Rajon Rondo Traded To The Mavericks.

[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/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.

I hope so.

[ryaningf]

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

This trade is very much like the first Antoine deal where Ainge made the decision to trade Antoine before the deal even came under discussion. Deciding to trade a guy without the deal already in place means you've already decided that addition by subtraction potential is one of the advantageous elements of the trade for you, so in essence you've already weakened your bargaining power internally and are ready/willing to take back less than what you might have under a different mindset. If you remember back to the last time the Mavs approached Boston about Rondo, Danny's response was "sure, I'll trade you Rondo. For Dirk." Now he happily takes Wright and a conditional first.

Danny did telegraph this and between that and a limited market not much was coming back. Hell, Tommy on halftime during Monday's game with Kyle Draper basically admitted it, responding to a question from Kyle about whether Melo was a trade target to keep the iron hot and convince Rondo to stay and Tommy's like "the fire's dead" and laughed. Yup, the fire was dead. Danny moved on, got what he could and turned the page.

Danny's got brass balls and he's not afraid to make tough deals and that's one of his strongest strengths as a GM. That said, he over and under played his hand on this one. Overplayed it by expecting deals to get better, and underplayed it by deciding in mid-December that he'd seen enough. 6 weeks in a new system with a new role mostly without Marcus Smart wasn't enough evaluation time IMO. The ballsy move would have been sticking to his guns and letting Rondo figure it out over an entire season and then taking the data from that season to negotiate with and hey if Rondo finds a better deal then that's fine. What we received in return for him now wasn't enough (expiring contracts and picks) to warrant punting on the chance that Rondo grows into his role and the Cs overachieve and hey maybe the market dries up for him or you can convince him to stay for less than his market value.

[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/Wallace
Bradley/Thornton/Young
Nelson/Smart/Pressey

completely forgot about Nelson and Crowder,ha

lol I forgot Crowder too! Just went back and added him in. He should definitely get some burn.

[Datruth345]

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

This trade is very much like the first Antoine deal where Ainge made the decision to trade Antoine before the deal even came under discussion. Deciding to trade a guy without the deal already in place means you've already decided that addition by subtraction potential is one of the advantageous elements of the trade for you, so in essence you've already weakened your bargaining power internally and are ready/willing to take back less than what you might have under a different mindset. If you remember back to the last time the Mavs approached Boston about Rondo, Danny's response was "sure, I'll trade you Rondo. For Dirk." Now he happily takes Wright and a conditional first.

Danny did telegraph this and between that and a limited market not much was coming back..

i definitely agree with this line of thinking

[humblebum]

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

This trade is very much like the first Antoine deal where Ainge made the decision to trade Antoine before the deal even came under discussion. Deciding to trade a guy without the deal already in place means you've already decided that addition by subtraction potential is one of the advantageous elements of the trade for you, so in essence you've already weakened your bargaining power internally and are ready/willing to take back less than what you might have under a different mindset. If you remember back to the last time the Mavs approached Boston about Rondo, Danny's response was "sure, I'll trade you Rondo. For Dirk." Now he happily takes Wright and a conditional first.

Danny did telegraph this and between that and a limited market not much was coming back. Hell, Tommy on halftime during Monday's game with Kyle Draper basically admitted it, responding to a question from Kyle about whether Melo was a trade target to keep the iron hot and convince Rondo to stay and Tommy's like "the fire's dead" and laughed. Yup, the fire was dead. Danny moved on, got what he could and turned the page.

Danny's got brass balls and he's not afraid to make tough deals and that's one of his strongest strengths as a GM. That said, he over and under played his hand on this one. Overplayed it by expecting deals to get better, and underplayed it by deciding in mid-December that he'd seen enough. 6 weeks in a new system with a new role mostly without Marcus Smart wasn't enough evaluation time IMO. The ballsy move would have been sticking to his guns and letting Rondo figure it out over an entire season and then taking the data from that season to negotiate with and hey if Rondo finds a better deal then that's fine. What we received in return for him now wasn't enough (expiring contracts and picks) to warrant punting on the chance that Rondo grows into his role and the Cs overachieve and hey maybe the market dries up for him or you can convince him to stay for less than his market value.

Not sure if keeping Rondo to watch him walk for nothing would've been ballsy as much as just plain dumb.

Rondo's game is far from a mystery and I don't think he was traded because he was shooting poorly from the field and the line. He was traded because Ainge knew for one reason or another, Rondo wasn't going to stay in Boston.

Most likely it's based highly on feedback from Stevens who just doesn't strike me as a guy who'd be in love with Rondo's game or inconsistent compete level.

