It's a real bummer that Rondo went down, but I think the Celtics are in a great position after his injuries, for a number of reasons.
First, the rebuilding is coming whether we like it or not. In an odd way, Rondo's injury kind of "opens the door" a little more management to more easily justify whatever path they want to take. I see three main options, all of which have good possibilities.
#1 - Complete blow up mode
You could go full rebuild mode by the trade deadline.
A) Approach Pierce and KG and ask them if they want to ride it out or if they'd like you to seek trades for them to legit contenders. Take a look at the top 5-6 teams in the Western conference - you could get some decent returns in with one key young player and picks.
B) If you think Melo has any chance of being an NBA center at any level in the NBA, bring him up and start force feeding him minutes now, like a lot of other young players get on bad teams - get the process going. If you think he has no chance, get it over with and package him in a trade.
C) Significantly increase the minutes for Bradley, Green, Lee, Sully, Melo, etc...
D) you probably go the lottery this year, maybe you get lucky and get a real blue chipper.
E) Depending on who you get as young players, you might also have Cap Flex if the trades are done with an expiring to make things work...
#2 - Mid Major adjustments
A) You could make a mid major move - try to get a Josh Smith level player without blowing up the team. Or a bit smaller move like trying to get a young point like Bledsoe to fill in Rondo's shoes until he gets back.
B) Make another run with this team, as is. We'll end up making another good run.
#3 - Stand pat
Don't underestimate a team that trots out a starting lineup of:
KG / Collins / Melo / Wilcox
Sully / Bass / Wilcox
Pierce / Green
Lee / Jet
Bradley / Barbosa
1. That starting lineup may not be point guard driven / dominant anymore, but those are five tough guys both mentally and physically.
2. Rondo is incredible but he dominates the ball. So this team will be different and we might be pleasantly surprised with some of those differences - just as much as we will have some disappointments...
3. When you lose a dominant player, other guys tend to step into the void and you find things out about them you didn't know before, good and bad. Guys might feel freed up a bit to take more responsibility and bigger roles.
4. That bench is still quite good
5. lastly, this team might gel differently, kind of coalescing behind Rondo's injury to become something better than we initially expect.
Whatever option is taken above, we will either see our young guys being thrown to the wolves and watch them develop - or we'll see a grizzled vet team, perhaps with some mid major to minor changes via mid ticket trades, or a stand pat vet team throwing down with everything they've got.
Meanwhile, Rondo's on the mend.
Don't get down, get excited. We're going to watch a very interesting story unfold from here on out.
We'll either