Kendrick Perkins hasn’t lost any of his passion for basketball

Kendrick Perkins

On the floor where he played so many big games with the Celtics, shoulder to shoulder with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins is again hustling down the parquet looking to set a pick for one of his teammates.

This isn’t an NBA game, but rather a pickup game between a group of the Cavaliers’ little-used players and team staff following the team’s practice prior to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics.

It’s Perkins’s best chance to get in a serious run, break a sweat, lay his body into a defender to pursue a rebound. Afterward, an angry Perkins accosts assistant coach Vitaly Potapenko for his perceived shaky officiating.

“Real talk, man, you was [expletive] terrible out there today,” Perkins screamed at Potapenko.

The passion is still there, even though the playing time isn’t. At 33 years old, three years removed from his last full-time NBA role, Perkins still loves the game. He still wants to be part of the NBA environment. So he jumped on the opportunity to join the Cavaliers as sort of a helper/coach/mentor/enforcer when he signed a deal in April

He was back at TD Garden, where he spent his most productive NBA seasons, but now sitting at the end of the Cavaliers’ bench, a bearded, growling big brother.

“It feels good, because you don’t want to take any situation for granted or have any regrets,” Perkins said of the opportunity to join the Cavs. “I feel good about being here. The good thing about it, through adversity, this team in past years has basically swept through the East, but this year it’s kind of been challenging. And that’s a good thing. I like to have to work for things. That’s what’s going on at this point, we actually have to earn the win and it’s not handed to us.”

Perkins was a mainstay in the middle for the Celtics during their resurgence a decade ago, and perhaps if he had not torn his ACL the team would have won two titles with the Big Three. But in February 2011 president of basketball operations Danny Ainge traded Perkins to Oklahoma City in a deal that brought Jeff Green, also now a Cavalier, to Boston.

“Perk” played parts of five seasons with the Thunder, before a February 2015 trade to Utah. Perkins soon was waived by the Jazz, and he quickly signed with the Cavaliers to finish the season. Perkins then spent a year away from the NBA, before a season with the Pelicans, for whom he became more of a vocal presence from the bench and less of a viable player.

Perkins spent portions of the past two seasons in the G-League, trying to prove he is more than a lumbering big man with little offensive game. For his playoff experience and acumen, the Cavaliers signed Perkins on April 10 to be part of their bench crew. But he has often been placed on the inactive list before games.

“It was like a kid in a candy store, happy to be back,” he said. “If the opportunity presents itself, I definitely want to keep playing. My biggest thing is staying into the moment, making sure I continue to keep getting better.”

One factor that derailed Perkins’s NBA ascension was that torn right ACL, sustained when the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum landed on top on him chasing a rebound, Perkins’s knee buckling in Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals.

Perkins missed the rest of the series and the Celtics lost the final two games.

It took Perkins two years to fully recover, but by then he was in Oklahoma City. That may have been one of Ainge’s most regrettable trades. Green, partly because of heart surgery, never met expectations.

Perkins is now considered a relic because he doesn’t stretch the floor and shoot 3-pointers. He is a meat-and-potatoes, old-fashioned big man in a sushi generation.

“It’s crazy because teams are building [their] teams based on teams that’s winning the championships,” he said. “Unless you have a [championship] team with a post player that plays traditional, then it ain’t going to change. Everybody wants to match up with Cleveland to get out of the East or everybody wants to build their team to beat Golden State. You also have to have the players to do it, that’s what people don’t understand.

“The thing that Golden State got, they got the right players to play that style. They have a Draymond Green, who played [center] in college, and they have Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and [Kevin Durant], who can play all five positions. I see so many teams trying and trying, and it’s hard.

“But I guarantee you in about five years, it will go back to the way it was, but I’ll probably be long gone.”

COMBINE thoughts

Porter wants to prove he’s No. 1

One of the top prospects at the NBA Draft Combine is Michael Porter Jr., the 6-foot 11-inch combo forward who was limited to three games last season at Missouri because of back surgery.

Perhaps with a healthy season, Porter would have been in consideration for the No. 1 overall pick, along with Deandre Ayton and Luka Doncic. Instead, he’s projected in the 5-10 range. Porter revealed last week that the back injury actually occurred in high school and he had been playing at less than 100 percent for two years.

