By now Kendrick Perkins must be used to the lack of attention he gets not only in newsprint or on the internet or on television or, for that matter, the competition. Ever since Perkins has donned the Green and White there always been some else there that was better, more famous, more quoteable, more noticeable. So for Perkins, as he has progressed from the over weight teenager the Boston Celtics drafted to the slim, muscular, scowling starting center they now have, the lack of attention has pretty much been par for the course. Even during and after a banner raising season in which he became an NBA Champion.

This year though, that may all change. Last year on national television Perk took "Superman" Dwight Howard to the limit all by himself. In that series Perk scored 10.6 PPG, pulled down 11.6 RPG and had 2.29 BPG. But those aren't the numbers that show what he really did , these are: 16.4 PPG, 17.1, PPG, 54.9 FG%, 2.71 BPG. Pretty impressive numbers. But these were Howard's numbers versus Perkins in a virtual one on one battle. But Howard went played three other playoff teams last year and these were his numbers versus those teams were the defensive philosophy was for Howard to be constantly double and triple teamed:

vs Philadelphia 24.0 PPG, 15.8 RPG, 68.3 FG%, 2.8 BPG.

vs Cleveland 25.8 PPG, 13 RPG,  65.1 FG%, 1.17 BPG.

vs Los Angeles 15.4 PPG, 15.2 RPG, 48.8 FG%, 4.0 BPG.

Again, when reviewing these numbers remember that Perk was on a virtual island alone guarding and going up against Howrad in that playoff series. In every other series he was faced with constant double and triple teams and in the case of the Lakers his double and triple teams often came in the form of Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, some very large and extremely talented players. Cleveland and Philadelphia did not have that type of talent to throw into double and triple teams at Howard and the numbers reflect that.

Anyway, numbers aside Kendrick Perkins had a little bit of a coming out party last May and now he is starting to get the recognition, even if it is a slow trickle that seeps slowly from the crack that is the national media. Two NBA coaches have now come forth and stated that Perk should get All-Defense recognition. His own coach is saying that Perk is indispensable towards winning a championship. His team mates constantly gamble on the outside or don't fret when they get beat because he is behind them backing them up. And some in the media are starting to come around to what we here at Celticsblog have known for quite a while, Kendrick Perkins is one of the best defneissve centers in the game and maybe the best one on one big man post defender in the league.

And he continues to demonstrate that this year. Right now Perkins has an average of 2.38 blocks per game which ranks him 6th in the NBA. His PER48 numbers are good enough for 3rd in the league among starters and he is amazingly 2nd in the league in an obscure but very telling stat blocks per personal foul ratio. This last stat is telling because up until a very short time ago one of the biggest knocks on Perk was that he couldn't stay on the floor long enough to be effective because he was so foul prone. Not anymore.

Add all this defensive prowess into the total package that is Kendrick Perkins, which includes a 62% FG%, a very real possibility of averaging a double-double this year, an ever expanding low post game that includes a virtually unguardable jump hook, a nice turnaround jumper and the occasional Kevin McHale like three step head fake and footwork for the lay in, and you see why many teams might be privately hoping the Celtics don't extend Perkins contract and let's him become an unrestricted free agent after next year.

But don't worry Celtic fans because if Perk continues to have the progress that he has steadily shown for the past few years, he is going nowhere fast but to the bank with a whole lot of Wyc Grousbeck's dollars in his pockets.