Kendrick Perkins discussing the three best leaders he played with in the NBA:
Nick Collison — “Best teammate I ever had.
When you talk about losing yourself in the team, he was the true definition of that. The best thing about Nick was that he never switched up.
A lot of guys would change throughout the course of the season. When the team was doing well but you weren’t doing well individually, you caught a lot of guys, including myself, with an attitude. That was never Nick. Whether he was getting 20 minutes or zero minutes, he never changed.
Always positive. Always hardworking. Always looking out for the betterment of the team.
And when he did hold you accountable, it wasn’t in an aggressive manner. It was just like: “Hey, man, we need you, but you’ve got to do better here. I’ve got your back 1,000 percent.”
“My bad, Nick, I’ve got you. I apologize.”
“No, no, no. No need to be sorry. We’re in this together.”
He would run through a wall for you. After I got traded to Oklahoma City in 2011, we matched up against the Lakers in the playoffs in 2012.
My points weren’t there in game five, but I think I had 13 or 14 rebounds. I remember after the game Nick said: “You won that damn game for us. Those rebounds didn’t go unnoticed. You played your f—ing ass off, boy. Proud of you.”
I was somewhat the leader of that squad with Nick, but right then he didn’t even know what that did for me. I was like: Dang, Nick just gave me props. That felt good coming from Nick.”
