Why does Rondo have to be traded?

[indeedproceed]

Because Rondo's contract expires in a two years, he will demand max dollars, and Boston still won't be a contender.  By the time Boston is ready to compete again, Rondo will be on the wrong side of 30 and no longer young and improving.  And that is if Boston doesn't have any misses in the draft and ends up with at least solid value. 

  No offense, but I don't think anyone here has the slightest idea of what Boston's plans are going forward. Are they going to use all of their draft picks? Are they going to trade them? If so, for what? Also, the odds that the Celts buy into the "hang around at the bottom of the league until you land a superstar" mantra that so many here espouse are fairly low.

I'm beginning to think that you have the right of it here. I think that the Cs are going full in for the tank this season. That's just looking at the roster. But after that, I doubt Danny really wants to spend a second year in the basement. This draft is worth it, and any time you can pick Top-3 you should be picking up a cornerstone, but this year especially seems worth it.

After that, only Gerald Wallace's albatross contract stands in the way of making a quick transition to playoff lock. A good signing here, growth from some of our guys there, we could be okay. Not contenders, but not terrible.

Here there is a bit of a double edged sword regarding Rondo. If they were going to trade him, maximum value would be hopefully at the trade deadline, but more likely in the offseason. But what if Rondo comes back averaging 20 and 10? It's doable, moreso if he uses his time off to hone his skills and turn that chip on his shoulder into a resentful razors edge.

He's basically a reliable (I'm talking 4-5 attempts and 38%) 3 pt shot and 75% on at least 4 attempts from the line away from 20 ppg now, and while he's no longer a spring chicken, he's not beyond taking his game to a new level at 27 years old.

[BASS_THUMPER]

how are we going "full tank mode"

we dont have a squad of scrubs

[indeedproceed]

how are we going "full tank mode"

we dont have a squad of scrubs

Without Rondo, I see one average to potentially above average starter in Jeff Green on the roster. Everyone else has been below average in recent history, including Avery Bradley. To my eyes, it ain't looking good. It might be fun to watch, with some unexpected 'moral victories' like Kelly Olynyk's first 20pt game, but Id bet the moral victories are going to be vastly outnumbered by the actual defeats.

[BASS_THUMPER]

how are we going "full tank mode"

we dont have a squad of scrubs

Without Rondo, I see one average to potentially above average starter in Jeff Green on the roster. Everyone else has been below average in recent history, including Avery Bradley. To my eyes, it ain't looking good. It might be fun to watch, with some unexpected 'moral victories' like Kelly Olynyk's first 20pt game, but Id bet the moral victories are going to be vastly outnumbered by the actual defeats.

before kg and ray
the "moral victories"
were so exciting

we would lose too team we should beat
then beat teams we should have lost too

reminds me of this

www.youtube.com/v/khauvdb_f8A?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0

[indeedproceed]

how are we going "full tank mode"

we dont have a squad of scrubs

Without Rondo, I see one average to potentially above average starter in Jeff Green on the roster. Everyone else has been below average in recent history, including Avery Bradley. To my eyes, it ain't looking good. It might be fun to watch, with some unexpected 'moral victories' like Kelly Olynyk's first 20pt game, but Id bet the moral victories are going to be vastly outnumbered by the actual defeats.

before kg and ray
the "moral victories"
were so exciting

we would lose too team we should beat
then beat teams we should have lost too

reminds me of this

www.youtube.com/v/khauvdb_f8A?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0

Agreed. I live in NY, and had kinda stopped following the Cs because before the Internet and league pass, you just couldn't watch the games. But that year, I got Sirius radio just to listen to Cs games.

Id listen along in my room in college, following the boxscore counting Al Jeff and Gomes' points, just KNOWING that this was the game Telfair or Green would suddenly click, and we'd have..something.

Great year, that terrible year.

