Jazzfan1971 and Floppymoose's season preview - The Celtics

[sca]

I feel like Rondo is a lot better than some people give him credit for.

[jazzfan1971]

I feel like Boston fans have heard Rondo trade rumor so many times that they've become polarized in their opinion. I'm not sure what else can explain them not seeing the writing on the wall on this.

- Rondo and Smart are not a good pairing. Neither are good outside shooters. Both are rather similar players. Neither is ideally suited to SG.

- Rondo is on the outs for this young rebuilding team due to him being a little old to fit in with the rebuild at 28 years old.

- Rondo will likely walk for nothing desiring to move to a win-now team on his next contract. (unless of course Boston breaks the bank for him like NY did for Melo. But, I see that as unlikely given Smart on the team)

- And what is the point of keeping him if he's going to walk? One year of MAYBE fighting for an 8th seed? Jazz did that with Jefferson and Millsap and let me tell you, there was NO point of doing it.

Every bit of logic I can consider leads me to believe he's either on the block or should be on the block. Probably both. I doubt Ainge is going to tank his value by announcing that he's going to be moved, but, behind teh scenes I'm sure they are actively fielding offers. Or should be.

[shawn unkempt]

I feel like Boston fans have heard Rondo trade rumor so many times that they've become polarized in their opinion. I'm not sure what else can explain them not seeing the writing on the wall on this.

- Rondo and Smart are not a good pairing. Neither are good outside shooters. Both are rather similar players. Neither is ideally suited to SG.

- Rondo is on the outs for this young rebuilding team due to him being a little old to fit in with the rebuild at 28 years old.

- Rondo will likely walk for nothing desiring to move to a win-now team on his next contract. (unless of course Boston breaks the bank for him like NY did for Melo. But, I see that as unlikely given Smart on the team)

- And what is the point of keeping him if he's going to walk? One year of MAYBE fighting for an 8th seed? Jazz did that with Jefferson and Millsap and let me tell you, there was NO point of doing it.

Every bit of logic I can consider leads me to believe he's either on the block or should be on the block. Probably both. I doubt Ainge is going to tank his value by announcing that he's going to be moved, but, behind teh scenes I'm sure they are actively fielding offers. Or should be.

I think there's a chance he's traded but I definitely don't see it as some definitive thing.

- I don't believe this team is looking to rebuild by committing to a completely young team, like say an Orlando. We're full of assets that we will trade if any great player becomes available. Ainge will take proven talent over potential every day of the week.

- There have been no trade rumors this summer. Looking around the league and at team's assets you'll notice that any team that would want to trade for Rondo have nothing of value to offer for him.

- It's not definite that he walks in free agency. I'm not going to pretend he's 100% committed to the Celtics going forward, but we can offer him the best contract.

[KGboss]

Rondo has stated he wants to retire a celtic. Now wanting something to happen and what really happens are different, i get it.

On our celtic forum we have a prediciton thread for the year - what we think may happen - personally I think Rondo is traded by the February deadline, but I don't think that decision ultimately decides the betterment of the teams outcome.

To be honest, I think in 3-4 years Smart will be the better player anyway. Faster, not fearless with his shooting, gets to the line at a quick rate. Phisically gifted more so than almost any PG in the league right now just from his size and what he can do with that size.

We will see. Sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned, and I hope when it is Rondo's time to go we get a good return for him. I don't think the Celtic FO is as nieve as you make it out to be. But if the best offer out there is Mcelmore, Williams and a couple firsts, I would pass as well.

[marcusaurelius]

My initial thought is that the Celtics should be about 4 to 8 games better than they were last year. That would be a pretty big jump. But then I thought about the East, and I think that it is improving so much that the Celtics will have a pretty rough time getting a significantly better record.

Cavs and Carolina should be significantly better. Bulls will be better to significantly better. Pistons better. Several others about the same to slightly better (because of maturation). The Heat will be worse (maybe significantly), but are still probably better than the Celtics. Pacers will be significantly worse, and I have no idea how they will look.

So I think that Boston could be a lot better and still only get about 2 to 5 more wins than last year.

I think that Smart could turn into a really good player, but generally people need 2 or 3 years to get used to the NBA.

If you look at the big picture, it just doesn't look like to me that spending lots of money on a PG is an efficient way to be a top level team. You should spend the big money on a versatile guy that can play the 3/4 or the 4/5. That is where the bang for the buck gets you to a conference finals. There are just too many good point guards out there that you can get for $12m to $16m per year, you don't need to pay more than that.

