Kendrick Perkins
Photo: FOX Sports

Kendrick Perkins picked the defending champions Toronto Raptors to win the Eastern Conference.

The former NBA champion and current ESPN analyst thinks the Raptors have one major edge over the Milwaukee Bucks.

“The Raptors have two bigs that can anchor a defense and protect the paint, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol — both of those guys are elite defenders. And by the way, I’ve never seen a team that is so happy to play defense.

The Toronto Raptors are happy to play defense. You should see the joy on their faces, the way they take pride in playing defense. They don’t even care about the offensive end.

They say, ‘OK, we can get a bucket.’ And they have depth. … So, I’m looking at this Raptors team, Greeny, and I’ve got them picked coming out of the East,” Perkins recently said, per NESN.