Kendrick Perkins holds the key to Oklahoma City Thunder success next NBA season
When the Boston Celtics tradedKendrick Perkins in the middle of last season, the franchise received severe criticism for making the move.
The reason behind this criticism was that the fact that big man was the core of Boston’s solid defence. It was Perkins, who had kept the interior of the C’s defense knitted together all those years.
Although the C’s achieved the third spot in the Eastern Conference, but they did have few setbacks during the previous regular-season after losing Perkins. Later, in the second round of the postseason the C’s felt the heat against
some of the very in the business when they faced Miami Heat. Without Perkins, the C's just never came to terms with the offensive brilliance of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and were knocked out at the Conference semifinals stage.
However, on the other hand Oklahoma City Thunder was fortunate to acquire this skilful centre in their roster. Perkins added the aggressiveness and toughness that was long missing from the Thunder outfit.
Prior to Perkins trade, the Thunder didn’t have a reliable centre to provide them the toughness in the back court. Nenad Krstic was slow and didn’t have the frame to challenge most of the bigger centre in the league. Serge Ibaka
would have been a feasible option, but he was in his first year at the franchise, and although he eventually did well late in the season, expecting miracles from him would have been unfair.
The Thunder management was therefore desperate to form a powerful backcourt nucleus and when they got the opportunity, they traded both Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic to the Celtics in return for Perkins.
Perkins inclusion although didn’t have much effect as he got to play only 17 games, but come next season, he will be an important factor in the push for the championship title.
Perkins has the size and the experience that OKC require to counter the likes of Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. Moreover, his presence ensures the services of an on court leader.
Last but not the least, Perkins has seen it all. He has won the championship ring at Boston and knows what it takes to reach to that level. Therefore it will be fair to say, that with nearly all the bases covered for OKC at the
moment, it will be his effect that will determine the course for Thunder next season.
If Perkins manages to deliver to his potential, there might not be many teams who will be able to stop OKC.
Tags: