Celtics Drama Between 2008 Teammates Revisited: ‘You Just Can’t Do That’
Kendrick Perkins and Brian Scalabrine haven’t celebrated watching the Celtics set an NBA record with their 18th title, and instead have gone head-to-head in a mini beef that sparked before Boston’s celebratory parade.
Scalabrine suggested that Perkins, who was one of several 2008 roster members not in attendance for the duck boat parade, isn’t on “open-arms” terms with the organization. While re-addressing the drama, Scalabrine stood by and further explained the claim.
“I think the comments about Joe Mazzulla were out of hand,” Scalabrine explained on the “Courtside Club” podcast. “You can’t call the coach of the Boston Celtics a dodo bird. You just can’t do that. Look, I don’t know for a fact that organization is like, ‘Nah, we don’t want nothing to do with Kendrick Perkins.’ Anybody else from ’08, anybody else from back in the day, there’s oldtimers coming through all the time. I’m just not sure that Jayson Tatum and Joe Mazzulla and Jaylen Brown are gonna love when Kendrick Perkins shows up. I’m just not sure about that.”
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Perkins, a current analyst for ESPN, has been vocally critical in recent years, specifically when chiming in on Mazzulla’s coaching tactics. He’s ripped Mazzulla’s 3-point-hunting offense, the lack of utilizing the team’s size and ability to attack the rim, but most notably challenged Mazzulla’s intelligence — claiming a bird would fly backward under Mazzulla’s brain.
It’s clear that even if the Celtics don’t directly open up about their feelings for Perkins’ language, affiliates of the team certainly aren’t fans.
In response to hearing Scalabrine’s initial comment, Perkins called out his former teammate by calling Scalabrine a “coward” during a radio appearance. Perkins also claimed several phone calls were made to Scalabrine in an attempt to speak 1-on-1 about the topic, however, that was yet to take place.
Scalabrine, on the other hand, has no bad blood for Perkins.
“We won a championship together, I don’t have a problem with Kendrick Perkins,” Scalabrine clarified. “I’m not sure if the organization looks at Kendrick Perkins and has, like, an open-arm policy. That’s it.”