What does Kenrdick Perkins add to the team?

It was the first time Perk stepped into live game action since Game 6 of the NBA Finals. He received a standing ovation from the home crowd, and then got down to business. In limited time (16 minutes), Kendrick put out seven points and six rebounds, as the Celtics knocked off the Cavs 112-95. Going from the best record in the NBA to the worst, in just one year, must be tough. Pierce stepped up with 24 in the game, Ray Ray got 18, while Rondo, Nate Dawg, and Big Baby had 11 each. Rajon's 10 assists made him the lone double-doubler on the night. All that, and the return of our underrated 26 year old Center? What a night!

But, in all reality, what does the return of Kendrick Perkins do for the Celtics? I mean, we were 33-10 without him. Does his recovery from injury mean we're going to be significantly better? In Kendrick's absence, we've been rolling with Shaq and Turkey Trot, and this is how they did:

O'Neal- 10 P/G, 5 R/G, 2.7 WS

Erden- 10.3 P/G, 7.5 R/G, 1.2 WS

Combining them as a single fictitious replacement player for Perkins, we get this:

Shaq O'Erden- 10.15 P/G, 6.25 R/G, and 1.95 WS

Now, we'll look at Kendrick's stats from the 2009/2010 season:

Perkins- 10.1 P/G, 7.6 R/G, 5.2 WS

So, while Perkins' points and rebounds per game are nearly on par with Semih Erden and our fictitious combination of Shaq and the Turk, the win shares are completely different. Until you get to the win shares, you might not think the return of Perkins does that much to help the team. But then you realize K-Perk adds about 3.25 wins over the patchwork combo at center we've been running with. How does he contribute so much more, if his stats are so similar?

Defense. That lovable and difficult to quantify part of the game. Of his 5.2 WS contributed in the '09/'10 campaign, 3.8 of them are from defensive win shares. His presence as a defender helps the Celtics win ball games. The C's, during this recent era of "The Big Three," have always been patted on the back for their defensive skills more than their offensive. Even though he's not one of the Big Three, Perkins is the perfect embodiment of that quality.

Glad to have you back, Perk. Now let's go beat the Blazers and increase that three game Conference lead (and, more importantly, our 17 game lead on the Clippers for the LSF Cup).

-- Sent from my Palm Prē