Spend $18m and up on somebody like a Cousins, Davis, Love, etc. If Rondo requires that much to keep him, you need to move him in the best way to help the team. And I am not against Rondo, I just don't think that you can spend that kind of money on your point guard.

[Infinite Llamas]

Ainge and ownership have long coveted stars. I can't help but wonder if Smart was picked not as insurance, but rather, as a potential trade chip to eventually bring another star to Boston. It's really hard to project this team as long as the situation with Rondo prevails, but I tend to believe that Rondo is still involved in the teams future. We have enough young players and picks. What we really need now are battle tested players, and Rondo leading this team to the playoffs will go a long way to supporting this cause.

[165bows]

I feel like Boston fans have heard Rondo trade rumor so many times that they've become polarized in their opinion. I'm not sure what else can explain them not seeing the writing on the wall on this.

What, like Tspence's rumors about an imminent Sacramento trade?

It's pretty easy really if they get an overwhelming return like the Nets trade I have no doubt they pull the trigger.

If not then they hold on and see what they can build. Google 'Ainge Kevin Love' and you will see a dozen stories of how the Celtics consistently tried to wedge themselves into a Kevin Love trade. With Love's contract status, that means they were planning on building around established vets including Rondo.

It didn't happen, but their intent there was clear as day. Doesn't mean they won't end up going on a full-on youth rebuild, but if you think that is their only path forward that is simply your own interpretation. Right or wrong it isn't totally born out by what they've actually tried to do.

[DarkAzcura]

I feel like Boston fans have heard Rondo trade rumor so many times that they've become polarized in their opinion. I'm not sure what else can explain them not seeing the writing on the wall on this.

165bows basically said it really well, but I just want to say, I heard the same thing for years with Paul Pierce. Rondo isn't nearly as good as Pierce was, but same story, different year. Ainge has never committed to a full out youth movement in his career. Based on the way Ainge works and has dealt in the past, he tends to gather assets to bring vets in to support his vets rather than get rid of the vets. I said vets a lot there, but that's how he does it. Now like I said, if we are a terrible team come January, you will probably see Ainge try hard to move Rondo, but again, if Ainge doesn't get what he thinks is fair value, a trade won't happen. I bet he'd rather Rondo walk at that point. It's all situational.

You don't have to tell us about "seeing the writing on the wall". You may be right in the end, but that's not because we didn't see the writing on the wall. For all you or I know, Ainge will somehow sign or trade for an all star at the deadline or next offseason. In that case, why is Rondo going anywhere? Who really knows? Unless you are OKC, most teams that commit to a "youth movement" tend to burn out and fail terribly.

Maybe it just boils down to me not being a fan of preseason predictions anyway. So much stuff happens in a season, and people are rarely right about most teams (especially those with a lot of young players). Just last season Phoenix was supposed to be the worst team in the league, and Portland was going to lose Aldridge. Minnesota was supposed to make a playoff push with all their offensive weapons, and the Knicks were supposed to compete with the Nets for the division title with no other competition. Now Phoenix has a bright future, and Aldridge is probably going to be with Portland for the next 4 years. Love is on the Cavs. Toronto won the Atlantic. Stuff happens.

I just think the season preview would have been better off talking about how Smart may contend for ROY, Bradley may improve more as a scorer, Thornton and Turner may turn their careers around somewhat. Will Sullinger lose weight and beat out Olynyk for the starting PF spot? Will Bass come out of no where to keep his spot as starting PF? Will Olynyk continue to improve his rebounding and defensive awareness? Will Rondo come back to form this season? Will Jeff Green be a bit more aggressive this season ala 2012-2013? Will Zeller be a competent starting center for the Celtics? These are the story lines the Celtics are really looking at this season, imo. I wouldn't touch the Rondo stuff.

[Gomagic44]

I don't mean to derail this thread but you brought back painful memories of owning the last of 3dfx cards.
Voodoo 5 had so much promise but alas no game studios wrote for it and it was an end of an era.

Welp...

I also remember this vividly, though I was only like 12 at the time. Anti aliasing is a better technology than textures and lighting right? RIGHT??????? And the voodoo 5 had it's own damn plug because it took so much power and space haha. Man I wanted them to win.


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