when rondo comes back 100% i anticipate he will play outstanding. however, i have always found him to be motivated-driven. if he has a cause, his game flourishes (playoffs, going against other elite point guards, etc). with all the changes, questions, and even doubts, i anticipate him playing great.
with that said, i want to keep him while (if) this occurs. it will increase his stock. then i would trade him. rondo is fun to watch, but i dont think he is *that* guy to build around. if rondo is ur first option, i never see us competing for a title. if he is our second option, i dont think we will be competing for a title but we could be a top 4 seed in the east. if rondo is your third option, then we are in business!
Honestly, other than Lebron James and Kevin Durant, I don't think there are any players in the league under 30 who I would call "build a team around" type players. To me, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, James Harden, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, and whoever else you want to add to the list are all players who have question marks about whether or not they can be "that guy."
When healthy, Rondo is somewhere in that group. Of course, there is no guarantee that we can build a championship contender around him, but there's no guarantee that we will be able to around anyone else either.
I feel like there's an odd dichotomy going on. Most fans seem to think that if we keep Rondo that we have to be a contender within five years or the team--and Rondo specifically--will be seen as a failure. On the other hand, if we get rid of him to rebuild, everyone seems fine with the prospect of the "rebuild" taking however long it takes.
I want to keep Rondo, and, of course, I want to see the team be a contender again while he is still a Celtic. And, of course, we will need to add talent to accomplish that goal. At that point, we can have all the discussions we want (and we surely will) about who is actually the number one, number two, or number three player on the team. That will be fine with me.
However, the notion of getting rid of him for the chance at some better player who doesn't even exist yet, seems like folly. You don't get rid of a top fifteen player in the league just because you don't think he can win a title on his own to look for a player who might be able to one day. Rather, it makes more sense to attempt to add enough talent to the great player that you already have in place to put you back into contender status.
A lot of folks like to point out that you need a Bird, a Jordan, a Magic, a Shaq, or Duncan to be able to compete for titles. Personally, I think the days of the individual superstar dominating the game are either over or on the decline. I don't think it's because "transcendent" players aren't coming around anymore. I think it's more that the overall depth and quality of talent in the league is greater than it's ever been. So, it's much harder to transcend above everybody else.
That's why building a great team is more important than simply getting a great player, particularly if getting an opportunity at that potential great player means getting rid of the elite talent that you already have in place.