Sorry to start another Rondo thread, but I thought this deserved its own space.
Bill Simmons mentioned something in his recent podcast (Monday - Cousin Sal/Bill's Dad) that may have provided context for some of the ardent Rondo fans on this board. Bill and his dad talked about how sad the trade was for the younger generation of fans for whom Rondo is their guy. To them, the many years of rebuilding preceding the second Big Three era may be more a distant childhood memory than it is to us who experienced it in our teens, twenties, or older.
I don't mean to paint all pro-Rondo fans with the same brush because there were definitely legitimate arguments to keeping him around despite the free agent risk. However, I can't help but wonder if some of the pro-Rondo sentiment was based partly in naivete. A younger fan may not have experienced a long rebuild and not understand how it is sometimes necessary. They may think that a HOF player like Garnett becomes available every couple years and that the Celtics would naturally have a great shot at him, when actually the opposite is true. All the assets in the world wouldn't have mattered if Ainge hadn't made a successful pitch to Garnett before the trade. It's totally unprecedented in the modern era for the Celtics to have convinced a star like that to come to Boston (remember that even though we had Pierce and Allen, the team sans Allen actually only won 24 games the season before. Rivers hadn't ever won anything and Ainge was an unproven GM who had presided over 4 mediocre seasons - Garnett was taking a humongous risk). It really speaks to Garnett's unique personality that he didn't just angle to go for the most obvious and safer destination like most players in that situation would.
These younger fans may also not have the cynicism of an older fan when it comes to players saying the right things to the press but obviously thinking something different inside. To an older fan, the writing was on the wall and it's the same old story of a star in his prime leaving a rebuilding team for a contender. What Rondo said publicly was inconsequential. I can see how a younger fan who grew up with Rondo might take his words at face value because this guy is their favorite player. I love Rondo too, but my heart's already been broken countless times. Once it became clear no stars were going to be available, Rondo simply didn't belong on this team. The fact that Rondo displayed little shock from the sudden trade just shows me that mentally he was already prepared for a divorce.
TP for you sir. I'm old enough to have watched Bill Russell and it seems that many people here just want to bury their head in the sand and spout things like "Rondo was a top 20 player" or "Rondo was a top 5 PG" or "everyone in the NBA wanted to play with Rondo" when none of the above are objectively true. I love RR and I'm hoping that Dallas wins the title this year because the kid is great to watch. But you're right, he didn't need to be here anymore.
The two biggest factors of this rebuild have been entirely out of Ainge’s control – Rondo’s ACL tear and Cleveland winning the lottery. Rondo's ACL ended the run of PP and KG, who couldn’t and probably wouldn’t wait for Rondo to come back to full strength. Cleveland winning the lottery ended the chance of him scoring the needed asset to play with Rondo BEFORE Rondo was up for Free Agency. All Ainge can do is react to that kind of bad luck and he’s done a remarkable job of keeping his options open and strengthening his hand until the time is right.
The KG + PP trade was fait accompli when Rondo got hurt. The Celtics may or may not (look at the Nets) made the playoffs with those guys, but if they did it would have been to squeak in and get blown out in the first round. Look at how bad the offense performed in the loss to the Knicks in the playoffs that year. The team no longer had the talent nor the ammo to reload. Doc decided he didn’t want to come back because he knew that without a healthy Rondo he couldn’t compete. KG and PP were traded 3 days after Doc was gone. Rondo’s injury forced Danny’s hand with PP and KG and he got an outstanding deal. Does anyone disagree he fleeced the Nets? KG is my favorite player in the NBA post-Bird and even I was [dang] glad to see him go for that price.
Rondo never really came back anyway. He's not a top talent right now. There are probably over 10 PGs better than Rondo the last year and that’s just one position. Rondo may not even be a top 50 talent in the league anymore and I’m a fan of the guy. Danny was hoping that Rondo would come back to his old self or even take the next step. He could then offer Rondo a max contract and build around him, starting during this trading period and continuing up to the deadline. Had Rondo been top-notch, I think we would have seen a couple of deals to bring in talent (like offering a 1st for Monroe) to show Rondo they were committed to rebuilding quickly. But his play last year and this year just didn't justify that kind of long-term, large commitment. He simply hasn't been good enough, post-injury, to build around. Which is the reason the best deal out there didn't seem all that great but Danny took it anyway. Better something rather than nothing.
Danny worked in the same building with RR every single day and yet people here claim to know better and insist that Rondo was willing to take less and wanted to stay? That’s just being willfully ignorant.
Ainge got hired by the Celtics with a dreadful roster and no future hope. He had fat Antoine Walker, PP and a bunch of nothings with bad contracts. The team had been an also-ran for the better part of two decades. In less than 5 years he built a title team that should have repeated in 2010 if not for injuries and refereeing. He was smart enough to realize that Rondo’s ACL was the end of that era and is only in year 2 of a rebuild. He’s brought in talent, generally drafted well and has enough picks, cap space and trade exceptions to accelerate a rebuild. He has loading up with enough assets to take advantage of almost any situation. He can rebuild via FA, trades or the draft and has enough shots at each to maximize his opportunities. He doesn’t just have one or two bites at the apple and that’s it (i.e., the Philly strategy). He’s not saddled with horrid contracts and no draft choices (i.e., the Knicks). He can remake this team in many, many different ways over the next 18 months. He’s not going to draft 11 different players (I think that’s correct) over the next two seasons. Deals are coming and if some fans are too impatient to wait for them that's on them.
Topic: The possibility that some pro-Rondo fans are younger (Read 6057 times)