Why does everyone think Rondo is going?

[fandrew]

I don't get everyone's interest in trading Rondo. Rondo, in my opinion is a more important piece than any other that we have. A point guard of his caliber does not come around every day. And other than the fact that he seems to have a crazy personality, the only real knocks on his game is that he does not score enough, and he has not shown up for every game with the same intensity. But the thing is , is now he is in a position where he is finally THE voice for the team. there is no KG or PP to take the reins. There is no more Doc to play to a style that does not work with his best player. I think that with a new coach (Brett Brown), and a system closer to Houston's, Rondo can really thrive in a way that he never really had a chance to before. And Trading him for Drummand or Cousins would not gain us anything in terms of fielding a winning team. Rondo is about winning. He has that fire. I think it just needs to be fanned, and he needs to be given a chance to show what he can do with a core of Sully, Green, and AB.

[PhoSita]

There's a couple sides to this:

Staying:

- His trade value is at an all-time low

- It would be very difficult to get something resembling equal value for him

- At times throughout his career he's shown the ability to play like a guy you could build around (particularly the playoffs)

- We finally have a team of young athletes for him to play up-tempo with; we should see how that works out

- Perhaps we could keep Rondo and be decent for a while and then try to surround him with similar talents through trade or free agency (e.g. Millsap / Smith / Aldridge etc).  Such a team could be a dark horse contender a la the Grizzlies or Pacers.


Going:

- As long as Rondo is around the team will probably be too good to get a super high pick, but without extra help (the kind you'd get from a super high pick) the team isn't going to be good enough to go far in the playoffs, either.

- Rondo is a very nice, All-Star caliber player, but he hasn't shown the ability to carry a team in the regular season, and his skillset arguably makes him best suited to be a complementary star that puts a team over the top as opposed to somebody you build around

- Rondo is supposedly a strong personality to deal with in the locker room and he could give a new head coach some issues, plus he might not be the kind of guy you want leading a group of young players.

- Trading Rondo could allow us to shed some bad contracts, get some decent future pieces (picks, prospects), and set up the team to bottom out and focus entirely on player development while collecting high picks for the next few years.

[rondoallaturca]

The only people who think Rondo are getting traded are the fierce pro-tanker loyalists. Unfortunately, they don't seem to realize that we're still in good position to get a solid lottery pick even with Rondo.

Previously I doubted Boston's chances of getting a top 5 lottery pick with Rondo still on board, but when you think about it, we're still going to be a really bad team. The only teams that will surely do worse than our roster as is are Philly, Charlotte, Phoenix, and Orlando. It's well known that Toronto's trying to get rid of Gay and tank because it would be a dream marriage if they could get Canadian sensation Wiggins on their team, but that still means the Celtics are in the mix to be a bottom 6 team.

The odds are set so that it's not a guarantee the team with the worst record gets the first overall pick, or even the second. Even if we come as the 6th worst team, we certainly have a great shot at getting a top 5 lottery pick.

And that's with keeping Rondo, which would undeniably be a huge plus for helping along the development of our lottery pick, and giving free agents a reason to go to Boston next offseason. (Because let's face it, if we trade Rondo, even if we get Wiggins, no FA is going to come to Boston when our best player is a 19-year old rookie surrounded by role players)

[kozlodoev]

A point guard of his caliber does not come around every day.

A point guard of his caliber comes around considerably more often than a big man of his caliber, for example.

I don't think we'll move Rondo for chump change just to get him off the books, but he's definitely available for the right price. I've got no problem with that.

[Vox_Populi]

Because Ainge said he isn't.

[Celtics18]

There's a couple sides to this:

Staying:

- His trade value is at an all-time low

- It would be very difficult to get something resembling equal value for him

- At times throughout his career he's shown the ability to play like a guy you could build around (particularly the playoffs)

- We finally have a team of young athletes for him to play up-tempo with; we should see how that works out

- Perhaps we could keep Rondo and be decent for a while and then try to surround him with similar talents through trade or free agency (e.g. Millsap / Smith / Aldridge etc).  Such a team could be a dark horse contender a la the Grizzlies or Pacers.


Going:

- As long as Rondo is around the team will probably be too good to get a super high pick, but without extra help (the kind you'd get from a super high pick) the team isn't going to be good enough to go far in the playoffs, either.

- Rondo is a very nice, All-Star caliber player, but he hasn't shown the ability to carry a team in the regular season, and his skillset arguably makes him best suited to be a complementary star that puts a team over the top as opposed to somebody you build around

- Rondo is supposedly a strong personality to deal with in the locker room and he could give a new head coach some issues, plus he might not be the kind of guy you want leading a group of young players.

- Trading Rondo could allow us to shed some bad contracts, get some decent future pieces (picks, prospects), and set up the team to bottom out and focus entirely on player development while collecting high picks for the next few years.

TP for the sobriety.