Rajon Rondo Traded To The Mavericks.

[Slartibartfast]

I don't think Rondo is this team's best player. I think he has been awful this year and essentially proved he can't be the best player of a team. This team was a 9-14 with Rondo and without.

Whether Green stays or goes isn't essential but saying who cares about Smart, Sully, and KO is a joke that is all that matters. That is what this is all about now what can Brad Stevens do with the young talent he is given. It is about talent development not tanking. Look at the Bucks.

I care about them as players - but their trade value this year is meaningless. They aren't going to be traded.

Brad might turn out to be a wiz with this group, but developing a roster full of feel good stories isn't going to get this team back to contention. We need top end talent. Rondo was one and could lure others. Now that he's gone, the draft is the only place to get the top shelf guys.

If the plan is to ride to 40ish wins on starless teams that "play the right way," color me less than enthused.

Rondo... top shelf? That's delusional talk right there. Rondo is a second tier PG... Curry, Westbrook, Parker, Paul and Wall are in another stratosphere from this dude. And then you have a bunch of guys in that second tier who are better than Rondo.

And that's just PG's. Dude hardly moves the needle on EITHER end of the court at this point.

Excellent passer. Feisty competitor. Exceptional rebounder for his size. Good team defender.

But he's a liability at the line, from the field, and has no diversity to his scoring game whatsoever.

The idea that he gave the Celtics a chance to attract a star is a laughable concept.

Just give it up with this storyline Rondo fans, please, it's pathetic.

Say what you will about his game, the guy had top shelf credentials. There's a reason why Kobe and Melo both tried recruiting him.

And too many times your style of argument descends into pointing and deriding. Is it too much to stick to friendly debate without calling people delusional and pathetic?

[sprash9802]

Bye. We don't want you back either.

Especially when we raise Banner 18.

Hopefully all the fake fans leave now, so we can find out who the real fans are who stand by the team through thick and thin.

Lol... This team is ATLEAST 4 yrs from a title, barring a miracle... Where is the optimism for this franchise coming from? Our 'talent' is not wanted anywhere else, we have no bigs and no PG. And our GM has been drafting his fair share of busts aka JR Giddens, Fab Melo etc... Why would anyone come play here? Our cap space is worthless... And we all know how well the lottery works for us... This team is going to be unwatchable

See ya later then.

I hate pretend fans.

Pretend fan? Dude I watched every game when they went 24-58 before the KG era... So take your adjective and shove it where the sun don't shine... You still haven't answered the question yet... So get off your high horse and chill...

[Bohemian]

I am so bummed that I didn't meet with my Celtic source last night. What a time to skip the meet!!! My daughter is in from Denver for Christmas etc.

(From tea leaves only) That said from Ainge's comment about team, it seems Rondo and team were not clicking. There was a moment of frustration a few games back between Sully and Rondo where Sully got a rebound, saw the outlet to Rondo, decided to dribble the ball up, got to the top of the key and put up a brick or lost it out of bounds. Shortly thereafter Sully went into a shooting slump.

The chemistry broke down, which is to say it was fragile all along.

Those that are upset are assuming the three star championship model. Rondo was the number one star, We needed two more. This is the model most every team uses. And it wasn't happening and wasn't going to happen, because Rondo is really no longer a star.

DA is using the dynasty model of old. He is trying to build a team of 8 to 10 NBA starters that can run the opponents into the ground. This is why he is stock piling picks. He believes he can draft NBA starters anywhere in the first round. DA can do this when he and the organization are focused on the draft.

(After DA drafted Rondo at 21 he made a candid comment that I believe is often true. "Our draft board looks nothing like any one else's draft board." He intimated that Rondo was number 3 on our board.)

I'm pretty close to neutral on the trade. Rondo is really not that good any more. We got what he is worth and it is a win win for both teams.

I am absolutely thrilled to see the Celtics committing to the dynasty plan.

I needed such post. Thanks for cheering me up!

[greenroom31]

Can we find some middle ground here and shift from the "I was right, we needed to get rid of Rondo" vs. "this franchise is doomed" back and forth?

It seems HIGHLY likely that this scenario came about because Ainge held out hope that he could bring a "second star" in to play alongside Rondo to accelerate our rebuilding efforts (i.e. Love). After that fell apart, he realized that Rondo would likely command more than we were willing to pay in the free agent market and got what he could for him...

Unfortunately what Ainge got was less than most of us would have liked since his contract is about to expire, he's been injured a decent amount over the last couple of years and he hasn't shown much (if any) improvement in his scoring ability. That said, if this is what Ainge could get for him, this was his market value. As much as I'd like to believe he was worth more, I can't imagine that Ainge didn't check under every stone to try to get the best offer he could.

