Boston Celtics: Can Danny Ainge Make Up for the Loss of Kendrick Perkins?

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The Boston Celtics lose Kendrick Perkins; does Danny Ainge know what he’s doing?

The Celtics are shopping hard. They have to.

The Boston Herald reports that Danny Ainge is hard after (as in ‘going hard after!’) Troy Murphy (although, admittedly, Troy Murphy is a looker.) in an effort to replace former Boston bruiser, Kendrick Perkins. Dan Gadzuric is also in the mix.

“Our team is still not whole,” said general manager Danny Ainge. “We started out great. We played great basketball with Shaq in the middle. I think it’ll be easier for Shaq to return in a starting position, which I think he has earned with his play this year.”

Yikes. I think it stands to reason that this is what Danny Ainge was thinking in trading away Perkins. That Shaq could do the job. And maybe he can, in stretches. But Shaq is days away from 39, and with the exception of one miracle, cocoon-esque season in Phoenix, he hasn’t played more then 61 games in six years. If Shaq is lucky enough to be healthy come the playoffs, it stands to reason he may not be in rhythm. Or worse, he may not be in sync with a Boston defense he would presumably need to anchor. A Boston defense for which Kendrick Perkins was a significant loss.

(Check out this article by Ryan Cook comparing Blake Griffin and Kevin Garnett.)

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