Wolstat: Raps Chased Rondo But Price Was Too High

Mattd97 · Post #21 » by **Mattd97** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:34 pm

great, now im gonna have to go vote for gilmore junio

team edward · Post #22 » by **team edward** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:34 pm

Scarface844 wrote:[/b][b]Toronto is eager to up its “star” quotient

Interesting. After whiffing on Steve Nash MLSE wanted a real star. I would doubt that was Masai's stated interest, except to the extent he was directed to acquire a star by the owners.

WeTheNorth77 wrote:Looking back at this thank god we didn't do it

You mean, thank God Masai fleeced Dolan so badly on the Bargnani deal that he vetoed the Lowry trade out of spite.

ATLTimekeeper · Post #23 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:34 pm

HomieOmey wrote:
ATLTimekeeper wrote:The real question is why the **** were we interested in Rondo in February last year when we were already in a playoff spot with Lowry. It still makes me wonder if the Casey-Lowry relationship isn't all that tight. Anyway, another dodged bullet, Masai. Leave contract year Marc Gasol alone, too, please.

We agreed to a Lowry to the Knicks deal well before the playoffs, and apparently that's when we were looking to add him. The Knicks really bailed Masai out. Them going back on our deal was pretty much the difference between him looking like a fool and him having pretty much God status amongst Rap fans right now. While trading Rudy for depth worked out, losing both Rudy and Lowry while trading away young assets for Rondo really would have set us back.

The whole "Last February" part might be confusing. That's when the Sun received the news, or that's when the aggressive pursuit was on? Either way, the trade wasn't a smart one in December or February and our organization shouldn't have multiple fans of Rondo, especially when Kyle is right in front of their noses.

trick · Post #24 » by **trick** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:35 pm

The Lowry to NY talks happened not long after Rudy Gay was traded so one can assume in the time span Masai was ready to blow it up. Hypothetically, if Lowry was sent to NY and Masai sent a future 1st + Ross to BOS, our lineup would look something like this:

Rondo
Derozan
Fieds?
Amir
Valanciunas

No bench depth. The team will heavily rely on Valanciunas for the future, And if they made the playoffs, the team would probably be 5-8th seed.

Yikes.

CrookedJ · Post #25 » by **CrookedJ** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:38 pm

dagger wrote:I don't think we "nearly acquired" Rondo if the price was too high. It means we talked to Ainge about it, and abandoned the idea.

Exactly. Nothing wrong with having the conversations, then putting them on ice cause the price was too high. That's what a GM should do for EVERY good player that is on the market.

RaptorsFan100 · Post #26 » by **RaptorsFan100** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:42 pm

I understand this trade was horrible. Giving up ross and the pick that ended up being bruno is a bad trade.

But i dont get the ppl saying that not having bruno on the team is going to have an effect. Bruno has Zero impact on this team this season and next season. Maybe in the future he will but not in our cutrent push at the ECSF and further.

CrookedJ · Post #27 » by **CrookedJ** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:52 pm

trick wrote:The Lowry to NY talks happened not long after Rudy Gay was traded so one can assume in the time span Masai was ready to blow it up. Hypothetically, if Lowry was sent to NY and Masai sent a future 1st + Ross to BOS, our lineup would look something like this:

Rondo
Derozan
Fieds?
Amir
Valanciunas

No bench depth. The team will heavily rely on Valanciunas for the future, And if they made the playoffs, the team would probably be 5-8th seed.

Yikes.

The deals on the table looked to be:

Lowry to NY for Felton and either Hardway or the 2018 first rd pick ( NY said no)

then

Ross or Valanciunas + the Bruno pick for Rondo. ( we said no)

I agree that it wouldn't be close to what we have today, but we'd still have acquired:

Vasquez (FA 2014)
Patterson (FA 2014)
Hardaway is probably the starter at the 3, or we got the 2018 first from NY in which case we're uber thin indeed.
Fat Ray. Boooo.
We'd still have got Salmons, and could have done the Lou Will / Bebe deal (or the Memphis deal for pick 22 / Tayshaun Prince)

ATLTimekeeper · Post #28 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:54 pm

trick wrote:The Lowry to NY talks happened not long after Rudy Gay was traded so one can assume in the time span Masai was ready to blow it up. Hypothetically, if Lowry was sent to NY and Masai sent a future 1st + Ross to BOS, our lineup would look something like this:

Rondo
Derozan
Fieds?
Amir
Valanciunas

No bench depth. The team will heavily rely on Valanciunas for the future, And if they made the playoffs, the team would probably be 5-8th seed.

Yikes.

