Rajon Rondo Traded To The Mavericks.

[pac213up]

Spare me your revisionist bs, Sully. Jeff Green seized his opportunity after approximately after what 3 years of us waiting for him to seize it? Rondo gets 50 games coming off a major injury (and a broken knuckle) with a young team and young coach playing in a new system in a new role and you're like "he had his chance and he didn't seize it." Yo, give him a chance to fail, dude. He never got that chance, really. That's part of why this deal is so disappointing, he never got that chance. Jeff Green got 3 seasons and a new contract before he "seized his opportunity.' Rondo got 6 weeks, and about 10 games with Danny's big offseason acquisitions (Smart and Zeller).

I agree with this but I think this was a mutual parting of the ways. Ainge did not believe he was going to land a big fish anytime soon and Rondo saw the same thing. Rondo was gone, he was not going to wait around hoping some of these young guys turn into something other GM's want. The only thing Rondo not playing as well as we hoped affected was the selling price.

It was just time to move on to Plan B and both guys understood that.

[sully00]

Right.

Sully's making it seem like Rondo was both player and GM, as if Danny has no culpability here.

No way your going to get off on this that easy man. There is pages and pages on this forum about how the only reason Rondo didn't look like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose was because of Doc Rivers, or Ray Allen, or Paul Pierce. How he could do it he just didn't have the opportunity because of the roster. That once he got his shot we would all see how he could score and do it all and he would be an MVP candidate. This went on for years. Well 50 games into the Rajon Rondo Era none of what was promised showed up. That is the bottom line he was playing as bad a brand of basketball as he had in his whole career and he was getting photographed eating breakfast with Kobe Bryant before a game.

Now Rondo gets to go back to being the 4th option which will probably be great for him. But putting this on Danny Ainge is crazy, if Rondo had siezed the opportunity the same way Jeff Green has then he would probably still be wearing green and it would be about who want to come play here. But everyone can see what has been going on here. Marcu Smart is an inefficient mess but if he can stay on the floor for more than 10 mins in a game you see him impose his will and do it with the game on the line. With the game on the line Rondo needed a sub.

Spare me your revisionist bs, Sully. Jeff Green seized his opportunity after approximately after what 3 years of us waiting for him to seize it? Rondo gets 50 games coming off a major injury (and a broken knuckle) with a young team and young coach playing in a new system in a new role and you're like "he had his chance and he didn't seize it." Yo, give him a chance to fail, dude. He never got that chance, really. That's part of why this deal is so disappointing, he never got that chance. Jeff Green got 3 seasons and a new contract before he "seized his opportunity.' Rondo got 6 weeks, and about 10 games with Danny's big offseason acquisitions (Smart and Zeller).

Jeff Green started 19 games as a Celtic before last year, when he came back he was coming off of heart surgery. Since the All Star break in '13 he has essentially been a 17/5 SF who continues to get better. He is a good player not an All Star but a good player who has stepped up.

Rondo issues are his own. Always have been and always will be. It isn't Doc Rivers fault, it isn't Danny Ainge's fault, it isn't Ray Allen's fault and now it isn't Brad Steven's fault either. It was time for Rondo to step up and he got worse. How much longer is the team supposed to give him until he can walk away at the deadline. He was offered contract extensions he said no. They didn't draft Smart to play with him they drafted Smart to replace him and now he will get his opportunity.

[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.

This is a mistaken belief. Rondo was not drawing players here. Not one player has signed with the Celtics to play with Rondo. We have heard that certain players specifically don't want to play with him and Dwight Howard comes to mind. Rondo was the type of talent that other teams would like to draw to them assuming they didn't have a legit pg and had a potent scoring threat. Not a franchise talent that draws other players to him. Rondo's value and cache around the league was just extremely overrated.

For all the talk about Rondo being an All Star, so were Jameer Nelson, Devin Harris, Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, John Wall, and Mo Williams.

Boston now has a ton of picks and a nice trade exception to lure someone in without have to go offer sheet or clear the cap. Your not chasing veterans in search of a ring as much as guys looking for opportunity. Boston is in a position to add talent in waves, almost like a college team. When you say your building through the draft that is a challenge when it is one pick a year but when you can do it the way Ainge can now then your not living and dying on every selection.

Good teams get stars and talent from everywhere. It is time for the Boston Celtics to be a good team.

