Celtics Trade

Yesterday the Boston Celtics traded Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City for Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic (jeez buy a vowel) and a first round pick from the Clippers. I like the trade both looking at the numbers and looking at the track record of Danny Ainge.

If Kendrick Perkins was a baseball player he'd be Trot Nixon. A homegrown talent known more for his toughness, grittiness and his clubhouse chemistry than his actual production. Kendrick Perkins is a 10 point, 8 rebound guy who is a superior defender. Glen Davis is a 11 point, 5 rebound guy who is also a very tough presence (and offensive foul magnet - nobody in the league takes more charges than Big Baby). The fact of the matter is this summer both players are free agents and the team would only be able to sign one of these guys and it looks like with this trade they made their choice. If that choice was based upon talent or signability or both I don't know but I think Danny Ainge has earned our trust that he knows what he's doing.

Nenad Krstic isn't the player Perkins is but he isn't nothing. Many commentators on the deal are either completely discounting him or forgetting he was part of the deal. Krstic is an upgrade over Semih Erden (which explains why Erden was expendable).

Many people insist that if the Celtics had a healthy Kendrick Perkins for last year's game 7 against the Lakers that they would have won. I think the reason the Celtics lost had more to do with the Big 3 being gassed in the 4th quarter than missing the presence of Perkins. Jeff Green will help keep Paul Pierce and Ray Allen fresh and this point goes to the fact that many of the people who are deriding this trade keep asking about how the Celtics are going to deal with Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in the playoffs. News flash - the Celtics are still the better team and I really don't think the Magic get past the Miami Heat anyway. Jeff Green helps the Celtics match up better against the Heat (a point that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle).

As far as Nate Robinson - well I was never a Nate Robinson guy. I guess Doc Rivers and Danny Aigne feel comfortable with the health of Delonte West. And shouldn't they know best?

The long and short of it is Jeff Green may stick around and if he doesn't he helps the Celtics match up with the Heat better while it is most likely that the Celtics would have lost Kendrick Perkins this summer but at now they get a first round pick. Don't forget about this pick! It belongs to the Clippers so I'm guessing it will be somewhere between the 10th and 20th pick of the 2012 NBA Draft. Kendrick Perkins was the 27th pick the year he was drafted and Big Baby went in the 2nd round (coincidently the Celtics got a 2nd round pick from Cleveland for Erden). Five years from now it could be the best player in this deal ends up being the player taken with the draft pick.