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Exclusive Interview of Perk- by Jackie MacMullan
Nov 16, 2018 11:54:51 GMT -5
Toronto Raptors (Perk), Oklahoma City Thunder (Loren), and 5 more like this
Post by Adrian Wojnarowski on Nov 16, 2018 11:54:51 GMT -5
Kendrick’s Approach – An exclusive Interview by Jackie MacMullan
As the Toronto Raptors head into the bye week, owner Kendrick Perkins considers the good start to the season for his team. Kendrick realizes that the Raptors’ depth has really carried his team through the first few weeks. His team is really clicking and he’s disappointed that the bye week has come so early in the season for his squad. However, Perkins knows that to compete with some of the league’s best teams, he may still be a star short. The Warriors, Pelicans and Bulls are off to a very strong start and seem to have built very strong teams with some big names and some up-and-coming players. For the first time in his life, Kendrick feels slightly inadequate.
“Yeah, these other teams may be holding all the league’s best players, but it’s too easy to tank.” [Kendrick spoke to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan in an interview after his week 3 win over his division rival New York Nets]. “You see Goliath in the ring, and you may not want to join him in that ring. You may think that nothing good comes from getting the shit kicked out of you. I always came in with a mindset like, hey, if this team is truly better than us, then by playing them, I can only get better and stronger.” Despite my hand trembling, I held the microphone closer to him as not to miss a moment of his endless wisdom.
“Some of these other owners out here got enough talent to take a shot at Goliath, or at least they can acquire a missing piece to compete. But they’d rather wait until Goliath gets old, until he breaks his hand, or until he is tired of fighting. They think that by waiting, they will waltz into the ring uncontested and bathe in the glory of winning. But the fans of this league don’t like cowards. What is the point of winning if it’s only by default? Sac up and get on with fighting.” I could tell Kendrick thought he was a motivational speaker or something. In fact, I had to piece together what he was saying because each thought was separated by lots of mumbling and swearing. In all honesty, I may have completely made up half of his answer. Even with me filling in the blanks, I still felt like I was missing the point of his answer, as I had asked previously if he thought the Raptors had a legitimate shot at the championship this season. And then it hit me.
“What these other guys don’t know is the others are waiting too. If you’re too scared to fight, why do you think you’ll have success when in reality you’ll have to do battle with all of the others trying to climb into the ring after Goliath gets out? Only by facing Goliath with honor and dignity will you have the mindset necessary to win a championship. At that point, and only at that point, you’ll know what you need to take down Goliath. Because if you fail the first time, you pick yourself back up and reload. Does he have a strong right hook? I’ll learn to evade it. Is he surprisingly quick on his feet? I won’t try to overpower quickness; I’ll need to make myself quicker and learn to dance with the best of them. Look Jackie, the players make money to play the game. To walk the walk. I was in their shoes before, and if I ever felt that my teammates and ownership were not serious about winning a championship, I’d walk right out that door. Deal with it. It isn’t in my nature to bend over like some of these other…well Jackie I ain’t gonna say what I wanted to say but I am a proud fighter. I want a piece of Goliath.”
Kendrick doesn’t want to damage his future for one shot at glory. He knows he needs to be methodical. He has acquired a variety of first round picks and currently holds two of Toronto’s as well. Perkins traded away Wes Iwundu and a first round pick to land Jae Crowder, who he feels had an off year mainly due to being a useless plug in a Lebron James led offense. He was able to negotiate a deal for Al Horford over the summer. While he’s an expiring contract, Perk hopes that Horford will re-sign with his team in the offseason to help build towards something greater. Perk retained the rights to Marcus Smart and Davis Bertans, who many feel have yet to fully reach their potential. Perk’s trade for Kyle Lowry was a sign of his willingness to win now. He had acquired Gordon Hayward and Avery Bradley in past trades, and had re-signed Avery to his team, fully intending to keep them both. Hayward will slowly come back to the player he once was, but Kendrick felt like he had to make the move. He liked both players, but Perk had to make a difficult decision. Lowry has a second year under this contract yet, and if it is with the Raptors, Perk hopes that he can repeat former success. Not only did Perk bring Lowry back to Toronto, where he belongs, but he gave fan favorite Nik “Sauce Castillo” Stauskus another chance to crack an NBA rotation. It appears that Toronto was just able to acquire veteran Evan Turner in a trade with Charlotte as well, further showing Kendrick's willingness to compete in the moment.
Not all of Perk’s off-season moves were wise. In his interview with me, he spoke on the regrets of past trades that never went through, as well as the trades he made that he wish he could take back. But he can only move forward. “Yeah so I’m kind of an idiot but would an idiot go make a trade for Nik Stauskis?” Kendrick makes a fine point, but perhaps he is making up for the fact that he spent a couple of late firsts (one which turned into Donovan Mitchell) to acquire Ante Zizic, who has yet to break the rotation in Cleveland. I can only speculate at the vast interconnection of thoughts that are intertwined in Kendrick’s large dome piece.
After he had asked me if I was single or seeing anybody, I threw another juicy question in his direction. “What is this team missing?” “Well Jackie, besides your fine ass, I need another star. Depth is doing its job for this team as we move through the first portion of this season, and I’m fortunate for the first time as an owner, my players have been relatively healthy. It’s unfortunate that Theis may be out for most of the season, but other than that our main contributors are plugging away. As to what sort of a star I want to acquire, I’m rather open minded. I’d love to spend some of my first-round picks to acquire a player. A quality shooting guard or forward would really help keep the wheels running. But as I said before when you denied my advances, I’m a very patient man, I always get what I want.”