Most posters agree on these points more or less, so there is no need to call each other delusional, stupid, idiotic, etc. The fact is, the risk of trying to re-sign a player means not maximizing his value (i.e. selling high) but rather selling closer towards the bottom -- that is, when he's older, not playing quite as well, and when he's about to command a large new salary.

It stinks, but the alternative would've been to trade him sooner which would've REALLY created an uproar here. Or failing to re-sign him during free agency and letting him walk for nothing... which also wouldn't have gone over well. It was a difficult situation no matter how you look at it. If you want to take Ainge to task for anything I think it would have to be for not trading him sooner (and taking the risk that it played out how it did). Of course if you do that, then everyone plays the "what if" game and starts saying with certainty things like "Love would've come here if only we didn't trade Rondo"

I for one am ready to move on and focus on the new direction. We have lots of assets and a GM who has shown some skill in making trades and drafting players that can contribute, even outside the top 5 picks. I'm excited to see how Smart and Young develop, and if KO can keep progressing as he has over the last couple of weeks I think he could be a pretty special player as well.

It's easy to be negative, and also easy to pound our chests and say "I told you so" but at some point it's best to be mature, acknowledge that everyone wants the same thing, and focus on what can be done to get there.

Peace

[humblebum]

I care about them as players - but their trade value this year is meaningless. They aren't going to be traded.

Brad might turn out to be a wiz with this group, but developing a roster full of feel good stories isn't going to get this team back to contention. We need top end talent. Rondo was one and could lure others. Now that he's gone, the draft is the only place to get the top shelf guys.

If the plan is to ride to 40ish wins on starless teams that "play the right way," color me less than enthused.

Rondo... top shelf? That's delusional talk right there. Rondo is a second tier PG... Curry, Westbrook, Parker, Paul and Wall are in another stratosphere from this dude. And then you have a bunch of guys in that second tier who are better than Rondo.

And that's just PG's. Dude hardly moves the needle on EITHER end of the court at this point.

Excellent passer. Feisty competitor. Exceptional rebounder for his size. Good team defender.

But he's a liability at the line, from the field, and has no diversity to his scoring game whatsoever.

The idea that he gave the Celtics a chance to attract a star is a laughable concept.

Just give it up with this storyline Rondo fans, please, it's pathetic.

Say what you will about his game, the guy had top shelf credentials. There's a reason why Kobe and Melo both tried recruiting him.

And too many times your style of argument descends into pointing and deriding. Is it too much to stick to friendly debate without calling people delusional and pathetic?

I think we both know why Kobe and Melo tried recruiting him.

I just call it how I see it.

To say Rondo is top shelf or that he was the last hope to luring a star to Boston is delusional and pathetic. Nothing personal... but there just seems to be a certain hysteria and obsession that surrounds Rondo that I just never understood.

Good player. Great passer. But his departure certainly isn't the prelude to dark days. That's poppycock.

[StojkoVrankovic]

Rondo... top shelf? That's delusional talk right there. Rondo is a second tier PG... Curry, Westbrook, Parker, Paul and Wall are in another stratosphere from this dude. And then you have a bunch of guys in that second tier who are better than Rondo.

And that's just PG's. Dude hardly moves the needle on EITHER end of the court at this point.

Excellent passer. Feisty competitor. Exceptional rebounder for his size. Good team defender.

But he's a liability at the line, from the field, and has no diversity to his scoring game whatsoever.

The idea that he gave the Celtics a chance to attract a star is a laughable concept.

Just give it up with this storyline Rondo fans, please, it's pathetic.

Say what you will about his game, the guy had top shelf credentials. There's a reason why Kobe and Melo both tried recruiting him.

And too many times your style of argument descends into pointing and deriding. Is it too much to stick to friendly debate without calling people delusional and pathetic?

I think we both know why Kobe and Melo tried recruiting him.

I just call it how I see it.

To say Rondo is top shelf or that he was the last hope to luring a star to Boston is delusional and pathetic. Nothing personal... but there just seems to be a certain hysteria and obsession that surrounds Rondo that I just never understood.

Good player. Great passer. But his departure certainly isn't the prelude to dark days. That's poppycock.

Why are you acting like we don't know who the hell you are?

For years now the majority of your Rondo posts have been driven by an agenda. Do you really want us to pretend that you didn't want to trade Rondo because you thought Bradley could be the starting PG? That is actually delusional and pathetic.

People want to play with Rondo, you cant ignore that fact. We have the word of player after player stating so. When has anyone eve said they want to play with Avery Bradley and Jeff Green?

