Deep Breath, Use Head Not Heart

I go in the other room and play a game of Sequence with my wife and return to find my world turned upside down. What the Heck happened?! Now that I've gotten the hyperventilating under control and have wiped the spittle off the keyboard and screen, I'll try to offer a slightly reasoned reaction.

I must admit I'm pretty much still in shock. If my reasoning is a bit flaky and lacks cohesion, please forgive.

First the small stuff, if you don't trade bigs with potential for smalls, how can you trade them for nothing, well a future second round draft pick.
O.K. granted Hody was a feel-good inherently flawed four with too little size, hops, length, agility, and a perilously low launch-point on his shot. But Semih Erden had legitimate size, aggression, mobility, and coordination. He also had some actual low post moves, looked comfortable shooting the 12 footer (at least in warmups), and seemed to have made some real progress. Surely it would be worth taking a look at how he developed and could play when healthy. But he wasn't healthy and I think he was the price for getting a pick in the deal since Harrangody's value had to be about zero. I could understand needing a roster spot but Marquis sale to Sac opened a spot. So there must have been a need for two spots--it doesn't make sense to draw a final conclusion about this deal until the roster plays out. Well at least the 2013 2nd rounder is Minny's and should be pretty high.


I've liked Green, felt his natural position is SF, and believe he has been playing PF as an accommodation to Durant. With Jeff I think we have our starter quality swing man to follow Pierce/Allen and stretch their careers by spelling each. He gives us size to defend primary scoring swingmen and may also be a check for the stretch four's like Nowitzki. Kristic was a name I thought the Celtics should be willing to explore when he returned from injury/overseas. True he doesn't have a reputation for rebounding or defense but we've seen others blossom with unrecognized capabilities in the Celtics' system. He does offer a similar offensive midrange threat as Garnett and Big Baby. What he doesn't have is much of a post-up threat (but neither did Perk) nor the nasty disposition to make the paint an unfriendly area.

Where I think the Celtics will feel Perk's loss the most, however, is in the comfort zone of the offensive and defensive schemes. The collective sigh of relief when Perk returned and the first team could run the entire offense seamlessly and the players-on-a-string of the defense was back to its well-oiled efficient best. That's out the window and it remains to be seen how much can be recovered with the new guys in the remaining 10 weeks of the regular season. I think Green will fit right in. I have no idea about Kristic, nor about the remaining PTBNL (Players to be named later).

Nate I have always considered to be of best value as trade bait. Unfortunately his value hasn't appreciated and he ends up being salary balance in this deal. I hate losing Perk (and I'm sure FLCeltsFan is apoplectic) but one question had to be whether he was re-signable for $30/4 rather than $40/4. I would have been happy with him playing his whole career in Boston. Danny had to decide whether he was destined to be a rental due to cost and if so, could he sell high rather than losing him for nothing.

One thing our green tinted lenses obscure are the flaws in our heroes. Perkins has come a long way from the Pillsbury dough boy our of high school to the cut enforcer on a championship team. His value as a defensive stalwart has outweighed his limitations on offense. However two entirely correctable drawbacks have never been overcome--moving picks and gathering before shots. These weaknesses along with his lack of a face up game have hurt his effectiveness. I've even, partially in jest, offered a suggestion of a doggie-training collar to curb these tendencies. So as we cringe at his loss, lets try to think realistically.