Not sure I agree that good teams get stars. KG joined our sorry squad because we had Pierce and we added Ray. LBJ and Bosh joined Wade. Howard went to Harden. LBJ went to Irving and Love. Melo went to Amare.

The common denominator is big names. There are exceptions for the scrappy starless teams. Houston managed to get in on Harden at just the right time - pre-RFA from a small-market team with 3 young guys already on the books for big extensions. Orlando got a great FA haul after Doc's COY campaign.

Without a tank, we're looking at adding mid- to low-level talent in waves, which is kind of what we've been doing for the last three years. Terry/Lee/Green/Bass/Sully/Fab, then Crawford/Brooks/Wallace/Hump/KO, then Smart/Young/Turner/Thornton/Zeller. The problem with this approach is it creates logjams of similarly talented mid-level players, logjams which make it hard for individuals to standout and don't really facilitate swaps for stars (apparently no one was interested in trading a star for any of the guys we've collected through this process).

We need to find someone we can build around.

[soxfan2003]

The Zeller trade was fantastic recently. Sullinger and Bradley were both great value picks. Smart is going to be a star and Young will end up being a steal at the spot he was drafted.

I mean, yeah. Signing Terry and making the S&T for Lee didn't work out, but they were hardly bad signings at the time. Rondo tore his ACL midway through the season, so we will never really know how that team would have done come playoff time. Maybe they would have made the ECF and pushed Miami again?

My question is, what do you want him to do? We are rebuilding. It's that simple. Obviously, Rondo's trade value was very low. Don't you think that if Ainge would have gotten a better offer, he would have pulled the trigger? It's clear he didn't want to pay Rondo what he wanted this summer, and given the fact that Rondo is 28 going on 29 and will be well into his 30s by time we are ready to win, can you blame him?

Rebuilds are ugly. No one likes them, but I think we need to give Ainge some time before we start throwing around terms like "failure."

I agree to a degree. Danny's great making small improvements around the margins. Zeller was good, the Crawford deal was good, the 2nd Lee deal pretty good, etc. He can make something out of nothing, sure. But have these deals moved the dial much?

The rebuild isn't a failure because it's on-going and we won't know until at least 2016 how well it's gone. I hope to hell it works out. What I'm saying is that between 2009 and 2014 Danny hasn't done much to improve the on-court quality of this team. Maybe the deals he did and assets he acquired during 2009-2014 start to pay dividends in 2015 and beyond but that five year period was pretty devoid of much "improvement"--it was more about squeezing what he could out of what he had already acquired in 2007-2008. Only Bradley and his run late in 2012 would qualify as a move that Danny made that actually improved the team (that short run by Shaq early in 2011 might qualify as well). Every other transaction he made in that time either had zero effect or made the team worse.

Shaq was a great gamble that almost paid off.

Unless he makes simply boneheaded moves that Ainge needs to be given until 2018 to judge the rebuild. We are only 100 games into it.

Father time made the Celtics worse. Ainge would have needed to draft Lebron James, Durant or perhaps Anthony Davis to keep this team competitive right now given the core he had in 2008 and how they aged/got injured.

SA kept their run going not just because they added Leonard/Splitter but because Parker > Rondo and Duncan aged much better than KG.

Lakers won championships in 2009 and 2010 and look at where they are right now in comparison to the Celtics. I would NOT trade the Celtics assets(picks and players) for the Lakers right now in a million years.

[BRUNiNHO91]

First of all, I hate this **** trade. I really do. I think the timing was off, value is putrid and we just lost a 4x All Star at 28 years old for nothing. Nothing at all. Just pure crap.