I also think with Stevens being an advanced metric/stats guy that there is a decent chance he really wanted to add Brandan Wright to this team. Sure he's a 18-20 MPG guy and he's expiring but he's very, very efficient in his role. He also adds a much needed element of length and athleticism along the frontline.

IMO, this trade just gives the Celtics more flexibility and reduces the potential for a nasty situation developing in the lockerroom. This trade has Stevens influence written on it... or at least Ainge was considering how the Rondo situation would play out and didn't want to subject his young coach to a situation that he couldn't handle. Losing Rondo is one thing... losing the lockerroom is another thing entirely.

Seems like the basketball people felt it was time to move on from Rondo. And with that in mind I don't think this was poor value for Rondo.

[jbs]

Zach Lowe has written a good and thorough article about the trade: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/rajon ... mavericks/

Some points:
- I'm sad to see Rondo go, the guy is a fierce competitor and an unique genius, but the time had come for him to go.
- The Celtics only get the Dallas' 1st round pick this year if it falls between 4 and 14. They will most certainly get it next year (when it is top 7 protected). It could become pretty good.
- The Celtics get a huge 12.9 m. trade exception See here: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/celti ... ndo-trade/
- With this trade the Celtics have 9 first round picks in the next 4 drafts. This must be some kind of a record!

[pac213up]

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

I think this was Plan B all along and both Ainge and Rondo knew it. This had nothing to do with Stevens or locker room issues. They were unable to execute Plan A of bringing in other talent. Rondo was only going to 2 or 3 teams so the offers were not going to improve. Make the deal now to have more flexibility at the trade deadline and open up PT for Smart at the point. I do not think there really is much else to it.

[ConnorHenry]

I'm absolutely gutted. Ainge's **** after we lost in 7 to the Heat in 2012 were bad enough but this just adds to the failure.

I'm quite disgusted with the way Rondo was treated after turning into an elite NBA player in 2009-2010. Here was a man who hustled, played great defence the majority of the time, shared the ball even if he had teammate beef, and played through some serious damn **** injuries. Yet Ainge did nothing but shop him with this ridiculous belief that we could somehow get something good out of him.

Rondo probably was demanding the max come next off-season, and I think we can blame Ainge a fair bit for this. If Rondo was as loved by Ainge and his staff as he was by the majority of Celtics fans, he's taking a deal friendlier for the team.

Yes, Rondo was a flawed player who sadly never worked out how to score at will like he could in playoff games on a consistent basis. But he was a guy who can make any teammate look better, could help you out on the boards and if we were to get back into the playoffs soon again you bet he would've lifted his game to another level again.

This trade is nothing but another stupid move from Danny who clearly already has **** up the rebuild, and thanks to him I don't see Boston getting near contender status for at least another five years.

Our young talent is nothing to get excited about either. Smart will probably be a very good player, but will he be as good as Rondo? I'd be stunned. Olynyk is what he is. He's not suddenly going to turn into a rim protecting battle ready center like we all want him to. Sullinger is probably our best young player, who we should definitely look to build an offence around but even still I'm not convinced he can be a go to guy going forward. Avery Bradley is what he is, and the fact that we kept him before Rondo angers me an insane amount.

As if this team wasn't painful enough already. Literally the only guy who added any excitement to our games this year is gone and we've got little in return.

There's just no way I can defend this trade.

Jameer **** Nelson, Brandon **** Wright and Jae Crowder. Are you **** kidding me?

And don't even get all excited about the picks tanking enthusiasts. Like Dallas are even going to sniff the lottery at the present moment.

This is as low as it gets. What a **** day to be a Celtic fan.

What are you talking about? DA is a genius! A mastermind! Not only the greatest GM in the NBA today but in all sports ever!

He has been masterful since 2009, making no mistakes whatsoever. Rondo is worthless and Dallas is stupid for thinking he'll actually be useful.

It's way better to have tons of draft picks. I wish we could trade away every player on the roster now for draft picks and then we'd automatically tank and get the most lottery balls because we'd have to forfeit every game.

I think the writing's on the wall with Coach Stevens though and DA better get busy trying to trade him for assets while he still can. Might be able to get a low 1st rounder or a couple of 2nd rounders for Stevens right now.

[humblebum]

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

I think this was Plan B all along and both Ainge and Rondo knew it. This had nothing to do with Stevens or lockroom issues. They were unable to execute Plan A of bringing in other talent. Rondo was only going to 2 or 3 teams so the offers were not going to improve. Make the deal now to have more flexibility at the trade deadline and open up PT for Smart at the point. I do not think there really is much else to it.

