I'm going to have to say that adding Lowry and Dalembert, and subtracting Rondo makes us a better team. Bring back KG, Green, along with Pierce; and if Bradley continutes to develop that's a pretty strong core.
The team won't contend without Rondo without major changes. If you aren't getting a better player than Rondo in a trade or else two players that are well above average you lose the trade. In the nba, a quarter is worth much more than 2 dimes and a nickel, or in this case, a dime and a nickel.
do any of you watch the nba??
lowry isnt as good as rondo, but he's close. both in per and win score, and wins per 48:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lowryky01.html look at the win score and the wins per 48. now look at rondo:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/rondora01.html
exactly the same.
now when u look at the per numbers on nba.com it will only show you lowrys regular season vs rondos playoff per. but in the regular season they were identical.
look at espn:
rondos per:
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3026/rajon-rondo
lowrys per:
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3012/kyle-lowry
if u lose rondo and get back a clone who can shoot but cant rebound and also get a center to gobble up rebounds you're already ahead of the game. then u add in a 16th pick, which im sure ainge is targeting sullinger with - a guy who is going to be an al jefferson, elton brand, paul millsap clone -
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=57192.60 (if any of you doubt this)
and with a little luck with sully dropping to us the trade would be a genius trade.
houston gets rid of dalembert and lowry who dont want to be there, and get back rondo, whose value has soared since he became a triple double machine in the playoffs. true, they are very similar players in terms of efficiency and win score and wins per 48, but if ever there was a time danny could cash in on real value vs perceived value, the time is now - when rondo is basically considered a superstar (which he wasnt in the regular season).
i looooovvvve rondo, but he's reached his peak, as has lowry, but if u can get the same player in terms of win score back and add a rebounding monster to make kg happy with not being a center anymore - and u add a rookie who's going to be a borderline all star (if we're lucky enough to have him drop to us) and the trade is pure brilliance.
of course danny would have to give houston either one or two of his first round picks this year.
check it out:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6sh22gn
HOUSTON GETS: RONDO, ONE or TWO 1ST ROUND PICKS, and either JAJUAN JOHNSON or ETWUAN MOORE
BOSTON GETS: KYLE LOWRY, SAM DALEMBERT, 16TH PICK IN THE DRAFT.
seriously if you were to turn down this trade as boston you would be dumb.
i say either or for what houston gets because dannys best quality is he's a brilliant salesman and can swing an unfair trade with other teams without them realising.
exhibit A: bass for baby and von wafer and a trade exception.
You ask "do you WATCH the nba?" and then you proceed to talk about stats? How many times have you seen Lowry play actually instead of scanning through his stats? Lowry is an above average point guard but he isn't CLOSE to Rondo. PER and WS are all very flawed METRICS (not stats). Lowry is now a back-up PG (Dragic outplayed him towards the end of the season and Houston prefers to keep Dragic) for a 9th seed team. Rondo was the best PG in this NBA post-season. No comparison
ok. i just woke up so here goes:
i agree. rondo was the best pg in the league this year. however lowry was playing like an all-star at the first half of the season.
the reason lowry was outplayed in the last part of the season is coz he was in hospital for a stomach virus which basically shut him down for 3 or 4 weeks, which is when dragic began to start.
then after he got back from the hospital his conditioning was an issue, due to having been out with a stomach virus for so long, then he had a groin injury, which completely shut him down for the rest of the season as of april 22nd.
exhibit A:
A season that began with guard Kyle Lowry playing at an All-Star level will end with him getting ready for off-season surgery. Lowry said Sunday he would not be able to play in the Rockets final regular-season games because of a sports hernia and the groin injury that sent him to the hospital when a bacterial infection was discovered March 8. He missed a month with the infection, spending the first week in the hospital. He has struggled since. “I’m shutting it down,” Lowry said. “With the injuries, I won’t be playing again this year. With the groin and the sports hernia, it’s a lot to deal with. I made a decision to shut it down.” Houston Chronicle
so then after he got back from hospital:
exhibit B:
Coach Kevin McHale cited conditioning when asked about Kyle Lowry's limited minutes.
Lowry has averaged just 19.8 minutes per game since returning to action. "It's hard. He hasn't played a lot. He's trying to get his conditioning back," McHale said.
exhibit C:
Kyle Lowry will miss the remainder of the season with a groin injury and a sports hernia.
After missing the second half on Saturday due to the injury, Lowry said on Sunday that he has decided to shut it down. He is expected to have surgery on the sports hernia at some point during the off-season.
now although i agree rondo turned it on during the playoffs, during the season, kyle lowry was a notable all-star snub, as many people have written in the media:
A)
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-120209-ASG/nba-all-star-game-reserve-snubs-surprises B)
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/02/15/blogtable-all-star-snubs/C)
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/02/10/the-all-star-double-standard-stinks/it is BECAUSE i was paying attention to the nba, i already knew all of this... especially why goran dragic replaced him in the starting line up

and i disagree with you about the metrics. PER is a flawed metric, but everyone wants to use it to make arguments, so i utilise it to my advantage... however i think WIN SHARES/SCORES as spoken about on
www.wagesofwins.com is a very sound metic and is an excellent way to measure a players performance.