In this edition of Weekend Props we salute Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, and do so for the very reasons Amare Stoudemire of the Suns attempted to criticize him last week. Stoudemire, the 2003 Rookie of the Year and a 4-time All Star that has never reached the NBA Finals, said during his visit to Boston last week of Perkins: ""He's always mean. Always mad. He don't never have fun out there. He needs to learn how to have fun on the basketball court and just enjoy his life -- enjoy the game." We're quite certain that Perk enjoyed starting for the 2008 NBA Champions. He has improved each of his 7 seasons and is now, at age 24, one of the best defensive centers in all of basketball. Perhaps if Stoudemire learned to stop having so much "fun" out there he would start to win a bit more as well. Stoudemire's coach, Alvin Gentry, gushed over Perkins performance: "They’ve got a guy that’s probably as good a one-on-one defender as there is in the league with the big guys that he plays against." If playing good defense makes you mean, we're certain Gentry wouldn't mind if his talented big man got a bit meaner himself and stopped worrying about smiling and having "fun". Well done Perk!
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Amare's full quote:
"He's a solid player out there," Stoudemire admitted. "He loves to get physical. He's aggressive. But he keeps a lot of confrontation going. We try to play smart basketball. From my standpoint, we try to stay out of the confrontation -- really just go out and execute our plays offensively and defensively."
"But it seems, sometimes, he wants to keep it up," the Suns forward added. "He's always mean. Always mad. He don't never have fun out there. He needs to learn how to have fun on the basketball court and just enjoy his life -- enjoy the game."
Gentry's full quote:
“They’ve got a guy that’s probably as good a one-on-one defender as there is in the league with the big guys that he plays against,” Gentry said of Perkins. “You got a guy that can guard a Dwight Howard or Tim Duncan or any of those guys… I think he’s really made a big jump as far as improvement. He’s a strong kid, he’s still a baby really, when you think about the years he’s been in the league and the age that he is right now. I think he gives them that really tough enforcer guy that bounces around in there.”
I love Perk!
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