Now that the Celtics' postseason finished early, with a disappointing five-game loss to the Miami Heat, everyone has revisited the team's midseason trade of center Kendrick Perkins. Perkins, who had been with the Celtics for eight years, ever since they drafted him out of high school, had ascended to the starting lineup several years ago and become a well-liked supporting player on a perennial championship contender. His gigantic shoulders, frequent scowl and pubescent Southern drawl are a somewhat unexpected combination, but he plays imposing defense on a team that defines itself by its intensity. Teams that win championships, especially on the basis of their defense, need players like him, but there are also quite a few players like him.
Danny Ainge, the Celtics' general manager, shrewdly traded Perkins before last February's deadline to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perkins was going to be a free agent and had made clear he wanted a more lucrative contract than the Celtics offered. (The Thunder have since signed him to that contract.) In return, the team received Jeff Green, a talented and young small forward who can score easily and move fluidly, neither of which Perkins does. Coincidentally, the Celtics drafted Green in 2007, only to trade him for Ray Allen on draft night, so they'd thought highly of him for the past four years.
The trade has divided Celtics fans into camps nearly as antagonistic as the Jets and Sharks. Those who dislike the trade blame it for ruining the team's season: Perkins' departure fundamentally weakened the team's identity and compromised its chemistry. It was forced to readjust in the middle of the season and never recovered, leading to a mediocre late-season record and the unimpressive playoffs. The opposing side, which includes me, says that players like Perkins don't decide teams' fates. The Celtics played incredibly well without him during the season's first half and faded because that's what veteran teams do in the regular season -- they lose interest, as the Celtics did last year when they advanced to the NBA championship. The Heat defeated them because their three biggest stars didn't perform consistently and their fourth played with a dislocated elbow. Each side talks past the other without resolution.
Nonetheless, the trade contains a more profound element that can be abstracted beyond the basketball floor. Theoretically, Ainge's trade was marvelous. He realized his team needed to add an extra athletic forward, youth and another scorer for the long-term future, and that the Celtics' most fearsome competitors had talented, quick forwards, not big men like Perkins. (As proof, the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic, the teams with the most talented front lines, lost even faster than the Celtics in the playoffs.) Acquiring Green for Perkins solved all of this in one move. But life doesn't work like this. Our personal relationships, lifelong bonds and levels of comfort are what enable us to realize our goals. Success isn't a formula. It requires an emotional spark to motivate us and maybe that's what Perkins provided, after all. I'll go from being a Jet to a Shark.
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