I'm sorry but The Celtics have to do a trade now..

[WeMadeIt17]

Thing is now Rondo knows he is being shopped for a better player, and so do the Celtics players. You can't have Rondo going in and saying I can't believe they thought about trading me and all of this nosense going into the locker room cause you will probably get the locker room dividing and what now.. This isn't good but if we can some how get Paul outta this we have to do it and do it fast. Traning camp starts in two days.. Trust me I love Rondo but we have to do this now, Truley thats what I think. Also its not gunna be a bad thing to have Paul. I mean he is a pick and roll/pop mistro and running that with KG would be a thing of beauty. The way Paul bangs into people and draws fouls will be a very good thing for this team. Trust me we need to get this done.

[perks-a-beast]

True professionals undertand that the NBA is a business and if they can't handle their name being brought up in some trade rumors then that's not somebody you want on your team in the first place.

I agree with you that if we are going to trade Rondo and get Paul now is the time to do it. If last season showed us anything it's that you can't just throw guys in there mid season and hope they make the transition by the playoffs. It takes a toll on team chemistry trying to force things like that. If Chris Paul is traded to the Celtics i want it to be in the next two days.

[Fafnir]

Ray went through it and played great after the deadline.

Rondo went through rumors similar to this as well before, its part of the NBA and you certainly don't have to trade him if we don't end up getting Chris Paul.

[PAOBoston]

it's part of being a PROFESSIONAL ball player. if he ends up not being traded he can come back and either 1. mope around and pout like he did last year after the perkins deal or 2. can play with a fire under his ass elevating his level of play. it's very simple. you dont want to be mentioned in rumors, learn to shoot  (at least ft's for ****).

[PosImpos]

Ray went through it and played great after the deadline.

Rondo went through rumors similar to this as well before, its part of the NBA and you certainly don't have to trade him if we don't end up getting Chris Paul.

i think what ray went through is much more similar.  ray was definitely close to getting traded.  i would argue the rumors about trading rondo a couple summers ago was more just gauging rondo's value prior to signing an extension.

ray dealt with it well after the fact, but i tend to think that rondo is a lot different than ray in terms of temperament.

[WeMadeIt17]

But just getting fired up doesn't make your jumpshot all of a sudden apear from thin air.. I'm sorry it just doesn't plus always hearing about Rondos' attitude problems who knows how he reacts.

[Q_FBE]

Yeah, this one could blow up in our face if we fail to do a deal and we lose Glen Davis and Delonte West and get minimum wage veteran leftovers.

Then we would be looking at a February fire sale and 5 years of struggling to acquire talent.

[PAOBoston]

Yeah, this one could blow up in our face if we fail to do a deal and we lose Glen Davis and Delonte West and get minimum wage veteran leftovers.

Then we would be looking at a February fire sale and 5 years of struggling to acquire talent.

chances are that even with rondo next year, you are gonna struggle to acquire talent. so why not go all in for paul and see if you can luck out with howard etc for example? it's high risk/high reward. and if paul does come and leave at the end of the season, well, you have a boat load of cap space and you can literally start from scratch (be bad/lottery/get high picks/luck out in drafting a durant/lebron/d rose type talent).

[IBLEEDGREEN30]

Rondo can either show up and elevate his game, or prove he is weak minded- and that personally is not someone I want on the Celtics.

Rondo can't shoot, and miss me with that " he will grow and get better at it" nonsense, the time is and has been now, and part of being a professional basketball player is dealing with rumors and potential new places to play.

If rondo thinks he is superior to point guards who have decent offensive abilities, or the ability to make foul shots- he is crazy.

I will never forget that away game @ LA Clippers when he missed 2 foul shots in a row, which led to a buzzer beater win for the Clips.

Rondo, man up or be gone. your not that nice. Not worth getting emotionally attached over at least.

[slamtheking]

Yeah, this one could blow up in our face if we fail to do a deal and we lose Glen Davis and Delonte West and get minimum wage veteran leftovers.

Then we would be looking at a February fire sale and 5 years of struggling to acquire talent.

chances are that even with rondo next year, you are gonna struggle to acquire talent. so why not go all in for paul and see if you can luck out with howard etc for example? it's high risk/high reward. and if paul does come and leave at the end of the season, well, you have a boat load of cap space and you can literally start from scratch (be bad/lottery/get high picks/luck out in drafting a durant/lebron/d rose type talent).

but that's a false premise.  sure, with only PP and either JJ or Avery on the books and assuming they've waived the rights to KG and Ray to make cap space, there's money to be spent.  However, have you looked at who's a FA that year?  It's CP3 (who'd be elsewhere in your premise), DH (who's assumed to be following CP3 wherever and if not, he's most likely not coming to Boston) and Deron (who's likely to resign in NJ and if not, is very unlikely to go anywhere but Boston).  No one else plays at a level that would even generate thoughts of a max-level player.  No perennial all-stars either.  The restricted list of prospects is ok but they'll most likely be matched by their current teams.

Also, don't forget that the team will have most likely sent out at least 2 first rounders and most likely one will be the 'prized' one we're getting from the Clippers.  There'll be even greater difficulty in rebuilding.  Throw in the fact that are current trading chips of Ray's, JO's and KG's expiring contracts will have expired (and we would have renounced the rights to resign them to get that cap space you mentioned) so we won't have anything of value to trade either.

don't let the FA market from last year lead you to believe that's a common occurrence.  It's highly unlikely that the FA market will see that level of available talent anytime before the next CBA is agreed to.

In short, if Danny pulls the trigger for CP3, he'll have given up so much of our assets that if CP3 walks after the season, we're screwed for years because we won't have talent on the team, won't have many draft picks in the coming years nor will we have expiring contracts to deal for talent or picks.

[Jon]

Ray went through it and played great after the deadline.

Rondo went through rumors similar to this as well before, its part of the NBA and you certainly don't have to trade him if we don't end up getting Chris Paul.

I agree. 

Plus this is Danny who is doing all the talking, not Doc or any of his teammates. 

Even if he hates Danny (and I'm not sure he will), it doesn't mean he'll take it out on the team. 

[SHAQATTACK]

MAybe this should be a topic instead of a comment....

What we have been talking about ....is value of these two players to the team......

SO "IS" CHRIS PAUL a franchise player?  We are sorta beating around the bush that maybe he is.? I believe he isfor the Celtics anyway. Without him , I see team lucky to be in the playoffs.

We have established Rondo IS NOT a franchise level player.

I believe the whole next 5 years of Celtics is riding on this deal....are the C's to become a GREAT team or just stay a mediocre team or slightly better.

[RyNye]

We have established Rondo IS NOT a franchise level player.

Who has established that? By most statistical measures, Chris Paul is better, but not by such a huge margin that you can dismiss Rondo off hand. Rondo is a very good player, with a very specific skill set. Surround him with the right pieces and he is a franchise level player. 2010 proved that without a shadow of a doubt. Whether the Celtics are the best fit for him is debatable, but the fact that he is a top point guard is not.

[celtics2]

I agree do the trade. Besides Rondo is now becoming a liability mentally. He worries too much. He never got over the trades Danny pulled last season. A pro must not get involved with that stuff. Besides he is beginning to show his fragile side because of not being able to shoot he has to gamble inside. He takes more hits than a running back.

[SHAQATTACK]

CP is worth building a future team around, IMO Rondo is not.  Rondo is a role player and maybe one of the best in the league at times. I think his moodyness and concentration tends to wane at some inopportune moments.  This and not hitting freetheow is a killer for our team.