My biggest problem with this trade is: Why so early in the season? Three days into the December trade period we just traded our biggest player. We traded him for nothing. I understand trading Rondo, I understand the contract situation was never going to be agreed on and he was going to leave in free agency. But with 2 months left until the trade deadline why did we trade him so early? What's the benefit of trading him for first package that came along? Rondo has had an up and down season, Boston has had a difficult schedule and we could have given him 2 more months to improve and maybe raise his value a bit. Our schedule is so easy in the next few weeks, a few triple doubles, a few wins, a few 16 assist games added to the fact that teams like the Mavs or Houston could have gotten desperate and you're telling me we couldn't have got a slightly better offer? Was this pile of crap we got so appealing to Ainge that we traded Rondo 3 days after the trading period begun? I find it very hard to believe that even if Rondo sucked massively in the next two months that Dallas wouldn't have this same pile of **** on the table for him a couple hours before the deadline. There's just no way. No way. 20 games into the season we just never gave this dude a chance..anybody who thinks this trade was good, you can argue we got more value out of the Joel **** Anthony trade with Zeller and Thornton coming back. We traded Jordan Crawford this time of the year last year for a first round pick which is basically what we did yesterday with RAJON flipping Rondo. Again I understand the reason to trade, I understand everything. I just don't understand why we pulled the trigger so early. Sure if Sacto put McLemore on the table you take it right away..but what about this was so irresistable? Dallas pretty much opened their trash can, scooped up the remains of garbage in the end of the bin and offered it to us. If Dallas wins it this year and brings everybody back next year Boston could easily pick in the late 20's. With all 3 players we got being free agents and likely leaving, the best we got for Rondo was a 2016 pick in the late 20's and a 12 million TPE?

[humblebum]

The Rondo haters are in for a big dose of REALITY when they see just how effin good Rondo truly is down in Dallas now that he has LEGIT talent to play with. It's just like all the idiots who think Melo sucks because the Knicks stink. Please. Don't blame Rondo, blame Ainge for failing to get any other talent for Rondo to play with. Watch him light it the EFF UP down in Dallas. I'll be sitting at home on my couch laughing my ass off.

I honestly don't care one bit if Rondo plays like an MVP in Dallas and they win the next 3 championships because of it. Wish him all the best!

The Celtics are in a much better position to rebuild now that he's gone.

Like I said, Danny's entire plan is going NOWHERE unless those Brooklyn picks turn into Top 5 picks. If they don't, then have fun watching a team full of Sully's, KO's, Bradley's and Smart's top to bottom the next 8 years. We are not parlaying these average to very good players into any STARS and the only hope we have is we get a Top 5 pick and a true STAR falls into our lap in the draft. This nonsense that we will convince a stud free agent to sign here or we will be able to pull off another KG trade is hilarious to me. It's not happening. The only way we ever get back to serious contention is if we get STARS and we are only getting them in the draft. You need Top 5 picks for that to happen unless you get lucky and find the one draft every effin decade that produces Dirk Nowitzki at #9.

Must be awesome to be able to see into the future.

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

The Rondo haters are in for a big dose of REALITY when they see just how effin good Rondo truly is down in Dallas now that he has LEGIT talent to play with. It's just like all the idiots who think Melo sucks because the Knicks stink. Please. Don't blame Rondo, blame Ainge for failing to get any other talent for Rondo to play with. Watch him light it the EFF UP down in Dallas. I'll be sitting at home on my couch laughing my ass off.

I have read almost all of this thread and I don't recall people hating on Rondo? Anybody that has watched Rondo play the past 7 seasons knows how good he is. The fact is that Rondo is struggling badly this season on offense. His shot is off, and his FT are abysmal. That does not mean when people point that out they are hating him or saying he sucks.

As of the lack of talent: Love and Rondo was option #1. The dream was over the second the Cavs got the #1 pick. You can blame Ainge all you want about the lack of talent but the reality is this is exactly what happens when you rebuild.

Rebuilding takes times, the team make trades, get picks and hope you can get a stud in the draft. Decent players are simply not going to sign with a rebuilding team. You have to start over from the bottom. I know it sucks, and its not fun watching the team lose but that is the reality of a rebuild.

At this point I just don't know what people to expect. Maybe some posters on here have never been through a rebuild.

Never been thru a rebuild???????? I must have been hibernating from 1987 to 2008. We've spent easily 23-25 years of the last 30 rebuilding. How many years in the last 30 have we even had a serious contending team? Cmon man.....everyone here has been down this road before. It's tired and it's old. My problem isn't rebuilding it's the stupid way we are going about it. I'd rather TANK HARD like Philly. It only takes ONE HOME RUN PLAYER like a Lebron, A. Davis, Shaq, Duncan or Durant to get us back in the ffin game. You have to put yourself in position to even have a chance at those guy with a Top 3-5 pick. We aren't even getting in the game! It's pathetic. Ainge is so arrogant he thinks he can draft his way into contention with non-Top 5 picks. Please.

A) Philly tanked hard and got the 3rd pick.

B) Cavs barely missed the playoffs ended up with the first pick.

