Should extending Rondo happen now or next off-season?

[campybatman]

A good read by CB's Jeff Clark. I concur with the points he'd highlighted in his piece. Some fans forgot that Rivers initially was skeptical of Pierce in that I believe I'd read that he was close to wanting him traded. Then Pierce soon bought into what Rivers was trying to do, and the discrepancies between the two was forgotten. So any tiff between he and Rondo can be managed.



I Still Believe Rondo's Going Nowhere
http://www.celticsblog.com/2009/6/24/92 ... g#comments

[jfs1000d]

Let's not revise history on PP. PP was GONE BABY GONE for the No. 3 pick to New Orleans if Chris Paul was available.

CP3 was there, and the Hornets got cold feet. Danny had PP gone.

He has no qualms about trading anybody.

[canman1971]

Why does anyone try to make this more confusing than it needs to be? If trading Rondo improves the team, he will do it; if it does not, he won't. Pretty simple. As far as his contract goes, Ainge has stated he won't even discuss it, along with Ray Allen's, until September.

[sully00]

Let's not revise history on PP. PP was GONE BABY GONE for the No. 3 pick to New Orleans if Chris Paul was available.

CP3 was there, and the Hornets got cold feet. Danny had PP gone.

He has no qualms about trading anybody.

Just to be clear it was POR with 3 pick who was going to deal #3 to Boston for Pierce. Pierce just did everything he could to kill that idea.

And in one of the dumbest trades in NBA history the Blazers traded 3 to Utah for 6, because of course they couldn't draft a pg because they had Sebastian Telfair. So instead of Deron or CP3 or hell just reach on Danny Granger or Bynum they get Marvin Webster, Kleiza and Joel Freeland.

Of course this act of stupidity leads to them landing Aldridge and Roy the next season in a total reversal of fortune.

[campybatman]

I'm talking just about Rivers and Pierce's relationship. It was rocky early on.

I'm trying to figure out what was revised as you put it. Did Pierce and Rivers not get along initially?

Ainge wasn't adverse to trading Pierce, and Rivers wasn't oppose to the possibility either. Ainge has said more than once that he'll converse about players and trades with Rivers, who has a say too.

"Me and Doc definitely bumped heads from the beginning," he said. "There were screaming matches, rebellion. I didn't think it was going to work between me and him. Doc would say, 'Paul, your body language and your attitude says a lot for the guys around you. I know you're not happy not winning games. But you have to know how if affects the rest of the guys. When your body language is low and you're not getting extra shots, it rubs off on the other guys.'

"I thought he was an iso [isolation] player," said Rivers. "I thought he could score a ton of points, but he'd be a 39 percent shooter and that's basically what he was. You would never win. I don't think any team wins with a guy just standing around holding the ball. I kept telling him, 'Who wants to play with that?'

The Celtics tried to trade Pierce for Chris Paul the night of the 2005 NBA draft, but could not close the deal.

"I just had to go home and grow up," acknowledged Pierce. "It was a difficult situation. It was time to grow up, stop pouting, go out there and help these young guys out and things will work out. And that was my mind-set after the first year with Doc. So that was my attitude after that and I think that helped out my relationship with Doc and them wanting to keep me around because they saw the change in my attitude. Trying to get better as a Celtic regardless of the losing that was going on here."

"We had to go in one direction or the other," said Ainge. "It was either go with Paul, or go young and start over. There was discussion. We decided we wanted to win with him here, rather than trade him and see someone else win with him. Our intention was to explore what we could do with Paul. I talked with him about it. I was sympathetic to the frustration he had, but I thought he dealt with it pretty well."

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... th/?page=4



But, in the end, all sides thought rationally, and Pierce and Rivers' relationship improved.

"I just pretty much said to Doc, 'Thanks for sticking with me,' " Pierce said. "We definitely had our ups and downs as a player and coach in the beginning, but he could have easily went to management and said, 'Aw, I don't want this knucklehead,' but he didn't. He stuck it out with me."

But Rivers didn't necessarily see it that way.

"He said he loved me," Rivers said. "And then he said, 'Thank you for sticking with me,' and I was thinking, 'Me with you?' I was thinking the other way around. It meant a lot, obviously, but we're going to enjoy this."

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... ally_over/

[GuyClinch]

Why does anyone try to make this more confusing than it needs to be? If trading Rondo improves the team, he will do it; if it does not, he won't. Pretty simple. As far as his contract goes, Ainge has stated he won't even discuss it, along with Ray Allen's, until September.

Because despite what GMs say this is not how they make trades in the NBA. Trades are evaluated from a monetary perspective. They are evaluated from a "future" perspective and a "now" perspective. So if Danny pulls the trigger he can ALWAYS claim that it makes the team better.

That is - well we aren't better now but we have more financial freedom. Or so and so young guys allow us to extend our window. Or we think so and so are in upgrade in talent. Or so and so is a better fit. It goes on and on. Its rarely just about making the team 'better" as in a straight up improvement in the talent level.

Truth is there is ton of intrigue about the Rondo situation. its the flat out most interesting issue since the KG trade. Are we souring on Rondo? Is the bad stuff a motivational tactic? Is there something in the works already? Are all these trade rumours real? Was Rondo a bad guy - if so what did he do?

So yeah..its NOT simple. Its interesting. The Pierce thing is basically the opposite of Rondo though, IMHO. Pierce won Doc and Danny over to his side. Whereas Rondo seems to be ticking Danny and Doc off more and more. My feeling is they are flat out angry with him and are shopping him for that reason. They feel he is like the anti-celtic. Whereas Paul Pierce and the whole busted tooth comeback, wheel chair bit and such has remade himself into Mr. Celtic.. He basically managed to live down the whole bandage thing.

Perhaps Doc and Danny really intend to mend things with him and it was all motivational. Who knows but its a pretty compelling sports stuff, IMHO. I could see a book coming out of it if Rondo gets shipped out and its acrimonius at the end.

I have though done a 180 on this. Back when the thread about now being the right time to trade Rondo was posted I thought it was a ridiculous idea. Now after thinking about the contract extension and how much money Rondo might want (and could get), thinking about the relative value of PGs Money vs. other positions, hearing about Rondos attitude problems and his penchant for being late.. and so on.. I think he is likely to be traded. I apologize to that original poster it was actually kind of insightful..

Pete

[campybatman]

I think Ainge is in Rondo's corner but can see Rivers' point of view which is probably more at odds with Rondo's personality. If anything is confusing here, it's Ainge's thought process itself as it pertains to Rondo. Is his intentions to motivate Rondo to improve in areas of his game in serious need of improvement? Or is it to irk his agent by publicizing his critical opinions of Rondo.

I don't think it has gotten dicey yet, even Rondo has to know there's truth in the comments Ainge made directly about him in his recent WEEI interview this week. Still, Rondo's doing the right thing: He isn't entirely contradicting any criticisms of him and, basically, remaining silent or diplomatic when asked about his contract situation.

[GuyClinch]

I think Ainge is in Rondo's corner but can see Rivers' point of view which is probably more at odds with Rondo's personality. If anything is confusing here, it's Ainge's thought process itself as it pertains to Rondo. Is his intentions to motivate Rondo to improve in areas of his game in serious need of improvement? Or is it to irk his agent by publicizing his critical opinions of Rondo.

Or maybe Ainge just answered a question truthfully. <g> It might not be so calculated. He talked bad of Walker before trading him.