Longtime NBA center and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins takes a shot at Q&A before the season tips off this week.
Q: Who are the biggest threats to the Knicks?
A: The East has caught up with the West. You have the 76ers, obviously, you have the Toronto Raptors, you have Giannis [Antetokounmpo] with Miami, I think they’re still a few pieces away. But to me, if I had to pick one, it would be the 76ers. Nick Nurse won a championship [as coach of the Raptors in 2019]. Nick Nurse had to figure how pieces worked when he was in Toronto. And when you have guys that have high IQs — Jaylen Brown is a Finals MVP, LeBron James is [not just] arguably the greatest player but one of the smartest players to play the game of basketball. That’s not going to be a hard adjustment. … Offensively I see them getting out and running. I could see them being probably the best transition team offensively in the league. But I also could see them figuring things out on the fly while they’re still winning games during the regular season. And I also see LeBron James bringing out the best in Joel Embiid.
Q: So do you think the Sixers are the biggest threat to the Knicks?
A: I do.
Q: Do you think they could overtake the Knicks?
A: I do.
Q: Is there another threat in the East?
A: I’m ready to see what Indiana looks like with their new center Ivica Zubac, I believe he’s a top 10 big in the league. Can they pick up where they left off two years ago?
Q: How about the Raptors?
A: I feel like Kawhi Leonard is the most feared, most dangerous player in the East. He’s a guy that’s going to bring out a different version of Scottie Barnes. They’re well-coached. They’re going to play with an edge defensively. They’re going to play nasty defensively. They’re going to play with a lot of physicality. And now he’s back home where he won a championship and where he wants to be at. They’re my darkhorse to come out of the East and win it all.
Q: The Cavaliers?
A: We saw the Knicks snatch their souls in a conference finals and they never recovered. I got to see that they have the heart to get it done.
Q: What advice would you give Mike Brown dealing with the Karl Anthony-Towns contract issue?
A: KAT is an emotional guy. And if I’m Mike Brown, the biggest thing is from a personal side, I would just want Towns to know that he’s loved on a day-to-day basis. That don’t mean that there’s not going to be times where you have to call him out in film, but if I’m Mike Brown, I’d go the extra mile to extend my love, whether that’s on the road, him meeting him for breakfast before shootaround, maybe dinners, just to let him know his value. And to let him know that he’s a huge and the most important part of this team. … It would be through actions and less through words.
Q: KAT as the hub again?
A: I think it’s going to be a mixture. But I know he will be highlighted even more, and KAT is going to want to be highlighted even more. Because you could hear through his frustrations about his contract extension that he’s like, “Hey what else do I have to do?” And so when a player gets to that type of mindset, the next thing is, “I’m going to show you what I’m going to go do, and I’m going to do it between the lines.”
Q: You won the 2008 NBA championship with the Celtics. What are the challenges of defending an NBA championship?
A: The first thing is health, obviously. The second thing is getting through the regular season knowing that everywhere in every game that you play, you’re going to get everyone’s best shot. But last but not least is having everyone continue to lose themselves in the team and play agenda-free basketball. Because what ends up happening is when you win a championship, because of the praise that you get in the offseason, everyone starts to believe that they were the reason and guys come back and want a bigger role, instead of staying and playing and being a star of that role that helped them win the championship.
Q: What did you like best about the Knicks last year?
A: I just love how they were able to adjust in different series. We saw at times where in the Atlanta series, they adjusted their style of play offensively, that’s No. 1. We saw Karl Anthony-Towns running more of their point center position. In Atlanta he was dishing out the rock and dropping dimes. Getting to the NBA Finals, we saw Jalen Brunson become more ball-dominant, and they went back to what they were accustomed to. Karl Anthony-Towns, not being in foul trouble, guys stepping up, guys not having egos. We saw at one point, Josh Hart, he was benched for a game and then all of a sudden he came back and lit it up. That’s what I saw last year, was their ability to adjust, to pay attention to details, and their ability to lose themselves in the team and do what’s best for the team and be coached. The one thing we witnessed and we saw was that Mike Brown had the ears of their locker room throughout the their entire postseason.
Q: How did you think Mike Brown would do in the New York spotlight replacing Tom Thibodeau?
A: One thing about Mike Brown is he grew up under that Greg Popovich tree. Mike Brown was a champion with Golden State as an assistant coach. If you look at the direction of the league, all the old-school coaches — whether it’s Rick Carlisle, Greg Popovich before he had to step down because of his health — they all had to make adjustments to this new generation. And the one thing that we see and witness, when listening to Mike Brown in his postgame interviews, is he had the personality that resonates with this generation of players. Cool coaches are getting the job done.
Q: Describe Jalen Brunson’s evolution.
A: Offensively, I believe that Jalen Brunson over the last three years before Giannis was injured, has been consistently the best player in the Eastern Conference. But last year we saw him take that leap of accountability. We saw him doing the little things of fighting to get over screens. We saw him doing things of getting back in transition and getting extra possessions by taking charges. We saw him take over a Game 4 in Madison Square Garden in the second half to direct traffic and get buckets. We just saw leadership, right? We saw a guy in probably the hardest market to play in, have composure, have leadership and be able to perform on the biggest moments. But I think the most important thing is that he accepted the challenge of actually playing defense and playing enough defense where he wasn’t a liability. But also playing defense where the Spurs couldn’t hunt him out on the big stage. … He’s one of if not my favorite players in the NBA, but history tells us that we haven’t had a back-to-back champion in the last 8-9 years.