[Jammer]

It's really a 3 part, simultaneous trade.

1) Rajon Rondo for Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright and a protected 2015 First Round Pick

2) Waive Vitor Faverani

3) Dwight Powell for the better of Dallas or Memphis' 2016 Second Round Pick

[Jammer]

It's really a 3 part, simultaneous trade.

1) Rajon Rondo for Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright and a protected 2015 First Round Pick

2) Waive Vitor Faverani

3) Dwight Powell for the better of Dallas or Memphis' 2016 Second Round Pick

[FreeDrop]

Rondo stock fell by being on this team. He's not the type of scoring PG that we see so much of nowadays. He needs to be on a team where his skills as a facilitator are best utilized -- Boston isnt it. Dallas is.

By the end of this year, people will be talking about Rondo as one of the best point guards in the league, again. No one in the league can do what he does -- and he will lead the league in assists again.

He's not a max player, on that I agree, but neither is the other guy we were trying to sign, Love -- talk about overrated. On a good team, Rondo will flourish, and so will the team.

[humblebum]

Say what you will about his game, the guy had top shelf credentials. There's a reason why Kobe and Melo both tried recruiting him.

And too many times your style of argument descends into pointing and deriding. Is it too much to stick to friendly debate without calling people delusional and pathetic?

I think we both know why Kobe and Melo tried recruiting him.

I just call it how I see it.

To say Rondo is top shelf or that he was the last hope to luring a star to Boston is delusional and pathetic. Nothing personal... but there just seems to be a certain hysteria and obsession that surrounds Rondo that I just never understood.

Good player. Great passer. But his departure certainly isn't the prelude to dark days. That's poppycock.

Why are you acting like we don't know who the hell you are?

For years now the majority of your Rondo posts have been driven by an agenda. Do you really want us to pretend that you didn't want to trade Rondo because you thought Bradley could be the starting PG? That is actually delusional and pathetic.

People want to play with Rondo, you cant ignore that fact. We have the word of player after player stating so. When has anyone eve said they want to play with Avery Bradley and Jeff Green?

I can almost taste your tears so I'll just choose to ignore the antagonistic nature of this post. Sorry about your boyfriend being traded.

People want Rondo to play with them. It's a pretty significant difference. No one came and no one was coming to play with Rondo in Boston. Are we really trying to act like Rondo is this KG like persona who inspires people to want to play with him by sheer force of personality?

No... not even close. Smart has a chance to be that type of player though because he's ultra confident (something Rondo only really pretends at) and he plays with a burning passion. Basically a few ball hogs/chuckers (Love can probably be included in that along with Mayo, Kobe, Melo and Gay) have said they would like to play with Rondo. I wonder why?

[Datruth345]

Wouldn't at all be surprised if his play picks up in Dallas, as we all know he plays his best against the best.

this trade doesn't have Danny's fingerprints on it if I'm being honest. I think the past couple years he was really conflicted with what to do with Rondo. I think he gave an honest effort to build WITH him (Kevin Love most publicly) but nothing materialized. I also, think if he didn't blow out his knee he might have sold high then. Ainge selling now and so sudden, to me means there were other factors.....maybe rondo made a push, maybe his agent, maybe a team chemistry issue, something. Ainge selling low on Rondo is very un-Ainge like

what a great Celtics career he had though, WOW....the highs were high...one man highlight reel...walking triple double...being clearly the best player on the court with Lebron James, multiple times...dunking with no fear early in his career...signature moves...passes I've never seen before and likely will never see again (vs. Golden State to Ray Allen among MANY others)....going all out with the game or series on the line...i could keep going

while acknowledging the highs i suppose i would be remiss if i didn't atleast mention the 3-5-0-1 lines from the monotony of the NBA grind in like mid January

Regardless of what side of the great celtics divide you are on, It has to somewhere in your heart be sad to see Rajon Rondo finally traded away

[pac213up]

Can we find some middle ground here and shift from the "I was right, we needed to get rid of Rondo" vs. "this franchise is doomed" back and forth?

It seems HIGHLY likely that this scenario came about because Ainge held out hope that he could bring a "second star" in to play alongside Rondo to accelerate our rebuilding efforts (i.e. Love). After that fell apart, he realized that paying Rondo would likely command more than we were willing to pay in the free agent market and got what he could for him...

Unfortunately what Ainge got was less than most of us would have liked since his contract is about to expire, he's been injured a decent amount over the last couple of years and he hasn't shown much (if any) improvement in his scoring ability. That said, if this is what Ainge could get for him, this was his market value. As much as I'd like to believe he was worth more, I can't imagine that Ainge didn't check under every stone to try to get the best offer he could.

