wow.... the c's are going to be worse than I expected

[Casperian]

Question for you, if you keep Rondo, how do you get the players necessary to get Boston back to contender status?

I'm hoping Sullinger plays well enough that packaging him with three first round picks is enough to get a disgruntled star.

The Rockets-Harden model. This I'm really warming up to.

There is no Rockets model, just a starplayer who decided to team up with another starplayer.

If Howard and the Lakers had worked out, the Rockets would still be mediocre.

[Moranis]

You trade Rondo, for all the reasons that have been expressed on this board for awhile now.   He is injured and you have no idea what kind of player he will be. 

Which means his trade value now is at an all time low.  And that his ability to contribute to winning is also, which gets the low draft pick you covet.

He has 2 years left on his contract and will want a huge salary when it expires (if he even sticks around)

Which means he has more value as a trade chip when he becomes an expiring contract - in two years. 

which won't make it easy to bring in free agents.

if he's worth a huge salary, it will be easier to bring in free agents because good players want to play together these days.  Besides, what free agent worth his salt wants to come to a team that sucks?  You don't manage salary cap by getting rid of the good players, you do it by not overpaying the average ones. 

Besides, if he's worth a huge salary, that means he's developed into a top player, in which case the Celtics keep him.  If he hasn't developed into a top player let someone else over-pay him on a sign and trade.

By the time Boston can put a team around Rondo worthy of competing he will be on the wrong side of 30.

Yep.  If it takes 5 years, he'll be 32.  Which is just about...how old Pierce was when KG showed up.  And how old DWade will be when Miami makes another run at the title this season.  Tony Parker too.  If they're going to be in the championship hunt at that time he won't be the central player, but he'll still be a very good contributor. 

Because Rondo is good enough to win 5 or more games for this team which hurts draft position, but not increasing the win total enough to make Boston a real contender. 

 

Agreed. 5 wins. I'll buy that... That's the difference between the #1 worst record and the #4 worst record last year.  Problem is, the team with the #3 worst record actually won the #1 pick last year.  If it weren't a lottery, I'd probably agree with you more, but I've already had my hopes dashed twice by ping pong balls that bounced the wrong way. 

And many other reasons.  Couple that with Rondo's skill set being much more suited as a complementary piece rather than a building block and it just doesn't make sense to hang on to him. 

 
I only want him as a complementary piece.  That's my point.  He isn't good enough to get you there on his own, but he won't hinder the rebuilding process sufficiently to make it worth getting rid of him, especially because keeping him means you have to find one fewer piece to put around whatever stud player you do get. 

That said, I wouldn't just give him away for nothing and there may be a fair amount of logic in keeping this year, building his health back up (and hopefully his value), and seeing what you can get for him next summer (either before the draft in a Holiday esque trade or after free agency starts). 

Now you're talking.  Or maybe even hold on to him until he's an expiring contract....

And for the record there are trades to teams that would make sense and for which Boston could get value.  Charlotte, for example, has the rights to picks from Detroit and Portland and a number of young players.  A trade there might make sense for both teams, especially since Charlotte's own pick was traded to Chicago so there comes a point when winning more won't affect their own draft position.

Yes, and agreed. It's possible, but situations of that sort are uncommon and therefore difficult.  Especially since Charlotte can likely get a better deal than an injured Rajon Rondo for their picks and young players.  Again, Rondo's trade value is really low right now.

Star players have less value as expiring contracts than they do with years left because the team trading for said player isn't going to pay as much if the star could leave in a few months.  Expiring contracts as you are using it are guys like Humphries who the acquiring team only wants to gain salary relief by trading longer contracts for shorter ones.

[Section301]

Star players have less value as expiring contracts than they do with years left because the team trading for said player isn't going to pay as much if the star could leave in a few months.  Expiring contracts as you are using it are guys like Humphries who the acquiring team only wants to gain salary relief by trading longer contracts for shorter ones.

I agree.  In fact, the more we talk about it, the more I think we're really not that far apart. 

In my mind it comes down to two most probable scenarios - 1) Rondo returns to his all-star form, in which case he is worth keeping around as a complementary piece for the incoming stud, or has value as a sign and trade to get the RIGHT complementary piece.  2) Rondo does not return to his all-star form, in which case his expiring contract becomes a useful piece to add (with the assets acquired via draft, which won't have enough cap value) to a trade in acquiring a stud player to make the salaries match without adding a financial burden to the receiving team. 

In either scenario, keeping him this year makes sense because he doesn't have as much value now as he will if/when he demonstrates that he is healthy and productive again.  And until he is healthy again, he doesn't get in the way of the team doing poorly and increasing their odds of a high draft pick. 

[bfrombleacher]

Question for you, if you keep Rondo, how do you get the players necessary to get Boston back to contender status?

I'm hoping Sullinger plays well enough that packaging him with three first round picks is enough to get a disgruntled star.

The Rockets-Harden model. This I'm really warming up to.

There is no Rockets model, just a starplayer who decided to team up with another starplayer.

If Howard and the Lakers had worked out, the Rockets would still be mediocre.

I was talking about the James Harden part of their rebuild.

[old_guy]

Without any trades and Rondo back around Christmas, it's a 29 +/- 4 win team.  The teams SRS will be worse than -2, maybe as bad as -3.25.

We need to trade as many of these guys as possible:

Hump, Rondo, Bass, Lee, Green

even if we get junk back in return, anything to tank.

For those that say the Celts are too proud to tank, take a look at the Jr Eligible pick of Bird and the deal of McAdoo to demonstrate tanking in action.