NBA Trade Deadline: Celtics Move Perkins, Robinson to Thunder

Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting on Twitter the Boston Celtics have acquired forward Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic in a deal that sends Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Thunder. 

It was widely known the Celtics had thoughts of moving Robinson before the deadline in favor of a more reliable bench player. This was assumed. This was logical. 

But Perkins? 

The big man rounded out the Celtics squad upon his return to the team in late January and looked as capable as ever. 

Only recently has Perkins encountered any issues, banging his knee (his other knee) in the Celtics last game against the Warriors. The report came that Perkins had suffered an MCL strain but would be back in only three games. He will be back...in a blue uniform. 

With Nenad Krstic, the Celtics receive a reliable big man, not nearly as physical as Perkins. 

Jeff Green is clearly the biggest bonus for the Celtics. 

A physical player that can both shoot the ball and hit the boards, Green is a dynamic bench player for a Celtics team that had looked thin of late. Green, coupled with Delonte West, creates a starter-like duo off the bench. 

With how hard Perkins worked to get back to form, it has to be a devastating hit to both the player and potentially the Celtics. 

The advantage the Celtics had over the Heat (in particular) was they had multiple big men who could clog the lane. Perkins was a huge asset against Dwight Howard and the Magic and would no doubt have been very useful against the rebounding skills of Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer. 

Krstic is simply not the physical specimen Perkins is, no matter how much he adjusts to the body-banging style that exists in the East. 

The Celtics now become increasingly reliable on Shaq to get back to health and stand ground against the East's elite. Krstic will come off the bench once Shaq is healthy but doesn't this seem odd? 

With Shaq healthy, the Celtics would have had Perkins and Shaq to get physical and take fouls against the likes of Howard. Now it's Krstic? A seemingly more advanced Semih Erden? Though Green is a great addition, the Celtics seem to be straying away from the philosophy that has gotten them where they are. 

Now Ira Winderman is also reporting on Twitter the Celtics plan to acquire the Warriors' Troy Murphy after he clears waivers. 

The Celtics will likely start either Krstic or Garnett at center until Shaq is healthy with Murphy also potentially filling that gap. 

The moves the Celtics are making have a smell of desperation that didn't seem to exist. It is difficult not to wonder the age-old question, why try to fix something that isn't broken? 

Green was obviously the ultimate factor in Boston's decision, thinking a vicious combo of Garnett and Green (eventually coming off the bench) will round out the team better than Robinson ever did.

Still, there is more to it than the perspective contained in the write-up.

With Perkins in a contract year, there is no doubt that, once the season ended, he would be receiving a huge paycheck from whichever team could handle it.

The Celtics clearly went the Carmelo Anthony route with this one, thinking that getting something out of Perkins' remaining contract was the best way to go. For the common fan, it doesn't seem that way. For an organization that needs to look toward the future with the a veteran team, reacquiring Green could wind up being a big building block.

The reality is an organization bred on physicality has acquired one (maybe two) softer centers for one of the most physical centers in the league in order to pick up a solid, albeit second-tier, power forward. 

The new influx of Celtics' players have only a couple months to mesh into a rounded, championship caliber team come April. But isn't that what the Celtics already were?