Quite possibly true as well.

[RoyaleWithSteez]

This feels like the day after a bad break-up.

Sure...it's probably for the best, but you still can't help feeling "did that really just happen?".

#9 hasn't been the same since that ACL injury, but man...no trace of that 2008 team makes me sad. Play-off Rondo and National TV Rondo is going to be a west-coast thing now. I like to think Danny did him a favor.

Still **** sucks though.

[ryaningf]

Not sure if keeping Rondo to watch him walk for nothing would've been ballsy as much as just plain dumb.

You used to fine with allowing him to get to free agency and risking him walking away for nothing and now it's dumb? What changed?

Rondo's game is far from a mystery and I don't think he was traded because he was shooting poorly from the field and the line. He was traded because Ainge knew for one reason or another, Rondo wasn't going to stay in Boston.

Most likely it's based highly on feedback from Stevens who just doesn't strike me as a guy who'd be in love with Rondo's game or inconsistent compete level.

I also think with Stevens being an advanced metric/stats guy that there is a decent chance he really wanted to add Brandan Wright to this team. Sure he's a 18-20 MPG guy and he's expiring but he's very, very efficient in his role. He also adds a much needed element of length and athleticism along the frontline.

IMO, this trade just gives the Celtics more flexibility and reduces the potential for a nasty situation developing in the lockerroom. This trade has Stevens influence written on it... or at least Ainge was considering how the Rondo situation would play out and didn't want to subject his young coach to a situation that he couldn't handle. Losing Rondo is one thing... losing the lockerroom is another thing entirely.

Seems like the basketball people felt it was time to move on from Rondo. And with that in mind I don't think this was poor value for Rondo.

I can see what you're trying to say and I still have faith in Brad and I think the team will continue to compete and will probably make the playoffs even without Rondo but I don't think there was any risk of losing the locker room. Rondo capitulated; he grew; he was Brad's right hand man in many ways and he was getting better and better at maintaining pace and doing what Brad wanted. I still think they could have forged a lasting partnership but weren't given the necessary on court time to see that thru. Losing Ron Adams hurt, and I think Brad should have put a ton more emphasis on getting Rondo to shoot the fricking ball more. I don't think he made that case enough; and it was the key to getting what he wanted out of Rondo.

Brandan Wright is NICE. He's EXACTLY the kind of guy they never could pair with Rondo, somebody to protect the rim on defense and rim roll on offense. I think he fits a need and that he'll play well--but I'm not excited about having to pay him this summer (in excess of 8-10 million annually I'd assume), nor do I think we have the ball handlers or passers to make best use of him (Evan Turner is probably our best bet to get him high percentage looks). Honestly, it's probably best we flip him before the deadline because he's going to get overpaid and we're likely to find a better center in the draft.

Crowder is someone I've liked in the past. He defends and plays hard and is intelligent. Nelson is a bum; I hope he goes and goes fast. Losing Powell as a throw in to make the #s work (roster wise) was sand in the face after the kick in the gnads that was the Rondo trade. The picks are more likely to be Fab Melos than Jimmy Butlers. All in all, losing Rondo for nothing would have been more preferable because at least then we know we tried and failed instead of giving up. I hate to give up. We gave up and we telegraphed it to boot. Danny is very smart in many ways but he's never read the Art of War.

[pac213up]

I like to think Danny did him a favor.

I think it was definitely a win-win.

[DarkAzcura]

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.

I hope so.

Nelson may start until Smart is 110% healthy, but Stevens has the clearest man crush on Smart, lol. He'll start.

[Darth Celtic]

Rondo was my favorite player after PP left. In fact, the last 2 years he was here I liked watching Rondo more than Paul. You tend to get attached to the guys you are used to sticking up for and cheering when they make amazing happen. My wife cried when we traded Walker. WALKER!

I wanted 2 firsts and expirings for him, but we got 1. It still helps as wright might be worth something to a playoff team needing defense from a big. Maybe 2 2nds and wright for protected first? Iduno. In the end, we all knew when we picked smart at 6, rondo was leaving. Either free agency as we wouldn't pay him what he wants, or via trade as we wanted something in return. I'm glad it is the latter.

I wish Rondo well, he will kill it on that team. For pick purposes, I wish he leaves in the offseason for another team. I'll cheer for him, he's on my fantasy team. But I'm very happy to get the Maacus Smaaat Age to begin in Boston and see what this young team can do.