[gar]

PG's like Rondo are not a dime a dozen. If they were we would have a halfway decent backup by now. Rondo is top 5-10 talent at his position. Players want to play with a PG like him. You can definitely build around a player like Rondo. He may not end up the emotional leader; but he is a great floor general.

[indeedproceed]

PG's like Rondo are not a dime a dozen. If they were we would have a halfway decent backup by now. Rondo is top 5-10 talent at his position. Players want to play with a PG like him. You can definitely build around a player like Rondo. He may not end up the emotional leader; but he is a great floor general.

Rondo is definitely not a 'dime a dozen' guy. I think there are about 50 or so guys currently in the NBA who can be a starting pg or at least play pretend when there is enough talent on the floor beside them, but Rondo is so far from a dime a dozen. Unique is what he is. But he's so unique, you have to wonder 'is this the best use of his abilities/value?'

[timobusa]

PG's like Rondo are not a dime a dozen. If they were we would have a halfway decent backup by now. Rondo is top 5-10 talent at his position. Players want to play with a PG like him. You can definitely build around a player like Rondo. He may not end up the emotional leader; but he is a great floor general.

Rondo is definitely not a 'dime a dozen' guy. I think there are about 50 or so guys currently in the NBA who can be a starting pg or at least play pretend when there is enough talent on the floor beside them, but Rondo is so far from a dime a dozen. Unique is what he is. But he's so unique, you have to wonder 'is this the best use of his abilities/value?'

Let's keep him so we find out.

[indeedproceed]

PG's like Rondo are not a dime a dozen. If they were we would have a halfway decent backup by now. Rondo is top 5-10 talent at his position. Players want to play with a PG like him. You can definitely build around a player like Rondo. He may not end up the emotional leader; but he is a great floor general.

Rondo is definitely not a 'dime a dozen' guy. I think there are about 50 or so guys currently in the NBA who can be a starting pg or at least play pretend when there is enough talent on the floor beside them, but Rondo is so far from a dime a dozen. Unique is what he is. But he's so unique, you have to wonder 'is this the best use of his abilities/value?'

Let's keep him so we find out.

I agree for the time being. Personally, Id trade him for the right package , but the 'right package' is pretty steep. Something akin to the 2014 version of the Holiday trade, top 5 pick next year, another pick, or top 5 pick next year plus taking on Gerald Wallace's contract. Something like that.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

[LilRip]

he doesn't have to be traded, but he is still the one with the most value on the team. Hard to imagine trading for a young, potential superstar by giving up only Bass+Lee. We're not the Lakers.

He's sort of mismatched on this roster, similar to Pierce before. And DA has said that he tried to trade Pierce for CP3, and honestly it's hard to fault him for that. I see something similar regarding Rondo. I mean, if you could trade 28-year old Rondo for rookie CP3, wouldn't you do it?

[fitzhickey]

I don't think it's a matter of him having to be traded, but it's more a case of him being able to get the best return for our young rebuilding team. if we could get young guys with potential and picks I wouldn't mind. getting those young guys experience and time to develop into a good team is fine by me. contention in 2-4 years is better than mediocrity for 5-7, and if trading Rondo gets that I am fine trading him.
BUT I think his game will be improved on return due to the fact of him being relied upon so heavily, so I really don't know where I stand on the whole trade him/not trade him debate
and I am a big fan of Rondo, so I really don't know where I stand

EDIT: bit of a pointless post
too late 

[Moranis]

Because Rondo's contract expires in a two years, he will demand max dollars, and Boston still won't be a contender. 

Here's the thing that I think people are overlooking.  Rondo plays PG, which is currently the most loaded position in basketball.  Every year there are more good young PGs coming into the league. Rondo is going to be paid what the market bears, and unless he PLAYS like a max player over the next 2 years, he is not going to be paid like one.  PGs generally don't get overpaid like that.

And if he plays like a max player, Danny will gladly give him that contract, and use the assets he has been accumulating to try to put a winning team around him.