After writing this segment, I realize I could have left portions of this interview out, but even so I wanted to take this time to announce to my loving family, friends and fans, I am indeed pregnant. One day, my child will climb the mountain top. One day, my child will fall off of the mountain, only to get back up and climb again. One day, my baby will step into the ring with Goliath and become a champion.
As the Toronto Raptors head into the bye week, owner Kendrick Perkins considers the good start to the season for his team. Kendrick realizes that the Raptors’ depth has really carried his team through the first few weeks. His team is really clicking and he’s disappointed that the bye week has come so early in the season for his squad. However, Perkins knows that to compete with some of the league’s best teams, he may still be a star short. The Warriors, Pelicans and Bulls are off to a very strong start and seem to have built very strong teams with some big names and some up-and-coming players. For the first time in his life, Kendrick feels slightly inadequate.
“Yeah, these other teams may be holding all the league’s best players, but it’s too easy to tank.” [Kendrick spoke to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan in an interview after his week 3 win over his division rival New York Nets]. “You see Goliath in the ring, and you may not want to join him in that ring. You may think that nothing good comes from getting the shit kicked out of you. I always came in with a mindset like, hey, if this team is truly better than us, then by playing them, I can only get better and stronger.” Despite my hand trembling, I held the microphone closer to him as not to miss a moment of his endless wisdom.
“Some of these other owners out here got enough talent to take a shot at Goliath, or at least they can acquire a missing piece to compete. But they’d rather wait until Goliath gets old, until he breaks his hand, or until he is tired of fighting. They think that by waiting, they will waltz into the ring uncontested and bathe in the glory of winning. But the fans of this league don’t like cowards. What is the point of winning if it’s only by default? Sac up and get on with fighting.” I could tell Kendrick thought he was a motivational speaker or something. In fact, I had to piece together what he was saying because each thought was separated by lots of mumbling and swearing. In all honesty, I may have completely made up half of his answer. Even with me filling in the blanks, I still felt like I was missing the point of his answer, as I had asked previously if he thought the Raptors had a legitimate shot at the championship this season. And then it hit me.
“What these other guys don’t know is the others are waiting too. If you’re too scared to fight, why do you think you’ll have success when in reality you’ll have to do battle with all of the others trying to climb into the ring after Goliath gets out? Only by facing Goliath with honor and dignity will you have the mindset necessary to win a championship. At that point, and only at that point, you’ll know what you need to take down Goliath. Because if you fail the first time, you pick yourself back up and reload. Does he have a strong right hook? I’ll learn to evade it. Is he surprisingly quick on his feet? I won’t try to overpower quickness; I’ll need to make myself quicker and learn to dance with the best of them. Look Jackie, the players make money to play the game. To walk the walk. I was in their shoes before, and if I ever felt that my teammates and ownership were not serious about winning a championship, I’d walk right out that door. Deal with it. It isn’t in my nature to bend over like some of these other…well Jackie I ain’t gonna say what I wanted to say but I am a proud fighter. I want a piece of Goliath.”
Kendrick doesn’t want to damage his future for one shot at glory. He knows he needs to be methodical. He has acquired a variety of first round picks and currently holds two of Toronto’s as well. Perkins traded away Wes Iwundu and a first round pick to land Jae Crowder, who he feels had an off year mainly due to being a useless plug in a Lebron James led offense. He was able to negotiate a deal for Al Horford over the summer. While he’s an expiring contract, Perk hopes that Horford will re-sign with his team in the offseason to help build towards something greater. Perk retained the rights to Marcus Smart and Davis Bertans, who many feel have yet to fully reach their potential. Perk’s trade for Kyle Lowry was a sign of his willingness to win now. He had acquired Gordon Hayward and Avery Bradley in past trades, and had re-signed Avery to his team, fully intending to keep them both. Hayward will slowly come back to the player he once was, but Kendrick felt like he had to make the move. He liked both players, but Perk had to make a difficult decision. Lowry has a second year under this contract yet, and if it is with the Raptors, Perk hopes that he can repeat former success. Not only did Perk bring Lowry back to Toronto, where he belongs, but he gave fan favorite Nik “Sauce Castillo” Stauskus another chance to crack an NBA rotation. It appears that Toronto was just able to acquire veteran Evan Turner in a trade with Charlotte as well, further showing Kendrick's willingness to compete in the moment.
Not all of Perk’s off-season moves were wise. In his interview with me, he spoke on the regrets of past trades that never went through, as well as the trades he made that he wish he could take back. But he can only move forward. “Yeah so I’m kind of an idiot but would an idiot go make a trade for Nik Stauskis?” Kendrick makes a fine point, but perhaps he is making up for the fact that he spent a couple of late firsts (one which turned into Donovan Mitchell) to acquire Ante Zizic, who has yet to break the rotation in Cleveland. I can only speculate at the vast interconnection of thoughts that are intertwined in Kendrick’s large dome piece.
After he had asked me if I was single or seeing anybody, I threw another juicy question in his direction. “What is this team missing?” “Well Jackie, besides your fine ass, I need another star. Depth is doing its job for this team as we move through the first portion of this season, and I’m fortunate for the first time as an owner, my players have been relatively healthy. It’s unfortunate that Theis may be out for most of the season, but other than that our main contributors are plugging away. As to what sort of a star I want to acquire, I’m rather open minded. I’d love to spend some of my first-round picks to acquire a player. A quality shooting guard or forward would really help keep the wheels running. But as I said before when you denied my advances, I’m a very patient man, I always get what I want.”
After writing this segment, I realize I could have left portions of this interview out, but even so I wanted to take this time to announce to my loving family, friends and fans, I am indeed pregnant. One day, my child will climb the mountain top. One day, my child will fall off of the mountain, only to get back up and climb again. One day, my baby will step into the ring with Goliath and become a champion.
