A very large downgrade from Rondo to D.Harris ... Kanter is too much of an unknown for me to take a risk like that.
If it were D.Williams, it would be more interesting. I haven't seen enough of him to be sure one way or the other but it would be worth considering.
For the record, this is pretty much where I stand on this as well. Just thought I would throw the idea out there though.
...although I do think, if the C's didn't have Rondo, Harris could be a decent fit with this group of players. He is not the distributor Rondo is, but he is capable, and could carry more of the scoring burden, which, while wouldn't have been ideal a couple years ago, may be something they could use now.
Without the distribution you limit the effectiveness of the scorers we have now and supplement it with someone who's 27 and has had one good scoring year in his career. Plus you lose the defense and rebounding.
Yeah, I would be pretty worried about the Big Three's effectiveness offensively without Rondo there to create high quality shot attempts for them. They just aren't dominant enough scorers anymore to maintain their current levels of success without Rondo.
To play devils advocate though, we saw in the playoffs that defenses have found ways to take away the passing game. So, while it really helped them cruise at times in the regular season, in the postseason, when defenses were putting more energy into keeping the ball out of Pierce, Ray, and KG's hands, we really could have used more consistent scoring from the PG spot.
Now, I understand the argument that Harris just isn't that good. But I still think it wouldn't be a terrible thing for this team to have a more consistently effective scoring threat at the PG position...or of course if Rondo became that guy, that would be ideal.
I agree that it would help if Rondo's scoring was a little more consistent in the playoffs but even still he's been scoring 16-17 a game over the last 3 years. Are you really expecting Harris to score significantly more than that?
If they defend him the same way they defend Rondo? Absolutely. You can say a lot about Harris, but it is hard to deny that he is a better finisher and shooter than Rondo.
But of course, they won't defend him the same way they defend Rondo. They will respect his offense more, which will open things up more for the Big 3 (if he can get the ball to them, of course).
Now, I won't sit here and say Harris is anywhere near the player Rondo is. All I am saying is, if he plays up to his ability (which he certainly hasn't done since he left Dallas for that terrible team in NJ), I think he can give the C's a different look, and give them 80-85 percent of what Rondo gave them. And, if the other guy they get can give them a sigificant upgrade at another position, it could end up being a net positive.
Again, I don't think I would do this particular trade. But I think, if Danny does decide to move Rondo, this is the type of deal he would be looking at.