[KamikazeK]

Honestly I don't even want nelson on our team. If he's the starter then I'll be really annoyed.

[Marley2Hendrix]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/rajon ... mavericks/

good stuff.

[ryaningf]

I'm absolutely gutted. Ainge's **** after we lost in 7 to the Heat in 2012 were bad enough but this just adds to the failure.

I'm quite disgusted with the way Rondo was treated after turning into an elite NBA player in 2009-2010. Here was a man who hustled, played great defence the majority of the time, shared the ball even if he had teammate beef, and played through some serious damn **** injuries. Yet Ainge did nothing but shop him with this ridiculous belief that we could somehow get something good out of him.

Rondo probably was demanding the max come next off-season, and I think we can blame Ainge a fair bit for this. If Rondo was as loved by Ainge and his staff as he was by the majority of Celtics fans, he's taking a deal friendlier for the team.

Yes, Rondo was a flawed player who sadly never worked out how to score at will like he could in playoff games on a consistent basis. But he was a guy who can make any teammate look better, could help you out on the boards and if we were to get back into the playoffs soon again you bet he would've lifted his game to another level again.

This trade is nothing but another stupid move from Danny who clearly already has **** up the rebuild, and thanks to him I don't see Boston getting near contender status for at least another five years.

Our young talent is nothing to get excited about either. Smart will probably be a very good player, but will he be as good as Rondo? I'd be stunned. Olynyk is what he is. He's not suddenly going to turn into a rim protecting battle ready center like we all want him to. Sullinger is probably our best young player, who we should definitely look to build an offence around but even still I'm not convinced he can be a go to guy going forward. Avery Bradley is what he is, and the fact that we kept him before Rondo angers me an insane amount.

As if this team wasn't painful enough already. Literally the only guy who added any excitement to our games this year is gone and we've got little in return.

There's just no way I can defend this trade.

Jameer **** Nelson, Brandon **** Wright and Jae Crowder. Are you **** kidding me?

And don't even get all excited about the picks tanking enthusiasts. Like Dallas are even going to sniff the lottery at the present moment.

This is as low as it gets. What a **** day to be a Celtic fan.

Well-stated.

A long term perspective is order here. This team is 176-175 since Xmas 2009. That's 5 years of .500. Danny's had numerous opportunities to improve the team, either via free agency, trades, or the draft, and for the most part he's swung and MISSED. Now he's taking his greatest hit and liquidated it for peanuts, for basically 2 more at-bats, all the while spinning it as inevitable, all the while wringing his hands and saying "hey, I tried". But it was only inevitable because of all the mistakes he made to lead up to this point.

I mean, look at it this way. We might have some cap room this summer. GREAT. We never have cap room. And do you know who we could sign? Jimmy Butler, Deandre Jordan, and Draymond Green are names to come to mind, you the guys WE COULD HAVE DRAFTED instead of Jujuan Johnson, JR Giddens, and Fab Melo. Ah, the ultimate irony, after years of poor drafting and poor signings, we're forced to pawn off our best asset for almost nothing, creating cap space so we could go out and overpay the same guys we could have drafted in the first place and prevented the necessity of this trade in the first place. Oh, irony, you dumb bitch.

I like Danny. He was my favorite player. I remember when he was traded. It was 4th grade and I couldn't believe we'd just traded a good player for two okay players. Even then I knew it's a bad trade when you're the team trading the best player in the trade.

[coach mang]

Apparently. Not asking you to memorize my takes here, but I have been explaining in full detail every aspect of why this was likely going to happen for months now. It comes to pass nearly exactly like what I said, for the exact reasons I put forth, and you are like, "Well, that's not *really* being right."

Tell yourself whatever you want. I nailed this to the wall, and the only part that sort of surprises me is that Ainge didn't at least hold on for a possible shot at adding Gasol with a sign-and-trade to LA as a backup plan.

Whatever... my hope now is to continue the liquidation process and go for a top 5 pick this summer.

Enjoy the smug, condescending victory lap. We can disagree without you making it personal. Don't do it again.

You deserve credit for getting it right but that doesn't mean it was inevitable.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums mobile app

Thanks, I will.

Just as I enjoyed letting people know that Al Jefferson and crap for KG was a great trade, and that we completely ripped off the Nets for a trio of washed-up players.

