Kendrick Perkins Like You’ve Never Seen Him

Kendrick Perkins vowed to come back in better shape.

This off-season, the Thunder’s center was completely committing himself to that cause. He wanted to wash out the taste of a season he deemed a personal disappointment from his mouth. He challenged himself to lose 20 pounds over the break and come back at 265.

Judging by the video below, Perkins looks better than ever. Take a look for yourself.

You can see Perk’s arms look trim and defined, his waist and midsection look to be as slim as ever and, perhaps most importantly, his agility and explosiveness looks to have returned. If that’s all true, look out. The Thunder could be an even bigger problem next season than people think.

Perkins’ resurgence could be the single most important factor in the Thunder’s success next season. If he’s healthy, OKC has a dominant low post defender who makes everything easier for everyone else defensively. His presence can alter a game defensively because of his ability to clog the paint and cut off high-percentage attempts.

And if the exercises seen in the video have been Perk’s routine, he clearly is dedicated to getting back to form and beyond. Although for some reason I couldn’t help but think of Cliff Huxtable while watching Perk do his treadmill work. At any rate, Perk is definitely someone to keep an eye on whenever this lockout ends.