I love Perk. Center is the hardest position to fill, especially with a very good one. Perk came to the Celtics directly from high school and proceeded to work about as hard as any player I have ever seen to remake his body and to become an NBA level center. He is a monster under the basket and last season, even battled Shaq pretty evenly for position. All of this development came with very little playing time. His first year, he only played in 10 games and averaged 3.5 minutes but yet in those sparce minutes came up with 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. His second year wasn't much better in that he played only 9 minutes a game and averaged 2.5 ppg and almost 3 rpg. Last year, the first part of the year, he got very little playing time while Doc showcased Blount for the world to see. When he finally did get consistent minutes and was showing some great play, he injured his shoulder. He averaged only 19 minutes per game but averaged 5.2 ppg, almost 6 rpg and 1.6 blocks. He has made steady progress in spite of getting limited playing time. This year, Perk has Clifford Ray to mentor him and should be getting regular playing time and I expect big things from him. Danny better get the extension done soon or Perk will be able to ask whatever he wants. Big men get big contracts. And good big men like Perk can pretty much ask what they want. Danny will be very sorry if he lets Perk get away from him.

On the day the Celtics officially announced Paul Pierce’s three-year contract extension, there’s room to wonder whether Kendrick Perkins will be next to get a longer-term deal. Perkins won’t be in nearly the same financial neighborhood as Pierce, who will play for $15,101,625 this season and $16,360,094 the next before an additional $59,387,127 goes his way over the ensuing three years. Pierce holds an option for the last season, 2010-11. In cutting the new deal, he passed up a similar option that would have kicked in next summer. The extension also includes an altered payment schedule that will give him a larger percentage of his money sooner in the season, improving the contract’s actual cash value. Perkins, meanwhile, has one season left on his rookie contract, but if he plays the type of minutes that are expected, he’ll be somewhat of a bargain at $1,689,409. The Celtics won’t necessarily lose him at the end of the year - he’ll be a restricted free agent - but the club has discussed signing him to a longer-term agreement nevertheless. According to sources, director of basketball operations Danny Ainge has spoken with Perkins’ rep to see if a deal exists that would give Perkins security while retaining some flexibility for the Celts. Ainge declined to discuss the matter in detail yesterday, saying only, “We like Kendrick. We hope he stays with the Boston Celtics.” More] source: Discuss this topic on the Celtics Green Forums!