Not to mention that horrible spacing. It probably meant DeMar getting shipped out, too, because Rondo/DeMar would never work. Plus an overpay on whatever Rondo wanted to save face for the overpay on acquiring him. I think Ujiri/Leweike had a bad initial plan of just chasing names to boost the brand and re-route the dialogue that we weren't a place that stars wanted to play, and then something amazing happened instead. Ujiri said in an interview last year he felt the most important aspect of team building in the future was recruiting, which is why they placed a great deal of importance on getting that practice facility built. They were probably looking at Rondo as bait to get Durant and hoping that JV would be the 3rd piece. Now we have Lowry/DeMar that could lure Durant and JV would be the 4th piece. Or just say **** Durant and go after someone a little easier to acquire. All I can say is thank God Ainge was greedy.

trick · Post #29 » by **trick** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:54 pm

CrookedJ wrote:The deals on the table looked to be:

Lowry to NY for Felton and either Hardway or the 2018 first rd pick ( NY said no)

then

Ross or Valanciunas + the Bruno pick for Rondo. ( we said no)

I agree that it wouldn't be close to what we have today, but we'd still have acquired:

Vasquez (FA 2014)
Patterson (FA 2014)
Hardaway is probably the starter at the 3, or we got the 2018 first from NY in which case we're uber thin indeed.
Fat Ray. Boooo.
We'd still have got Salmons, and could have done the Lou Will / Bebe deal (or the Memphis deal for pick 22 / Tayshaun Prince)

You're right. I don't know why I didn't count the players acquired from the Rudy Gay trade. It's been a long day.

CrookedJ · Post #30 » by **CrookedJ** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:01 pm

trick wrote:
CrookedJ wrote:The deals on the table looked to be:

Lowry to NY for Felton and either Hardway or the 2018 first rd pick ( NY said no)

then

Ross or Valanciunas + the Bruno pick for Rondo. ( we said no)

I agree that it wouldn't be close to what we have today, but we'd still have acquired:

Vasquez (FA 2014)
Patterson (FA 2014)
Hardaway is probably the starter at the 3, or we got the 2018 first from NY in which case we're uber thin indeed.
Fat Ray. Boooo.
We'd still have got Salmons, and could have done the Lou Will / Bebe deal (or the Memphis deal for pick 22 / Tayshaun Prince)

You're right. I don't know why I didn't count the players acquired from the Rudy Gay trade. It's been a long day.

Its barely afternoon dude. You better rest up to watch the game tonight!

We'd have been stuck with Fat Ray, so no chance we'd spend money on resigning Vasquez.

Patterson wouldn't have played as well last season - the trade off would have been that neither us or any other teams ( Orlando) would have wanted to pay him as much. I think theres a good chance we would have kept him as a young big with potential.

Our wings would be DD, Hardaway with Lou Will, Prince, Fields as backups ( likely).

We'd be a lot less fun but we wouldn't have known the difference and I bet Casey would have really liked having Rondo.

CrymeTime · Post #31 » by **CrymeTime** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:07 pm

I wonder what the asking price would have been a few days ago.

make Rondo the back up, and go from there.

RedX · Post #32 » by **RedX** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:08 pm

Besdies all that I don't think Rondo resigns here. That was probably the biggest issue here.

Anyways, Kyle is the best we've had since Vince Carter so I couldn't be more thrilled.

Now they just need to hurry with this rebrand so I can buy the man's jersey.

Shimso · Post #33 » by **Shimso** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:15 pm

Ganjamayne wrote:I remember most of us wanted Rondo over Lowry at the time. How times have changed in just a year.

That probably included me. Back then, I wanted him off the team so we could tank. Now, he's my favourite player :lol:

Qhawe · Post #34 » by **Qhawe** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:22 pm

Rondo is an elite performer, proven triple double player in the playoffs. I don't understand why people on here are slighting him. I probably would still take him over Lowry, and I love Lowry.

6moomoo6 · Post #35 » by **6moomoo6** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:24 pm

BackseatBoss wrote:Imagine this team with no Lowry, Jonas and Bruno, just with Rondo instead... Yuck.

Rondo and DeRozan backcourt...the anti Splash Brothers lol.
Thank God for Dolan

FirstInkTDot · Post #36 » by **FirstInkTDot** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:25 pm

We should thank James Dolan for not doing this trade. Kyle Lowry is the reason why we have the heart and soul.

Kenyon009 · Post #37 » by **Kenyon009** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:30 pm

If got Hardaway Jr. and the Knicks 2018 first rounder I would have given up the first rounder (Bruno), Ross, and expirings for Rondo. At the time it wouldn't have been that bad but he's been playing either terrible or not at all the past few years. In hindsight glad we kept Lowry instead.

roundhead0 · Post #38 » by **roundhead0** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:52 pm

I really, really thought that the Celtics were going to move Rondo before the start of this season, and were going to sign Lowry to a big contract in FA.

Hue Durant · Post #39 » by **Hue Durant** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:56 pm

THANK YOU KNICKS FOR BEING SO ETERNALLY ****

Randle McMurphy · Post #40 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:58 pm

ATLTimekeeper wrote:The real question is why the **** were we interested in Rondo in February last year when we were already in a playoff spot with Lowry. It still makes me wonder if the Casey-Lowry relationship isn't all that tight. Anyway, another dodged bullet, Masai. Leave contract year Marc Gasol alone, too, please.

Gasol is an actual elite player and probably the best center in the NBA right now. Not quite comparable to acquiring the shell of Rajon Rondo.