effect of kendrick perkins trade on the celtics and thunder

Perkins is a great defensive player. He's a big-bodied guy who can defend the post, box out, rebound, and he can get other teams' big offensive player in foul trouble. But he isn't much of a scorer. He made Boston so good because KG, Pierce, Allen, Big Baby, and Wallace from last year, and now the O'Neal twins (when healthy) can all score the ball. I don't think it hurts their overall team defense. Perkins is often injured, and no one in the East has a legitimate big man to give them problems outside of Howard in Orlando. As far as Miami, New York and Chicago are concerned, Davis or one of the O'Neals off the bench can muscle up. Overall, though, I think the Thunder really improved with Perkins. The Lakers are a hypthetical for every team. Boston came within a few really horrible foul calls from winning the championship last year, and they were holding the Lakers' bigs in game 7 without Perk. So I don't think any team needs to fear them. Boston exposed the formula - man D and make Kobe take over. At Boston, he doesn't get to the foul line and win the game. In LA, he does. It's just something you have to live with. What Perkins' presence gives the Thunder is a way to settle down and actually play half-court basketball without so much of a risk. When they hung in with LA, the Thunder were running up and down the court, scoring way over their average, playing well over their tempo. That's unsustainable, even for a younger team. The Thunder seem to be trying to create a half-court team, much like the Spurs, Lakers and most of the Eastern teams. It's a good setup, but I don't suspect it will work right away. The West is still too strong.

I think that the Thunder will improve defensively now that Perkins is in their lineup..but I think that the Celtics will greatly miss his presence in the paint.