Would You Like a Do-Over Mr. Presti?

What makes basketball such a unique and beautiful sport is that it preaches versatility.  A player’s weaknesses and deficiencies can be exploited on each play of a game, and each player holds a greater responsibility to the outcome of the game.  In football, if you have a running back who can’t catch, then he will not play in passing situations.  Quarterbacks aren’t expected to play defense.  Defensive tackles will never have to worry about chasing a wide receiver on a post pattern.  If you miss a tackle, someone will usually be there to finish the job.  In baseball, if you are a guy who can’t play defense but a great hitter, you’re either a designated hitter, or thrown in right field, where your weakness can be masked.  If you can’t hit left-handed pitching, you most likely won’t be playing when a left-hander is on the mound. Only in basketball would a center be asked to switch out and defend a point guard on a screen, or your teams’ best player be asked to shut down the other teams’ best player.  Only in this sport would a player who struggles offensively, be asked to play offense on almost every play of a game. 

Basically, the NBA is a skills league.  The more skills each player on your team has, the better off your team is.  That being said, would you trade a guy who is versatile on both ends of the floor, and is a highly skilled basketball player, for a guy who has only one true skill on the basketball court?

That’s exactly what Oklahoma City Thunder GM, Sam Presti did when he essentially traded Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins (Nate Robinson and Nenad Krstic were both throw-ins, who aren’t part of either teams’ future plans).

Okay, okay I can see why a team with championship aspirations, feeling they needed some interior presence, went and traded a soon to be restricted free agent who probably would have been looking for more than they were willing to pay.  In return they got a guy that could effectively defend some of the best low post centers in the league, one on one.  While that is an important role, there aren’t many low post centers in the NBA.  In my opinion, roughly one-third of NBA teams have a legit post-up option at the center spot.  There’s Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut, Al Jefferson, Chris Kaman, Nenế, LeMarcus Aldridge, and the Bynum & Gasol tandem of the Lakers.  You also have the up and coming group Marc Gasol, Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert, and DeMarcus Cousins.  That’s 11 out of 30 teams with a real back to the basket threat at the center position. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love Kendrick Perkins.  I love what he brings to a basketball team with his no-nonsense intensity.  Every team can use a guy like Perk.  Now besides being able to neutralize these low post options, what else does Perk bring to the table?

Perk is in his eighth season in the league, and after eight seasons, you have a pretty good idea as to what a player can and can’t do.  In his eight seasons, he’s averaged double figure scoring just once (10.1 ppg 2009-10), and has never averaged more than eight rebounds a game for a season.  In other words, he’s not a good scorer, or an elite rebounder.  In fact Perkins won’t even look for his shot unless it’s a point blank layup attempt.  His defender is often the man roaming around the court making the dribble drives of Westbrook, James Harden, and Durant, much more difficult.  Perkins also struggles defending the pick and roll because he isn’t very mobile as evidenced by Marc Gasol feasting with 15ft jumpers all throughout that Grizzlies series.  The lack of foot speed leaves him unable to defend most power forwards, since today’s power forward likes to face the basket and either shoot 15-20ft jumpers or take the defender off the dribble.  Perk is still young enough to improve, but he is who he is at this point.  Perk’s skill-set, game, and what he brings to a team is comparable to a Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collins, Kurt Thomas, Omer Asik, or Joel Anthony.  Those are good players, but they aren’t guys you would even consider paying anywhere near $8 million per season to.  Right?

Well, that’s exactly what Sam Presti did when he gave Kendrick Perkins a contract extension of 4 years, worth $34.8 million, after acquiring him from Boston in the aforementioned trade. 

Perkins reportedly was asking for the same deal from the Boston Celtics, the team he started at center on two NBA Finals teams for, but the Celtics felt the big man wasn’t worth the big money he was wanted, and shipped him out to the first taker, rather then he leave for nothing.  Meanwhile, the Thunder felt that he’s worth making him the second highest paid player on their team after Durant.

Presti has done an admiral job in patiently building this team into a playoff contender.  Through wise draft choices, and not throwing that vast amount of cap space towards the first guy available, Presti had been able to build a contender and keep a significant amount of cap space, in case the right deal or free agent came about.  Presti’s impatience might have cost his young team a chance to put a stranglehold on the Western Conference over the next 4 seasons.

 First, Presti inked Perkins to that extension before Perk even played a game for OKC, after just coming back from a serious knee injury.  It would have been wiser to wait until the season ended, until you see how Perkins fit in with the team before a contract of this magnitude was completed, especially when it’s almost certain the salary cap figure will be lower in the upcoming season(s).  If he works, then you extend him, if not, you just sign and trade him to a team of his liking and get something back in return. 

With a plethora of good centers available just four and a half months later through free agency like Nenế, Tyson Chandler, Marc Gasol, Samuel Dalembert, and DeAndre Jordan, and with guys like Chris Kaman and Robin Lopez available through trade, Presti would have been better served to wait until he explored all possible options this summer.  That’s not even mentioning the variety of young, promising, bigs available in the much anticipated 2012 free agency.  Personally, I think any of those other options I mentioned, would be a better fit for the personnel and direction of the Thunder franchise.

With a team poised to only get better, with their top four players all barely able to buy alcohol, it only makes sense to make moves of the future, not of the present.  The Thunder were not ready to win a championship this season and Kendrick Perkins certainly wasn’t the missing piece.  This team desperately needs more shooting, and a legit scoring option in the front court.  They didn’t need another tough post defender, they already had Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison.  The question now is after donating a good chunk of their salary cap to Perk, will they have the available money to keep the young core of Russel Westbrook, James Harden, Eric Maynor, and Serge Ibaka around Durant, as well as upgrade their shooting and interior scoring? 

Remember Presti, the window for your team is still opening, not closing.  Follow your philosophy and look towards the future.  Hopefully you didn’t thwart Durant’s chance of Western Conference supremacy for years to come.