Well said. Ainge's 1st choice was to keep Rondo but it was contingent on bringing in other talent to ensure you maximize Rondo the next couple of years. He would have no issue paying Rondo money if he was able to do that.

Both of these guys understood the situation. Rondo was not staying if the team was not competitive and Ainge was not giving out a huge contract if the team was not competitive.

In terms of value. Rondo has not played all that well and given his FA status, he was pretty much able to dictate the 2 or 3 teams he wanted to play for. Ainge had to work with those teams. I thought he may have just played it out to the end of the year and done a sign & trade BUT I am guessing Ainge had finally realized other GM's were not going to play ball with the assets he had. The best thing he can do is get rid of the vets and play the kids and hope one of them shows a ceiling that attracts other GM's.

[OnAirDonnie]

How do you guys see the Celtics depth chart looking post trade?
What's the rotation in your minds?

[KGboss]

Wouldn't at all be surprised if his play picks up in Dallas, as we all know he plays his best against the best.

this trade doesn't have Danny's fingerprints on it if I'm being honest. I think the past couple years he was really conflicted with what to do with Rondo. I think he gave an honest effort to build WITH him (Kevin Love most publicly) but nothing materialized. I also, think if he didn't blow out his knee he might have sold high then. Ainge selling now and so sudden, to me means there were other factors.....maybe rondo made a push, maybe his agent, maybe a team chemistry issue, something. Ainge selling low on Rondo is very un-Ainge like

what a great Celtics career he had though, WOW....the highs were high...one man highlight reel...walking triple double...being clearly the best player on the court with Lebron James, multiple times...dunking with no fear early in his career...signature moves...passes I've never seen before and likely will never see again (vs. Golden State to Ray Allen among MANY others)....going all out with the game or series on the line...i could keep going

while acknowledging the highs i suppose i would be remiss if i didn't atleast mention the 3-5-0-1 lines from the monotony of the NBA grind in like mid January

Regardless of what side of the great celtics divide you are on, It has to somewhere in your heart be sad to see Rajon Rondo finally traded away

Absolutely. Im going to miss that Rondo a lot. It wouldve been great if we got Love and Rondo was still here and we were having a different conversation right now.

Now we have to realize where we are, see the pieces as they are and hope there is some kind of plan here going forward.

[Valid]

How do you guys see the Celtics depth chart looking post trade?
What's the rotation in your minds?

I would hope Smart and Wright start, but it will probably look something like this:

Zeller/Wright
Sullinger/Olynyk/Bass
Green/Turner/Crowder/Wallace
Bradley/Thornton/Young
Nelson/Smart/Pressey

[BakersDozen]

How do you guys see the Celtics depth chart looking post trade?
What's the rotation in your minds?

Smart/Pressey
Bradley/Thornton
Green/Turner
Sullinger/KO/Bass
Zeller/Wright

no idea how Bass gets minutes without KO's going off a cliff. Hope Danny has a deal for him soon.

[humblebum]

How do you guys see the Celtics depth chart looking post trade?
What's the rotation in your minds?

Smart will likely start at PG. Nelson will battle Pressey for backup PG minutes with Pressey probably winning that battle most nights. Bradley, Green and Turner are the mainstays on the wing with Thornton/Wallace seeing spot duty. Sullinger/KO will probably see the most minutes but they can be pretty inconsistent so there will be plenty of opportunity for Bass/Zeller/Wright as well.

Smart/Pressey/Nelson
Bradley/Turner/Thornton
Green/Turner/Wallace
Sullinger/Bass/KO
Zeller/Wright

[BakersDozen]

How do you guys see the Celtics depth chart looking post trade?
What's the rotation in your minds?

I would hope Smart and Wright start, but it will probably look something like this:

Zeller/Wright
Sullinger/Olynyk/Bass
Green/Turner/Wallace
Bradley/Thornton/Young
Nelson/Smart/Pressey

completely forgot about Nelson and Crowder,ha

[KGboss]

How do you guys see the Celtics depth chart looking post trade?
What's the rotation in your minds?

I would hope Smart and Wright start, but it will probably look something like this:

Zeller/Wright
Sullinger/Olynyk/Bass
Green/Turner/Wallace
Bradley/Thornton/Young
Nelson/Smart/Pressey

Highly doubt Nelson starts over Smart.

Nelson will be a 3 point specialty guard off the bench, not much more, if he doesnt get moved again before the deadline.

[humblebum]

Oops... meant to put Kelly ahead of Bass in the rotation.