Watching this
series I am convinced Scott Brooks is attempting to give me a heart
attack. As someone cheering for OKC in
this series I am stunned game in and game out on how Scott Brooks is handling
the team’s rotation. This comes down to
the pointlessly extended playing time of 2 players, Kendrick Perkins and Derek
Fisher. This series both have played way
too many minutes and in my opinion this can cost OKC the series if it
continues.
To me in this
series I am still completely confused at what the value of Kendrick Perkins
value is. His biggest strength as a
basketball player is his ability to defend players in the post, which is a
great asset when you face teams like the Lakers and Spurs, teams with
legitimate post threats, but when you face the Miami Heat with no traditional
post players that skill is basically useless.
The only other thing he really brings to the table is his ability to set
good screens, which is a good reason to play him, but Nick Collison is a
superior screener and brings more to the table.
Perkins has no offensive game to speak of, as he is a turnover machine
who is unable to score at all. This postseason
he is shooting .425 from the field which is a bad number for an outsider
shooter let alone for a low volume shooter who has most of his shots near the
basket. On defense most of the time he
is stuck covering Chris Bosh who he doesn’t have the speed to defend and is constantly
burned. He also doesn’t have the speed
to be a good help defender which makes the lives of Lebron James and Dwayne
Wade much easier as they attack the rim.
Even with all of these factors I would be fine with playing Perkins if
OKC didn’t have better options. The problem
is that the team is one, built to play small with Durant at the 4, and two has
two other big men who are much more useful in this series. Durant is a good enough rebounder that the
advantages of playing him at the 4 far exceed any disadvantages, and this is
even truer considering that they Heat do not have anyone who can punish Durant
if he plays the 4. Along with this both
Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison could be extremely valuable in this series. Both have superior offensive games to
Perkins, as they are better scorers and less likely to turn the ball over, and
defensively their skills are more suited for this series. If Perkin’s minutes don’t decrease to closer
to 10 from the 26.3 per game he has been playing in this series then it will be
almost impossible for OKC to comeback.
Then there is the
case of Derek Fisher. Look I believe that
Fisher is a valuable pickup for OKC and that there is plenty of value that his
leadership brings to the team. I do not
believe however that his playing time should be based on this, and that a
player that like Perkins should be averaging around 10 minutes per game while
playing 25.7 in this series makes no sense to me. Look at the minute splits of these 3 players,
James Harden is averaging 30.3 minutes per game, Thabo Sefolosha is averaging
31 minutes per game and Derek Fisher is averaging 25.7 minutes per game. Now you tell me should a below average point
guard whose greatest asset is leadership should be getting comparable minutes
to a superefficient scorer and the team’s best defender is asinine. Fisher right now is a horrible defender who
can’t really defend anyone, and offensively Harden has a far superior game,
while Sefolosha is shooting at a comparable mark to Fisher this
postseason.
If Brooks makes
the necessary changes in his rotation then I am confident that OKC can comeback
in this series and win it. If he sticks
with the current rotation though then I am scared that Miami will keep
exploiting the presences of Perkins and Fisher and go on to win this
series.
Stay Hungry My Friends
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