Thunder notebook: Doc Rivers regrets timing of Kendrick Perkins trade

"I would wait until after the year was over. I'll put it that way," Rivers told Boston sports radio WEEI (850 AM).

On Feb. 24, the Celtics traded Perkins and guard Nate Robinson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for forward Jeff Green, center Nenad Krstic and a protected future first-round draft pick.

"I do think Jeff Green has a chance to be a starter for us in the future and a hell of a basketball player, and Krstic can help, but making that trade at the time we made that trade, that made it very tough for us," Rivers said.

Boston finished as the No. 3 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference and was eliminated in the second round 4-1 by the Miami Heat. Perkins' departure affected the club's offense more than Rivers and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge anticipated.

"Well, it was more not that the trust went away, the know-how went away, the continuity went away," Rivers said. "That's what the trade affected more than anything. Obviously, (Perkins) was great to our team and all of that, but it was more that you had new guys playing different positions and you had a floor guy who could literally reach back into a playbook and throw out something that was three or four years old and they all knew it, when Perk was there.