Celtics alum Kendrick Perkins credits Doc Rivers with helping him have a long NBA career

It’s not all that unusual for NBA players to think more of their basketball abilities than is an accurate assessment when they arrive in the league from college. But the same irrational confidence that they exhibit in so doing is identical to the thing that got them to the Association in the first place, so it makes sense that young players misgauge their abilities early on.

So it might not be so shocking to hear how former Boston Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins took some honest criticism from then-new head coach Doc Rivers early in his career with the Celtics.

“I didn’t know Doc, he didn’t know me,” said Perkins in an interview with WEEI’s Meghan Ottolini. “(H)e said, ‘Perk, I’m just going to be honest with you. You could try to go out here and be an All-Star and a franchise guy, and you could make it – but I believe you won’t.’”

Instead, Rivers worked with Perk to become the post-dominant, rim-protecting center the team needed to win a title.

“I always joke with Doc,” said the 2008 titlist ‘”You know you held me back?” he would ask Rivers, who would jokingly reply, “No, I blessed you with a long career.”

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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire