You don’t have to be a bad guy to fall under the category of a player who’s labeled ‘a guy you love if he’s on your team and hate if he’s not.’
Anderson Varejao is a perfect example. The Wild Thing is the most easy-going, funniest, friendliest guy in the world. He’s one of LeBron James’ all-time favorite teammates. But fans in opposing arenas can’t stand him. And he does a pretty good job of getting under an opponent’s skin on the floor, too.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Cavs made official what had been rumored for days when they inked center Kendrick Perkins for the rest of the season. Perkins has been known to ruffle some feathers, himself. He’s got a gruff, rugged style on the floor that’s probably rubbed people wrong along the way. He’d admit it. On Tuesday night, he did.
“I know a lot of teams don’t like me, but that’s fine,” Perkins smiled before suiting up for his Cavalier debut in Detroit. “I’m a good guy if I’m on your team. Other than that, that’s fine. I feel like if another team don’t like me, then I've done my job for the night.”
He got booed by the Motown crowd when he checked in and his first personal foul in the wine and gold was a second-quarter forearm directly to the chest of Anthony Tolliver.
The 12-year veteran – selected 27th overall in the famed 2003 NBA Draft – doesn’t bring eye-popping numbers to the Wine and Gold. He’s averaged 5.6 points, 6.0 boards and 1.2 blocks in 727 career games, including 560 starts – one of three he’s started this season against the Cavs at The Q on January 25.
But here’s the two numbers that really matter: 135 and 1. That’s the number of playoff games he’s played in and NBA titles he’s won – winning a ring with the Celtics in 2008. (Missing a chance to win another when LeBron and his Heat won it in 2012.
”(Kendrick)’s a guy that’s highly-experienced, has played in championship-like situations, so for us to add him is going to really help our interior play,” said Kevin Love before Tuesday’s shootaround. “But also just getting another really big body out there helps us. You love having him on your team, you hate playing against him. He’s definitely one of those guys. He brings a different edge, a different mentality to the team – and he’s a guy that instantly fits because of that mentality”
In Tuesday night’s stormback win, the Wine and Gold didn’t need Perkins’ toughness in the second half, when they locked down and blew by the Pistons. He was 1-for-1 with two fouls in his brief first-half stint. Cleveland’s frontline did pretty well on its own: Kevin Love tied a career-high with his eight three-pointers. Timofey Mozgov continued his rock-solid play – recording four of the Cavs’ six blocks and going 5-of-6 from the floor.
But Coach David Blatt refused to call his new big man an insurance policy on Tuesday night.
“I don’t want to call Perk an insurance policy,” said the first-year coach. “He’s a guy that can really contribute. If you look at our team one of the areas that you would address, if you were thinking, ‘OK how can we get a little better at this stage of the year.’ That’s one of the things you would put your finger on is the fact that we could use one more player with size and experience that can give us physicality and great defense and presence.”
Perkins was actually part of a deal with the Pistons at the Deadline, a three-team deal with the Jazz that brought Enes Kanter to OKC. He was waived by the Jazz two days later and his phone began to ring. One of them was NBA royalty.
“(LeBron) just said, ‘Let’s make this happen. (It’s) been a long time coming,’” explained Perkins. “He’s right. I’ve been wanting to be on the same team with him for a while. So I feel like everything happens for a reason at the right time.”
LeBron, who played AAU with Perkins way-back-when in Oakland, California, knows exactly what the Cavs are getting in the veteran center.
“He knows what it takes to win it all,” said James on Tuesday morning, still wrapped up from the frigid Auburn Hills winter. “He brings toughness to our interior. A great locker room guy. All he cares about is winning. That’s very important to our chemistry. It’s very important to what we’re building here. And we’re happy to have him.”
Perkins won his ring with Doc Rivers in 2008. When he came calling, it was a tough call.
”Yeah (the decision) was hard,” admitted the native Texan. “It was extremely hard. But (Doc) was real honest with me. He told me, ‘I think your best two situations right now is either us or Cleveland.’ So I was like: ‘Doc? Or I have a chance to go play with the King. Doc? The King?
”I choose the King.”
David Griffin, who’s had as efficient a mid-season as he did a blockbuster offseason – has both the league’s best player and its best recruiter.
It’s way too early for anyone to call Kendrick Perkins a game-changer with the Cavaliers. But the two people that chased him were a doc and a king. That should tell you if he is or not.