HAHAHAHA yeahhhhhhhhh.....

da twice told tale twas written in tiny type on da tigers tangled tale yeahhhhhh it told da tale dat we know so swell yeahhhhhhh get out yo MANGnifying looking glass (patent pending) and ye shall read,

"nanny nanny boo boo

ye's can smell me doo doo"

it smelled of tongue tacos and da pacific ocean

it smelled of sleeve tats and astroglyde motion

yeahhhhhhhhh

1/2

wanna cookie? yeahhhhhhh

at least ainge do right by his guys and puts them in big markets and/or good owners. rondo is iconoclast and he go to a bad boy franchise called da mavericks dat is nice fit. it already been said but rondo going to LA or NYC would have been sooooo much worse

ain't looked at da wright thread yet but mang and vontIgro see him as late bloomer big man. He ain't getting traded at deadline. He is gonna get full season look to see if he is keeper. in a month he will be starting ahead of zeller or at least finishing games. mang seen somewhere wright described as mid to late career marcus camby w/out da jumper and mang will take dat and b less disappointed about da way this went down

to all u critters saying u jumping off da KKELTIC SHIP what makes u think u ever was on it? we don't abide by dat. u can never come back agane no no.... for kalifes only yeahhhhhhhh no come back no mo nooooooo.....

KKELTIC PRIDE SHALL NEVAH DIE

JUST MULTIPLY

YEAAHHHHHHHH

[sully00]

Who cares what Smart, Sully and KO are worth this year - the quick rebuild is off the table, and more picks aren't incoming.

I hate tanking, but trading your best player for crap but still pursuing the 8th seed is madness. Green's gotta go.

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.

[Valid]

Not sure if keeping Rondo to watch him walk for nothing would've been ballsy as much as just plain dumb.

You used to fine with allowing him to get to free agency and risking him walking away for nothing and now it's dumb? What changed?

Rondo's game is far from a mystery and I don't think he was traded because he was shooting poorly from the field and the line. He was traded because Ainge knew for one reason or another, Rondo wasn't going to stay in Boston.

Most likely it's based highly on feedback from Stevens who just doesn't strike me as a guy who'd be in love with Rondo's game or inconsistent compete level.

I also think with Stevens being an advanced metric/stats guy that there is a decent chance he really wanted to add Brandan Wright to this team. Sure he's a 18-20 MPG guy and he's expiring but he's very, very efficient in his role. He also adds a much needed element of length and athleticism along the frontline.

IMO, this trade just gives the Celtics more flexibility and reduces the potential for a nasty situation developing in the lockerroom. This trade has Stevens influence written on it... or at least Ainge was considering how the Rondo situation would play out and didn't want to subject his young coach to a situation that he couldn't handle. Losing Rondo is one thing... losing the lockerroom is another thing entirely.

Seems like the basketball people felt it was time to move on from Rondo. And with that in mind I don't think this was poor value for Rondo.

I can see what you're trying to say and I still have faith in Brad and I think the team will continue to compete and will probably make the playoffs even without Rondo but I don't think there was any risk of losing the locker room. Rondo capitulated; he grew; he was Brad's right hand man in many ways and he was getting better and better at maintaining pace and doing what Brad wanted. I still think they could have forged a lasting partnership but weren't given the necessary on court time to see that thru. Losing Ron Adams hurt, and I think Brad should have put a ton more emphasis on getting Rondo to shoot the fricking ball more. I don't think he made that case enough; and it was the key to getting what he wanted out of Rondo.

Brandan Wright is NICE. He's EXACTLY the kind of guy they never could pair with Rondo, somebody to protect the rim on defense and rim roll on offense. I think he fits a need and that he'll play well--but I'm not excited about having to pay him this summer (in excess of 8-10 million annually I'd assume), nor do I think we have the ball handlers or passers to make best use of him (Evan Turner is probably our best bet to get him high percentage looks). Honestly, it's probably best we flip him before the deadline because he's going to get overpaid and we're likely to find a better center in the draft.

Crowder is someone I've liked in the past. He defends and plays hard and is intelligent. Nelson is a bum; I hope he goes and goes fast. Losing Powell as a throw in to make the #s work (roster wise) was sand in the face after the kick in the gnads that was the Rondo trade. The picks are more likely to be Fab Melos than Jimmy Butlers. All in all, losing Rondo for nothing would have been more preferable because at least then we know we tried and failed instead of giving up. I hate to give up. We gave up and we telegraphed it to boot. Danny is very smart in many ways but he's never read the Art of War.

So you would rather lose Rondo for absolutely nothing just to salvage some pride? Sorry, but I'll take Wright and Crowder and take my chances of landing some talent with the picks we got rather than let Rondo walk just so we can say "we didn't give up." I mean, this is basketball, and it's a business.