“They had me as the No. 1 player in high school and I didn’t even feel like I was 100 percent,” he said. “I’m excited to show everybody my potential and [that] I’m the best player. These guys are great players, but I’m the best player in this draft [and] I can’t wait to show what I am made of.”

Porter said the back surgery was a major relief but also a concern for NBA teams worried about the long-term effects.

“It’s been challenging but I’m feeling better than ever, actually,” he said. “That injury happened a couple of years ago, so I feel pain-free and I feel better than I’ve felt for a long time. I’m a versatile player, a positionless player. I can do a lot of things on the floor. The workouts, I won’t be holding back at all.”

Texas center Mohamed Bamba may be the best defensive player in the draft, but his motor and offensive skills are considered his weaknesses. Yet, he won’t slip beyond a top-five pick.

“I think I’m going to surprise a lot of people with the feel I have for the game. It’s something I’ve been working on in the past eight weeks,” Bamba said. “These are all things I’ve been working on. I think the biggest misconception about the game is my love for it. This is what I want to do. I owe this thing my life and there is no other way around it. This is what I want to do for the next 20 years of my life. I really feel as if I can be one of the best rim protectors in the league and this is as a rookie.”

Jaren Jackson Jr., the son of the former NBA veteran, could be one of the more versatile big men in the draft. He possesses a full skill set and could blend into a system that uses big men to stretch the floor and shoot 3-pointers.

Jackson, in limited offensive chances, shot 39.6 percent from the 3-point line during his freshman season at Michigan State.

He also seriously considered remaining in school for his sophomore season, like teammate Miles Bridges did a year ago.

“It was one of the toughest decisions I have ever made to leave. I was very back and forth. I loved it so much at Michigan State,” Jackson said. “My teammates and fans gave me the conscience to make the right decision. Talking to my coaches, talking to my family. You learn more about the [NBA] things. I feel like I can space the floor and get my teammates involved.”

Jackson has also spent the past few weeks working with Kevin Garnett.

“I watched KG, everybody watched KG,” he said. “The biggest thing I took from that is the intensity. He puts a lot of emphasis on being intense. You want to go out there and play against the best all the time.”

Former Duke center Wendell Carter nearly committed to Harvard a year ago but finished a sparkling freshman season for the Blue Devils. Although his offensive opportunities were limited, Carter feels as though he can become an Al Horford-type contributor in the NBA.

“I think college does put a limitation on a lot of players. The NBA is more my realm to show what I can do. I’m a competitor, especially on the defensive end,” he said. “On the offensive end, I didn’t get to show it much at Duke, I think I am pretty versatile because I can bring the ball up the floor sometimes. I knew what I could do. I knew how I could affect the game without necessarily scoring the ball.”

Carter’s mother, Kylia, speaking at a meeting of the Knight Commission on College Athletes, compared the college athletic system to slavery because of a lack of compensation for athletes. Wendell said he has been asked about those comments during his draft interviews and has no issue defending his mother and her sentiments.

“My mom is my mom, she has her opinions. She doesn’t mind sharing them,” he said. “Certain aspects I do agree with her, certain aspects you’ll have to ask her. When we do go to college, we’re not paid for working for someone above us, the person above us is making all the money.”

Carter said he would have seriously considered entering the draft out of high school if the opportunity were there.

“That would definitely be a talk I would have, part of me would want to go straight out of high school,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing where you just have to live with it.”

SHOW OF SUPPORT

Webber clears up Green comments

Chris Webber has become an astute and opinionated NBA analyst, and his recent comments on Warriors forward Draymond Green drew attention because he said that Green, a three-time All-Star, would not start for every NBA team.

Green retorted that he likes his two championship rings and that his team appreciates his skill set.

Webber said last week that he was not trying to denigrate Green, and he expounded on his thoughts on Green as a contributor.