The other side of the coin is that he may be exposed a bit without KG and Pierce around, and coming off the injury, which might actually give Danny a chance to resign him at a relative bargain. 

Basically, I just think this idea that the C's have to trade Rondo to be bogus.  I think they have to EXPLORE it, but unless they can get either a better player, or multiple young guys with potential to be better, then you can't give up a guy with the talent and productivity of Rondo.

I think what Danny is looking at two scenarios that would make him happy right now.  One is someone falls in love with Rondo, and meets his high asking price.  Two is Rondo takes it slow coming back this year, the other young guys do some good developing, and the team tanks its way to a top 5 pick in the draft.  They use that pick to get a player who may be relatively close to being an impact NBA player sooner rather than later.  Then Danny can use trade exceptions, expiring contracts, future picks, and some of the young guys they are developing to add some more veteran pieces around Rondo. 

Yes, I am looking at a half full glass.  It will be empty soon.  It is friday night.

Rondo is going to get a raise from someone.  His salary his last year is 13 million.  Say it is just a 1 million raise, that means he starts at 14 million which will increase to about 17 million in year 4.  Now sure that might not be full max, but it is a max contract for all practical purposes.  The only way that doesn't happen is if he doesn't recover and perform at least close to his production before the injury and if that happens then Boston should trade him.

[pearljammer10]

It wouldn't make sense to trade rondo until the trade deadline and only if he proves that can be healthy again will his value rise. Have you seen our roster? I mean this year is a complete wash. It's terrible especially without rondo for 20 to 30 games. This year I don't think we will "tank" per say but we just won't be very good. With a high corner stone draft pick in a deep draft and plenty of picks and young borderline KG trade esque talent... Danny can easily at a huge fish in the offseason next year and completely change the franchise for he better again and go to battle with rondo green draft pick and all star as our main core four.

[PhoSita]

Because Rondo's contract expires in a two years, he will demand max dollars, and Boston still won't be a contender.  By the time Boston is ready to compete again, Rondo will be on the wrong side of 30 and no longer young and improving.  And that is if Boston doesn't have any misses in the draft and ends up with at least solid value. 

  No offense, but I don't think anyone here has the slightest idea of what Boston's plans are going forward. Are they going to use all of their draft picks? Are they going to trade them? If so, for what? Also, the odds that the Celts buy into the "hang around at the bottom of the league until you land a superstar" mantra that so many here espouse are fairly low.

I'm beginning to think that you have the right of it here. I think that the Cs are going full in for the tank this season. That's just looking at the roster. But after that, I doubt Danny really wants to spend a second year in the basement. This draft is worth it, and any time you can pick Top-3 you should be picking up a cornerstone, but this year especially seems worth it.

After that, only Gerald Wallace's albatross contract stands in the way of making a quick transition to playoff lock. A good signing here, growth from some of our guys there, we could be okay. Not contenders, but not terrible.

Here there is a bit of a double edged sword regarding Rondo. If they were going to trade him, maximum value would be hopefully at the trade deadline, but more likely in the offseason. But what if Rondo comes back averaging 20 and 10? It's doable, moreso if he uses his time off to hone his skills and turn that chip on his shoulder into a resentful razors edge.

He's basically a reliable (I'm talking 4-5 attempts and 38%) 3 pt shot and 75% on at least 4 attempts from the line away from 20 ppg now, and while he's no longer a spring chicken, he's not beyond taking his game to a new level at 27 years old.

Rondo would have to boost his scoring per 36 by 5 or 6 points in order to jump up to 20 points a game.

There aren't many 20 ppg scorers in today's league anymore, either.

I think Rondo's scoring ceiling is 15 or 16 a game over the course of a full season, and even then I'm not convinced he could score like that with great efficiency.

He's best suited to be a 12-12-4-2 guy on a team with elite scorers for him to feed all game long, in my opinion. 

Sadly, I don't see Rondo getting to fill that role on this team anytime soon, which is why I'm in favor of trading him if a decent offer is made.