.”
Thunders 3rd jersey is the same one that leaked in 2K13. twitter.com/ThunderGazette…Thunderup.com has another photo and more info on the new unis. I have to say Serge wears his quite nicely.
— Thunder Gazette (@ThunderGazette) November 8, 2012
The OKC Thunder will wear a new Navy Alternate jersey on Friday against the Detroit Pistons at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The OKC Thunder will be wearing the new jerseys for the following road games: Brooklyn (Dec. 4); Minnesota (Dec. 20); Washington (Jan. 7); Dallas (Jan. 18); Los Angeles Lakers (Jan. 27); Utah (Feb. 12); Denver (March 1); San Antonio (March 11); Indiana (April 5); Golden State (April 11).
The new OKC Thunder Alternate Uniforms will go on sale this Friday. Thunder Up!