Q: What role should he play helping Brown deal with the KAT and Hart contract issues?
A: The only thing that he can do is continue to be the guy that he is, and on the floor, I told him the next step for him is empowering guys to reach their individual goals. Empowering a guy like OG Anunoby to become a first-time All-Star. Empowering a guy like Josh Hart to have his best season of his career. Empowering a guy like Karl-Anthony Towns to go out and show why he’s not leaving a total of $76 million on the table. That’s the next step for Jalen Brunson — can you go out there and continue to play at an MVP level? But also when we look up it’s three or four other guys that are headed with you to the All-Star break.
Q: What did OG Anunoby mean to that team last year?
A: OG Anunoby is the best 3-and-D guy in the league. It’s disrespectful at this point if anybody was to call OG Anunoby a role player. He’s not a role player. OG Anunoby is an All-Star-caliber player. His value is higher than a lot of guys that made All-Star games or third-team All-NBA. If the Cleveland Cavaliers were to make Evan Mobley available right now, OG Anunoby’s value is higher than Evan Mobley.
Q: How big of a loss to the Knicks is Mitch Robinson?
A: It’s a huge loss. When you think about Big Mitch, you think about being a force on the glass, offensive rebounder, helluva screen setter, big body, causing havoc — it’s hard to replace a guy like that. The one thing is that the Knicks have established a culture that they have there, and so Big Mitch will be missed tremendously, he helped them a lot throughout the course of their NBA championship run. But I think it’s a void that can be filled, but I also think it’s an opportunity for KAT to say, hey, KAT is one of the top leaders in the NBA as far as minutes played.
Q: What do you think about Andre Drummond?
A: I think Drummond is good, man. … Andre Drummond is a hell of a rebounder. Andre Drummond could be a hell of a rim protector. It’s about him just embracing that and buying into it and being a star in his role. And I believe he has no choice, and I believe that he will.
Q: Would you like to have played with Josh Hart?
A: Oh, for sure. Any guy that has a high motor. Any guy that has the passion. Any guy that has the will to want that Josh brings. I’ve said this time and time again: Jalen Brunson is the best player on the Knicks. Karl Anthony-Towns was the most important player. But Josh Hart is the heart and soul of that team.
Q: What did Mikal Bridges mean to the Knicks?
A: If I’m Mikal Bridges, obviously he’s a champion, but he should want to come back and play better. He should want to perform better. I think we will see a better version of Mikal Bridges. I think we will see a different version of Mikal Bridges. I would love to see the Mikal Bridges that we saw in Phoenix when they made their Finals run. That Mikal Bridges was looked at as one of the best two-way wings in the NBA. I would love for Mikal Bridges to get back to thinking that, “I’m a defender first with the capabilities of getting buckets second.”
Q: What do you think of Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the West?
A: I haven’t picked who I got coming out of the West, but I wouldn’t sleep on Minnesota.
Q: How can Victor Wembanyama get better?
A: I want to look up and see that Wemby is at least one or two in leading the league in points in the paint. This past season he finished 19th, and I believe that’s unacceptable for a guy that was second in the league as far as catching lobs, a guy that’s a generational talent at 7-[foot]-6, a guy that dominated the defensive end. I would love to see Wemby dominate the paint. The conversation that needs to be had come February or March is: Is it Wemby or Giannis who’s the most dominant player in getting to the basket in paint points?
Q: Where would you rank Kendrick Perkins on the all-time list of enforcers?
A: Top 10.
Q: Who’s No. 1?
A: Is Dennis Rodman labeled an enforcer? I probably would put him No. 1. Draymond [Green] would be high on my list as well.
Q: How devastating was that for you when you tore your knee up in Game 6 of the 2010 Finals against the Lakers?
A: It was the worst, because Game 7 was even harder, when you had to sit on the side, you had to watch your guys go through the battle on the road, knowing that our starting five of Ray Allen, K.G. [Kevin Garnett], Paul [Pierce], [Rajon] Rondo and myself, had never lost a playoff series healthy. And the one thing that goes to your mind is that you never know if you’ll ever get back to that moment again, meaning being in the NBA Finals being able to compete for a championship. And the hardest part of it was that the team that won those games in that series, they won the rebuilding battle.
Q: Do you think your 2009 Celtics would have repeated if Garnett hadn’t wrecked his knee in February?
A: I don’t know. I think to be honest, we were actually set up to win three in a row, but you got to stay healthy is the key part of it.
Q: What was it like playing [2017-18] for the G League Canton Charge?
A: It was one of the best experiences of my basketball career. It was humbling, but I got an opportunity to see how many guys pass up overseas opportunities, six-, seven-figure jobs, just to get a 10-day to get a jersey to say they made it into the NBA.
Q: What was the impact your grandparents had on your life?
A: Without them there’s no me to be honest with you. Words can’t even explain the impact that they had on my life, and the love that I will always have for them. Nothing I’ve ever done for them financially, no words that I’ve ever spoke to them out of my mouth, could ever let them know my real appreciation for them of what they’ve done for me.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Tom Brady.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Sandlot.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Martin Lawrence.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Angela Bassett.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Anything seafood.
Q: What are you most proud of about your career?
A: To be honest with you, you can’t ever take away being a starter on a championship team. You can’t ever take away from being able to share a locker room and share a floor with the amount of Hall of Famers that I did. It was probably an 8-9-year window where I was the starting center on teams that were actually labeled contenders.