C)I agree. Problem is Lebron, Davis, Duncan Shaq and Durant are few and far between. You just listed 5 franchise changing players from the last 23 years of drafts.

D) Those sure fire franchise players people wanted to tank for are Wiggins who is averaging 12 PPG, Parker, who tore his ACL and Embiid who is out for the season.

Not sure what else to say. You're upset. I suggest you stop watching or following this team until the ping pong balls are pulled.

[KJandHondo35]

Seriously, those that are angered with the trade, think DA sold "low", or think the Mavs will be some radically better team needs to read the Lowe article that people have posted.

Think of a couple things. Since 2012, there was no "optimal" time to trade Rondo. Well, there was, but Rondo was at his house during that time, nursing a torn ACL. Those that think we waited too long, I just don't see any other choice. Couldn't trade him before the injury, you know when KG and PP were still on the team. Couldn't trade him last season when no other GM would pick up the phone because they too wanted to see what kind of player he was. Maybe in the offseason? But I highly doubt the deals would have been better. The best play was the off chance Rondo would be playoff Rondo for the last 20 games, motivated to get a max, and thus either give DA assurance to resign him or actually have the trade value everyone *thinks* Rondo is worth.

That didn't happen, the offense scored less with him on the court, he scored less than he's ever had, he was setting records for lowest FT% and his defense was hit or miss. The only glimmer of hope is the eye test did show some evidence that when he looked like he cared on the court really good things still happened. That was enough to actually bring a team to the table to give up some assets, and DA could move on.

Like we have literally (and I actually mean literally, this is not hyperbole) no idea what is going on behind the scenes. For everyone that says DA should have waited, well maybe Rondo explicitly told him he was gonna leave, we don't know. Maybe there was chemistry issues, maybe DA just wanted to go in a new direction, we don't have the slightest of clue.

Also, as for the Rondo Mavs. It is probably going to work well, they seemingly have every aspect of a Rondo team but just remember, the Mavs were already leading the league in Offensive efficiency, by 2 points per 100.

[pac213up]

I understand trading Rondo, I understand the contract situation was never going to be agreed on and he was going to leave in free agency. But with 2 months left until the trade deadline why did we trade him so early? What's the benefit of trading him for first package that came along?

I do not think it was the first package that came along. Rondo most likely gave Ainge a handful of teams to work with and Ainge got offers from those teams. The selling price may have gone up slightly if Rondo played better but I think Ainge probably saw more value in having some additional flexibility at the deadline.

[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.

This is a mistaken belief. Rondo was not drawing players here. Not one player has signed with the Celtics to play with Rondo. We have heard that certain players specifically don't want to play with him and Dwight Howard comes to mind. Rondo was the type of talent that other teams would like to draw to them assuming they didn't have a legit pg and had a potent scoring threat. Not a franchise talent that draws other players to him. Rondo's value and cache around the league was just extremely overrated.

For all the talk about Rondo being an All Star, so were Jameer Nelson, Devin Harris, Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, John Wall, and Mo Williams.

Boston now has a ton of picks and a nice trade exception to lure someone in without have to go offer sheet or clear the cap. Your not chasing veterans in search of a ring as much as guys looking for opportunity. Boston is in a position to add talent in waves, almost like a college team. When you say your building through the draft that is a challenge when it is one pick a year but when you can do it the way Ainge can now then your not living and dying on every selection.

Good teams get stars and talent from everywhere. It is time for the Boston Celtics to be a good team.

Not sure I agree that good teams get stars. KG joined our sorry squad because we had Pierce and we added Ray. LBJ and Bosh joined Wade. Howard went to Harden. LBJ went to Irving and Love. Melo went to Amare.

The common denominator is big names. There are exceptions for the scrappy starless teams. Houston managed to get in on Harden at just the right time - pre-RFA from a small-market team with 3 young guys already on the books for big extensions. Orlando got a great FA haul after Doc's COY campaign.

Without a tank, we're looking at adding mid- to low-level talent in waves, which is kind of what we've been doing for the last three years. Terry/Lee/Green/Bass/Sully/Fab, then Crawford/Brooks/Wallace/Hump/KO, then Smart/Young/Turner/Thornton/Zeller. The problem with this approach is it creates logjams of similarly talented mid-level players, logjams which make it hard for individuals to standout and don't really facilitate swaps for stars (apparently no one was interested in trading a star for any of the guys we've collected through this process).

We need to find someone we can build around.