“The funny part about it was the way the question was asked after the game was, ‘Chris said you can’t start.’ That’s not what I said,” Webber said. “Let me clear what I said up. I said that if Draymond was supposed to just score, that’s all he could do. There are teams he could not start for or maybe would not start for because he’s more than a scorer. Period. So if he averages [13 points] all year, maybe he wouldn’t start on your team, but the fact that he’s the engine on the best team that’s playing. The fact that he is the heart and soul, the fact that he is the defensive heart and soul, the fact that he’s another coach on the floor, that he’s one of the best players to have on any team. I’ve also said I never have to qualify it because I’m a player and I don’t care, it’s my opinion, so I won’t qualify anything.”

DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

NBA analyst Chris Webber drew some criticism for his misconstrued comments about Draymond Green. “He’s one of the best players to have on any team,’’ Webber said.

Webber said he was trying to point out how unique of a player Green is, how valuable he is to Golden State despite being its fourth-leading scorer.

“I said this earlier in the year and I got a lot of feedback from around the country for saying that [Stephen] Curry is the MVP of the league and Draymond is the MVP of the Warriors and people say, ‘How can that be?’ ” Webber said. “Well, if it wasn’t Draymond, maybe you couldn’t hide Steph on [defense]. If it wasn’t for Draymond in the passing system, he allows Steph to be Steph by setting great screens, he allows Klay [Thompson] to be Klay by setting great screens. His selfless play allows him to always to be the X-factor.

“To me, you want to play with guys who allow you to help and allow you to win and in society we get caught up with guys that can just score and maybe don’t do anything else for their teams. Draymond is not that type of player. He is someone who will stuff the stat sheet, and more importantly he is the engine on one of the best teams in the league.”

TNT analyst Reggie Miller was asked about whether LeBron James has been commanding enough during this playoff run, considering the Cavaliers have struggled so mightily without his heroic efforts.

“I think LeBron James, who has been and will be one of the best basketball minds, will always make the correct basketball play,” said Miller. “It’s just that at times, the media — I’m included in that — we want to make him out to be Kobe [Bryant] or Michael Jordan. [We want him to] have the killer instinct, always take that last shot, you’re the best player, you’ve got to do it, as opposed to making the correct basketball play, which he’s always done. The older he’s gotten, understanding team dynamics, there’s a time to be a little bit selfish.

“This year, in particular, he needed to be more selfish to show these guys this is how we do things. Very much the same way when he went to Miami to play with Dwyane Wade, a champion already. He took it upon himself to show these younger guys, stand in line, watch how I do things, and hopefully we’ll get to the promised land.”

Layups

The Bucks’ hiring of Mike Budenholzer gives the team a well-respected coach for their next era in a new arena. Budenholzer no longer wanted to be part of the Hawks’ rebuilding project, though he’s still valued because of his coaching acumen and development of Atlanta’s younger players. Budenholzer met with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton before accepting the job. Given Antetokounmpo’s star power, it’s fair to wonder whether the Bucks could have gotten a higher-profile or more accomplished coach than Budenholzer. He is the franchise’s eighth coach in the past 11 years. It will be interesting to see how Budenholzer works with a team that’s ready to take the next step . . . The Raptors have interviewed two of their assistants, Rex Kalamian and Nick Nurse, for their head coaching vacancy, but former NBA standout Jerry Stackhouse could have an inside track on the job. He’s had success coaching Toronto’s G-League affiliate. Stackhouse has drawn interest from all three teams with head coaching vacancies (also the Pistons and Magic) . . . The Magic, who have the sixth pick in the draft, have a solid group of young talent but also some bad contracts (including two more years of Bismack Biyombo and three more of Evan Fournier, with both players making $17 million per season). One player who could be gone is former lottery pick Mario Hezonja, whose rookie contract was declined for its final year. Hezonja averaged a career-high 9.9 points per game last season and improved with more playing time in the second half of the season. He could be a bargain free agent pickup for a team looking to add a stretch-4 . . . The Celtics will play in just one summer league this year — Las Vegas — and that team is likely to include Guerschon Yabusele, Kadeem Allen, and Jabari Bird. Bird’s return to the Celtics is no cinch, since he signed a one-year, two-way rookie contract. The Celtics have to submit a qualifying offer to Bird, who is a restricted free agent. The team’s plans for Bird is a full summer league and a chance to make the club next season on a full NBA contract.

COMPILED BY MICHAEL GROSSI