OKC C Kendrick Perkins probably never imagined being dunked on by the Clippers’ Blake Griffin would elevate his profile like nothing else in his hoops career. It’s doubtful, given his competency as a defender, he ever envisioned his role in the monster slam being fodder for ridicule by peers, broadcasters and fans alike. But that’s exactly the situation Perkins finds himself in, and in a frustrated rant to Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears, the former Celtic was in a frenzy of self-contradiction.
“If I was in the same position, in the same rotation, I’m going to jump again and again and again,” Perkins told Yahoo! Sports. “I don’t care. A lot of people are afraid of humiliation or don’t know how to handle embarrassment or would even get embarrassed. I don’t care.
“I’m the same Perk you’re going to see. I’m still going to sign autographs the same way. I ain’t going to change. The people that move out the way and stuff are the people who have insecurity problems.
“That’s my job. How will my teammates look at me if next time I just back out the way and just let him dunk when I’m supposed to be defensive-minded, a shot-blocker? That would be a coward move on me. He’d just have to dunk on me again.”
Along with blasting LeBron James for his enthusiastic response to Griffin’s dunk (“you don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting…you don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you,”), Perkins insisted such incidents were “part of the game…you might get talked about. But who cares at the end of the day.” Yeah, who indeed? Except it would seem Perkins cares quite a bit about this moment of infamy. At the end of the day, what’s worse, LeBron taking pleasure at another player’s misfortune, or said player critiquing James’ tweets? Whatever reasons you might catalog for King James’s lack of rings, that he actually watches other teams’ games and finds them entertaining is not the most sensible one to cite.