Could there be anything more obvious than that?

The Celtics have finally decided that Rondo isn't that guy. So that was the first step.

[Slartibartfast]

I have read almost all of this thread and I don't recall people hating on Rondo? Anybody that has watched Rondo play the past 7 seasons knows how good he is. The fact is that Rondo is struggling badly this season on offense. His shot is off, and his FT are abysmal. That does not mean when people point that out they are hating him or saying he sucks.

As of the lack of talent: Love and Rondo was option #1. The dream was over the second the Cavs got the #1 pick. You can blame Ainge all you want about the lack of talent but the reality is this is exactly what happens when you rebuild.

Rebuilding takes times, the team make trades, get picks and hope you can get a stud in the draft. Decent players are simply not going to sign with a rebuilding team. You have to start over from the bottom. I know it sucks, and its not fun watching the team lose but that is the reality of a rebuild.

At this point I just don't know what people to expect. Maybe some posters on here have never been through a rebuild.

Never been thru a rebuild???????? I must have been hibernating from 1987 to 2008. We've spent easily 23-25 years of the last 30 rebuilding. How many years in the last 30 have we even had a serious contending team? Cmon man.....everyone here has been down this road before. It's tired and it's old. My problem isn't rebuilding it's the stupid way we are going about it. I'd rather TANK HARD like Philly. It only takes ONE HOME RUN PLAYER like a Lebron, A. Davis, Shaq, Duncan or Durant to get us back in the ffin game. You have to put yourself in position to even have a chance at those guy with a Top 3-5 pick. We aren't even getting in the game! It's pathetic. Ainge is so arrogant he thinks he can draft his way into contention with non-Top 5 picks. Please.

A) Philly tanked hard and got the 3rd pick.

B) Cavs barely missed the playoffs ended up with the first pick.

C)I agree. Problem is Lebron, Davis, Duncan Shaq and Durant are few and far between. You just listed 5 franchise changing players from the last 23 years of drafts.

D) Those sure fire franchise players people wanted to tank for are Wiggins who is averaging 12 PPG, wiggins, who tore his ACL and Embiid who is out for the season.

Not sure what else to say. You're upset. I suggest you stop watching or following this team until the ping pong balls are drafted

I was anti-tank when Rondo was here because I thought we could attract a star in trade or free agency. But now that we're on the free agent/star non-destination list, I don't see the appeal of scrapping to 30+ wins.

Especially this draft coming up - we've got a massive hole in the middle and there are a lot of great big prospects at the top of this draft. Towns, Okafor, Turner and Porzingis are all very appealing.

I hate tanking, but I don't see a better way right now.

[Slartibartfast]

This is a mistaken belief. Rondo was not drawing players here. Not one player has signed with the Celtics to play with Rondo. We have heard that certain players specifically don't want to play with him and Dwight Howard comes to mind. Rondo was the type of talent that other teams would like to draw to them assuming they didn't have a legit pg and had a potent scoring threat. Not a franchise talent that draws other players to him. Rondo's value and cache around the league was just extremely overrated.

For all the talk about Rondo being an All Star, so were Jameer Nelson, Devin Harris, Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, John Wall, and Mo Williams.

Boston now has a ton of picks and a nice trade exception to lure someone in without have to go offer sheet or clear the cap. Your not chasing veterans in search of a ring as much as guys looking for opportunity. Boston is in a position to add talent in waves, almost like a college team. When you say your building through the draft that is a challenge when it is one pick a year but when you can do it the way Ainge can now then your not living and dying on every selection.

Good teams get stars and talent from everywhere. It is time for the Boston Celtics to be a good team.

Not sure I agree that good teams get stars. KG joined our sorry squad because we had Pierce and we added Ray. LBJ and Bosh joined Wade. Howard went to Harden. LBJ went to Irving and Love. Melo went to Amare.

The common denominator is big names. There are exceptions for the scrappy starless teams. Houston managed to get in on Harden at just the right time - pre-RFA from a small-market team with 3 young guys already on the books for big extensions. Orlando got a great FA haul after Doc's COY campaign.

Without a tank, we're looking at adding mid- to low-level talent in waves, which is kind of what we've been doing for the last three years. Terry/Lee/Green/Bass/Sully/Fab, then Crawford/Brooks/Wallace/Hump/KO, then Smart/Young/Turner/Thornton/Zeller. The problem with this approach is it creates logjams of similarly talented mid-level players, logjams which make it hard for individuals to standout and don't really facilitate swaps for stars (apparently no one was interested in trading a star for any of the guys we've collected through this process).

