Thirty minutes with Perk: Part one of a three part interview
The Rodin of Rebound
On Sunday night, just before the Red Sox were dispatching the Colorado Rockies and while the Patriots were decimating the Washington Redskins, the crack staff sat down with Kendrick Perkins to discuss this coming season in a long ranging interview.
We call it “30 minutes” because we were going all sorts of Ed Bradley on him, asking about a wide array of subjects about basketball and life. What you’ll see here over the next three days is the results of that tete-a-tete, some of which was done in his car as we drove through the woods of Lincoln and backroads of Waltham and some of which that was done in the team’s practice facility. So, as always we hope you enjoy it and learn a little something about the man as well as the basketball player.
PIAB: Do you have any final thoughts on the pre season? Like where are you guys at, and where are you personally at in the game?
PERK: Ok, well, in the preseason, I think as a team we’re happy that its over with. Like you know I think that’s the worst part of the year, preseason for teams. So, I think we are pretty much happy that its over with. As far as our team, I think we are starting to build our chemistry, starting to get a feel for each other. That last game was big for us, I mean, people didn’t really relize that it was our last preseason game and we were really like trying to get our normal rotations down and everything, so it was a big thing for us.
PIAB: What do you think the rotation is looking like right now from the inside? Are you going to go like eight or nine guys deep, or are you going to go even farther than that?
PERK: I don’t think we will go any farther than that, either eight or nine in my opinion. At all times I feel like either Ray (Allen) or Paul (Pierce) are gonna be on the court. Your gonna have two of your big three on the court at all times. So while one of them is resting, two of them are gonna be on the court, for sure.
PIAB: So now that you’ve been up close with Ray, and Garnett, any of the worries about these guys being old, what do you have to say about that stuff? Do you think they’ve lost a step?
PERK: No, I don’t think so. I think they still have four or five years left in them a piece, you know for the simple fact that its like this a new beginning, and man when it’s a new beginning its different. It’s like each one of them came from a different team, and now they are playing with people that they enjoy playing with. So they’re pumped up, you know like KG (Kevin Garnett) right now, he’s just like, he just feels like he might be 24. Really, like Paul (Pierce) feels good, you know what I mean. So you know, it’s just exciting to see everybody happy with playing with each other. You can just see it in their games.
Lost a step? Please
PIAB: You and Garnett are really developing a good chemistry. Are you surprised at the player he is?
PERK: No, I always knew what type of player he was, I just never thought he had the supporting cast that he always needed. But I guess, you know guys don’t really think they got the supporting cast right now, so we got a lot of people to prove wrong. You know I think KG (Kevin Garnett) enjoys the team. You know, he told me that. He said ‘I love this team,’ and we just gotta keep stickin’ together and not let people come between us. You know how some people could come in and be like well I think you need more touches or something like that so, that’s a good thing.
PIAB: Is it as good on the Inside as it looks on the outside?
PERK: Oh yeah, yeah. As far as like, psh, yeah. We all cool, close. Everybody gets along, it’s like, it’s not problems, you know what I mean? So that a real good thing.
PIAB: So all that stuff about there’s only one ball, is that just all a bunch of shit?
PERK: There’s only one what?
PIAB: Like, people were talking when you got the three big guys that you know there’s only one ball, and how are they all gonna get along…
PERK: Naw, its easy, I mean, you can see, you can see it. Kevin probably averaging 21, Paul averaging 18, Ray might average 18, you can see it comin’. It’s possible for all of them to average 20 points trust me. The only problem right now is that everybody is trying to play too unselfishly. Like, everybody is trying to look for everybody, and make sure everybody gets shots instead of just playing their games and being aggressive. So, you know Doc’s been on them about it, but, its startin’ to come. You can see guys starting to be more aggressive, starting to take their shots, so, come Friday we’ll see what’s really happenin’.
PIAB: Who had the best preseason in your opinion?
PERK: Who had it?
PIAB: Yeah, outside of the big three.
PERK: You know honestly, um, I think I probably had a pretty good preseason, in my opinion. But I thought that Big Baby (Glen Davis) probably had one of the best preseason’s.
PIAB: Yeah, that Net’s game was really…
PERK: Yeah, but all the games, he showed something in all the games, when he got in, in the late fourth quarter part or whatever. I thought he showed a lot. I thought he produced when he got in, you know, made things happen, played good D, ran the court. I thought he, you know, deserved the minutes that he got on Friday in my opinion.
PIAB: How about the back up center position? You know we saw when you and Scott were out, some of the game plan was exposed a little bit. Any concerns about that?
PERK: Naw, not at all. I mean, I just see Doc wanting to play me at least 35 minutes, and the only thing that’s gonna keep me off the court is me getting in foul trouble, so you know once I start getting into the flow of the game and not picking up the early fouls, then I think I’ll be playing pretty much the whole game. I can see how he’s got the rotation going.
PIAB: Do you have the wind to play the whole game?
PERK: I don’t think my wind is up right now to play 48 minutes, but I think I can play 35 or 40.
PIAB: Could you tell us how this journey sort of feels for you. I mean like last year you guys were picked to not even finish in the top twelve in the conference, and now your coming in on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Do you ever step back and say, you know, damn?
PERK: Well actually man, I mean it feels good, but it’s like we don’t even really recognize all the hype right now. You know, Kevin doesn’t like all the attention, you know? Like I heard him say one time like, man they got us on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and they need to have the Spurs on the front of that. They won the championship, you know, he’s big on winning games right now. He’s never been a big media guy, he don’t like the pub, he just likes to be known as a hard working superstar that comes in and gets his job done.
PIAB: So your not worried about too much hype?
PERK: Naw, I’m not, I’m just trying to stay focused within the team and just know that we dealin’ as a team.
PIAB: Just quickly about your hamstring. Was it a tight hamstring or what was it?
PERK: It was a mildly pulled hamstring, and they just…
PIAB: Did you pull it in a game or in practice?
PERK: A game in Worcester. So, you know, Ed told me that he didn’t want me to take a chance cause it was really sore. So he was like ‘I don’t want you to tear it, cause if you tear it then its like 6 to 8 weeks, and we cant afford to have you out 6 to 8 weeks at the beginning of the season, at the start of the season.’ So I was just like, ok sure.
PIAB: Must feel pretty good to be so valuable to this team that they’re…
PERK: Yeah, it feels good. It makes me work harder too man. You know like, come back in at night when nobodies here, cause we can get in like 24 hours, so like you know what I’m sayin’, it makes you work that much harder. Like when people put that much pressure on you, it makes you go harder, in my opinion.
Tomorrow we’ll bring you part two and Friday we’ll bring you part three