Right around the trade deadline the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder made an unbelievable trade. The Celtics sent Kendrick Perkins & Nate Robinson to OKC for Jeff Green & Ned Kristic.
Acquiring Perkins and the Bobcats Nazr Mohammed was a slam dunk for the Thunder. They immensely improved their defense with this trade. Perkins is one of the best defensive centers in the league and has a lot of playoff experience. Nazr will be a solid backup and can easily start if Perkins gets hurt.
The Thunder’s starting five will be Westbrook, Selfosa, KD, Ibaka and Perkins. With twenty-seven games to go, the Thunder have a good chance to pass the Lakers and obtain the 3rd seed in the West. They go from being a playoff team to having a real shot at winning the title. They now have the depth to match up with the Lakers, Spurs, and Mavs. And the scariest part is that Durant and Westbrook are only 22 years old! If they can resign Perkins to a long term deal, the Thunder could be a favorite to win the Western Conference for years to come. After all Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kobe Bryant are not getting any younger, and Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins have yet to reach the prime of their careers.
On the flip side of the coin it is very hard to see why the Celtics made this move. As TNT’s David Aldrige said, “The Celtics were a team who played tough, nasty defense down low. That was their identity. Now they lost that identity.” He is exactly right. They no longer have the same identity as they did before. Sure Shaq fits in well, but it is quite unrealistic to expect him to stay healthy throughout the playoffs. Jermaine O’Neal has not been good for awhile. As for Nenad Krstic, he can score but he can’t defend or rebound. Those are the two most important ingredients to winning a championship. Who is going to defend Dwight Howard? Shaq is simply too old to keep up with him for an entire series. Even if the Celtics were not able to resign Perkins it’s not an excuse to trade him now. Not when that starting 5 have never lost a playoff series when they are all healthy.
Shortly after the trade many members from both teams were shocked to hear the news. Kevin Garnett described Perkins as being like a brother to him, and the only way he could describe the situation was to say it was “like losing a family member.” Kevin Durant seemed excited for his team to land Perkins and offered him words of encouragement in a text message. It will definitely take some time for all players involved in this trade to adjust to their new teams and find clear roles for themselves, and both teams are hoping that happens before the playoffs.
So watch out Western Conference because that booming sound your hearing is the arrival of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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