We need to find someone we can build around.

Could there be anything more obvious than that?

The Celtics have finally decided that Rondo isn't that guy. So that was the first step.

And the second step is getting one of the bigs in the top 5 of this draft.

[sully00]

Not sure I agree that good teams get stars. KG joined our sorry squad because we had Pierce and we added Ray. LBJ and Bosh joined Wade. Howard went to Harden. LBJ went to Irving and Love. Melo went to Amare.

The common denominator is big names. There are exceptions for the scrappy starless teams. Houston managed to get in on Harden at just the right time - pre-RFA from a small-market team with 3 young guys already on the books for big extensions. Orlando got a great FA haul after Doc's COY campaign.

Without a tank, we're looking at adding mid- to low-level talent in waves, which is kind of what we've been doing for the last three years. Terry/Lee/Green/Bass/Sully/Fab, then Crawford/Brooks/Wallace/Hump/KO, then Smart/Young/Turner/Thornton/Zeller. The problem with this approach is it creates logjams of similarly talented mid-level players, logjams which make it hard for individuals to standout and don't really facilitate swaps for stars (apparently no one was interested in trading a star for any of the guys we've collected through this process).

We need to find someone we can build around.

KG came to Boston because Paul and Ray were here but mostly because he needed to leave where he was. The Heat won 47 games the year before Lebron went there. Sure playing with Wade and Bosh was part of it but in hindsight he is acting as if that is a mistake. CLE didn't really have anything when he went back except young talent Love came after.

Anthony and Amare is exactly what Ainge should be avoiding they were losers before they got them and still are losers now. There is no environment or culture they are just guys with huge pay checks and stat lines.

HOU, GS, PORT, MEM, IND that is what Ainge has to be looking at. These are his own words prior to the trade:

“My job is to look at all the different ways and path ways to be a championship team,” said Ainge. “This is the time of year where there’s a lot of talking and calling going on. Part of my job is to explore our way to the next championship.
“Everybody wants a star first, but in lieu of getting a star — because there are very few of those for the 30 teams — the next option is draft picks, which you hope to find the next star in the draft. You need swings of the bat, so that would be next,” explained Ainge. “The next thing would be good, solid players – guys who could play a role on the team.
“I think Celtics fans want to see good team basketball and winning basketball,” said Ainge. “We need to start moving in that direction. I don’t know if stars are required. It’s assumed in the NBA that stars are needed, and that’s true, but there have been some successful teams without a star. But I have every intention of finding stars; great players who have a positive effect on winning.
“Not stars who people want to watch, but stars who help with winning basketball,” he said.

[BRUNiNHO91]

I understand trading Rondo, I understand the contract situation was never going to be agreed on and he was going to leave in free agency. But with 2 months left until the trade deadline why did we trade him so early? What's the benefit of trading him for first package that came along?

I do not think it was the first package that came along. Rondo most likely gave Ainge a handful of teams to work with and Ainge got offers from those teams. The selling price may have gone up slightly if Rondo played better but I think Ainge probably saw more value in having some additional flexibility at the deadline.

It could be. I'm not asking for Ainge's head yet because I want to wait to see what he does with this roster in the next two months. But I see this trade as a bad trade so far. Unless he does something more to help his case out. I'll wait until the TPE expires. If when that happens we get nothing decent to show for this trade but a pick in the late 20's I'll have no faith in the guy. Lord knows I'm one of the biggest 'In Danny we trust' guys on this board, but this trade I don't get. Has he said anything about the trade yet btw? Curious to hear him speak on it.

[Parliament10]

Never been thru a rebuild???????? I must have been hibernating from 1987 to 2008. We've spent easily 23-25 years of the last 30 rebuilding. How many years in the last 30 have we even had a serious contending team? Cmon man.....everyone here has been down this road before. It's tired and it's old. My problem isn't rebuilding it's the stupid way we are going about it. I'd rather TANK HARD like Philly. It only takes ONE HOME RUN PLAYER like a Lebron, A. Davis, Shaq, Duncan or Durant to get us back in the ffin game. You have to put yourself in position to even have a chance at those guy with a Top 3-5 pick. We aren't even getting in the game! It's pathetic. Ainge is so arrogant he thinks he can draft his way into contention with non-Top 5 picks. Please.

