Perkins looks like perfect fit for Thunder

With Kendrick Perkins, the Thunder now have more true big players to use alongside their wings and guards. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

For most of the season, Oklahoma City looked like something of a paper tiger — a nice, up-and-coming team with a record that made it look better than it really was. Its average scoring margin marked it as a decent team propped up by some fluky close wins and piles of free throws — the kind of team that would bow out politely in the second round (maybe even the first) and continue acquiring talent for a future championship run.

Now? The Thunder are 18-4 in their last 22 games, and they are blowing people away; they completely outclassed Denver in back-to-back wins, and they outscored the Lakers at Staples Center on Sunday. Their average scoring margin with Kendrick Perkins in the lineup is +8.5, which would lead the league, and they have been playing better on both ends since the recently acquired center got healthy.

Their biggest improvement has come on defense. The Thunder have allowed a shade more than 101 points per 100 possessions in 15 games with Perkins, per Hoopdata. That is down from a pre-Perkins average of more than 104 points allowed per 100 possessions. That new number would rank the Thunder around fifth or sixth overall for the full season. The one major caveat here: Only eight teams have had an easier schedule over the last quarter of the season.

Still, this is a bit scary: The Thunder have also played a little better on offense since Perkins got healthy, though he does not appear to have much to do with that. The Thunder are averaging about 110 points per 100 possessions in their last 15 games compared to about 108 points per 100 possessions before that. Oklahoma City is actually scoring much less efficiently when Perkins is on the court, so the increased scoring is either a function of the schedule, the internal development of guys like Serge Ibaka and James Harden or the trickle-down effect of the Perkins trade on the roster — or some combination of all of those things.

One thing the trade has indisputably done is make Oklahoma City bigger. Ibaka can now spend more time defending power forwards and working as a help defender. Lots of folks, including Sebastian Pruiti, have demonstrated how that has helped the Thunder defense. One other way their new height is benefiting the Thunder: They are suddenly acting like an elite offensive rebounding team. With Perkins healthy, the Thunder have grabbed about 30 percent of available offensive rebounds, according to Hoopdata. That number would lead the league — a big change for a team that has been a middle-of-the-road offensive rebounding club this season.

Oddly enough, the presence of Perkins has made almost no difference in Oklahoma City’s defensive rebounding numbers. That could mean the offensive rebounding boost is a schedule-related sample size issue, since the Thunder’s last 15 games have included 11 against the league’s dozen worst defensive rebounding teams. (Note: That 11 includes the Lakers, who rank 22nd in defensive rebounding rate but have risen all the way from 29th since Andrew Bynum’s return.)

Again: This could be more the result of a relatively easy schedule than anything else. But the Thunder undoubtedly look better. Harden’s play has been particularly encouraging, because the Thunder will be better off now that he can handle the lion’s share of minutes at shooting guard — and take over ball-handling responsibilities now and then. And cutting out Jeff Green in favor of a bigger front line hasn’t hurt Oklahoma City’s perimeter shooting. Harden is coming along there, too, and Scott Brooks appears comfortable using a three-guard bench combination of Harden, Eric Maynor and Daequan Cook to stretch the floor.

This might be one of those trades that just works out immediately. It might not even be as much about Perkins and his toughness; it might be more about the absence of Green and the fact that the Thunder now have more true big players to use alongside their wing guys and guards. It’s not as if Perkins is playing like gangbusters; his turnover rate is higher than ever (and it has always been way, way too high), and his Player Efficiency Rating is back down at 2006-07 levels. A lot of Thunder fans didn’t want to admit it, but perhaps Green just never fit. The team consistently played much better when he was on the bench. At first, you could chalk that up to the fact that the Thunder weren’t very good, and their starting lineup just couldn’t compete with other top lineups. But then the Thunder got better and Kevin Durant’s plus/minus numbers improved to where we’d expect them … and the numbers still showed the Thunder collapsing with Green on the floor.

That’s not a knock on Green — not completely, anyway. The pieces have to fit in basketball, and the early indications are that they might fit better now in Oklahoma City.