With all the deserved attention that’s shining on Perk and his Nuts over the last few days, much misinformation has been carelessly bandied about. We, the Crack Staff, have been adamant over the years, through the difficult Gerald Green era and beyond, rooting for the Celtics and outing sports reporters with poor basketball I.Q. (see Ira Winderman).
Among the myths to be dispelled:
* Kendrick Perkins ascendancy is a surprise. Any fool with any modicum of hoops knowledge can identify a great frame. Any manager, with the notable exception of Isiah Thomas, can interview players and gauge their intangibles. Rare is the player with such maturity and humility at his young age that he is willing to subvert his ego, to ignore his stat-line, to spend hours working on footwork, to commit to banging bodies and occupying space as his raison d’etre on the basketball court. As any garage rock-and-roller knows, guitar heroes are a dime a dozen, but great bassists come about once in a lifetime. Like a great bassist, Perk is more noticeable in his absence than his presence. Note how the Celtics interior defense collapses when Perk leaves the game, see how on rebounds he commands a sea of opposing players like a large nose tackle on the gridiron. I’ve been very happy to see our Sensei cautiously unveiling spin moves and short fade aways amid his usual crop of layups, dunks and tip-ins. With a couple of tight offensive moves, look for Perk to be an 18 point/12 rebound a game guy two years from now.
*Leon Powe is not playing because Doc Rivers hates him. Glen Rivers is not a bad coach. He is not a good coach yet, and he may never be a great coach, but he is not an idiot. Rivers pays the most attention
