Billy Tubbs applauds Thunder for getting Kendrick Perkins

Former OU basketball coach Billy Tubbs watched from the stands during Perkins' senior season at Clifton J. Ozen High School in 2003. It was the year Tubbs returned to Beaumont to start his second stint as Lamar's coach.

"Kendrick is really, really a good kid," Tubbs said Thursday night after learning of the trade that sent the 6-foot-10, 280-pound Perkins from Boston to the Thunder. "He comes out during the summers and plays against the guys from Lamar. He has a camp in Beaumont.

"He's big and he's a hard worker, but he's also a great person. He really is. I think that's a great move for the Thunder."

Fact is, Tubbs went back one generation with the Perkins family.

Tubbs recruited Perkins' father, Kenneth, to play at Lamar, where he went on to become a three-time, second-team, all-conference selection (1982-84). "He was a good player," Tubbs said.

Dubbed "Baby Shaq" coming out of high school, the heavily recruited Kendrick Perkins averaged 27.5 points and 16.4 rebounds as a senior and chose to sign a national letter of intent with Memphis over Texas and Texas A&M. He went 96-3 his last three years in high school.