A) Philly tanked hard and got the 3rd pick.

B) Cavs barely missed the playoffs ended up with the first pick.

C)I agree. Problem is Lebron, Davis, Duncan Shaq and Durant are few and far between. You just listed 5 franchise changing players from the last 23 years of drafts.

D) Those sure fire franchise players people wanted to tank for are Wiggins who is averaging 12 PPG, wiggins, who tore his ACL and Embiid who is out for the season.

Not sure what else to say. You're upset. I suggest you stop watching or following this team until the ping pong balls are drafted

I was anti-tank when Rondo was here because I thought we could attract a star in trade or free agency. But now that we're on the free agent/star non-destination list, I don't see the appeal of scrapping to 30+ wins.

Especially this draft coming up - we've got a massive hole in the middle and there are a lot of great big prospects at the top of this draft. Towns, Okafor, Turner and Porzingis are all very appealing.

I hate tanking, but I don't see a better way right now.

I don't necessarily think that we have to do a direct tanking. We have at least 6, 1st rounders in the next two Drafts. I don't even know how many 2nds.

But more importantly, we have that big $12.9 Million TPE now. Danny is setting us up nice.
When the pieces finally fall into place, it's gonna look grand.

[ThirtyFour]

I wonder what will happen to Rondo's value at the end of the year if the Mavs play worse with him. I realize it's unlikely, but they are playing at a pretty high level right now, sometimes chemistry can get ruined with a trade. Also, Rondo has never played for another team, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts. I have a feeling he was very well catered to by Ainge and co even when things weren't going well. Will the Mavs treat him the same way? Especially if he isn't a fit? Then who picks him up at the end of the year and for how much?

[SMTBSI]

But more importantly, we have that big $12.9 Million TPE now. Danny is setting us up nice.
When the pieces finally fall into place, it's gonna look grand.

It should definitely be remembered that, just like with the Pierce/KG trade, we don't yet know the full return of the Rondo trade. It feels weak now, but it's not really done.

If Wright goes out in a deal that nets us another 1st, and Danny uses this TPE as effectively as he used the Pierce TPE (netting us another 1st and a prospect), then the picture may have changed a bit.

[KJandHondo35]

I understand trading Rondo, I understand the contract situation was never going to be agreed on and he was going to leave in free agency. But with 2 months left until the trade deadline why did we trade him so early? What's the benefit of trading him for first package that came along?

I do not think it was the first package that came along. Rondo most likely gave Ainge a handful of teams to work with and Ainge got offers from those teams. The selling price may have gone up slightly if Rondo played better but I think Ainge probably saw more value in having some additional flexibility at the deadline.

This.

Flexibility is a real thing, you move Rondo now, the players you just got can be also be moved by February. Also, I heard this on the Grantland show last night, but DA has been listening to deals on Rondo for about 3 years, so I think he has a fairly concrete idea of exactly what Rondo's value is, and I doubt that is going to drastically change with 10 or so more basketball games. Frankly it is just as likely to disappear completely as it is likely to improve. That is to say, it doesn't matter what you think Rondo should get in a trade, be it Jrue, McLemore, Asik, Beverly, 2 firsts, or what have you. Rondo is worth some expiring’s with okay value and a protected 1st. It is what it is.
¯\_ _/¯

[Parliament10]

I'll tell ya. -- If we could somehow get Joel Embiid, I'd be happy.

I don't really see too many long-term choices, in the current market. -- I think that we have to go young, all the way. And thereby set ourselves up for a decade thereafter.

I don't think that Danny is going to go for a High-Priced star, at this point. -- By all looks of things, seems like he's going to invest, long-term.

[pac213up]

It could be. I'm not asking for Ainge's head yet because I want to wait to see what he does with this roster in the next two months. But I see this trade as a bad trade so far. Unless he does something more to help his case out. I'll wait until the TPE expires. If when that happens we get nothing decent to show for this trade but a pick in the late 20's I'll have no faith in the guy. Lord knows I'm one of the biggest 'In Danny we trust' guys on this board, but this trade I don't get. Has he said anything about the trade yet btw? Curious to hear him speak on it.

We'll know within the next 1 1/2 - 2 years if Ainge is the real deal or not. He is working with a ton of picks, some OK base talent, and cap space.