with rondo would we still be 0-3??

[Finkelskyhook]

one more thing...and I preface this by saying I like Rondo, he is a great player but his whole career he has been surrounded by great shooters ( House, Ray, Pierce, KG, Terry etc ) when he comes back, who makes shots? Rondo is one of the handful of best passers in the league but he has nobody to knock down shots?

It helps when you have a PG who knows exactly where you need the ball to be a great shooter.  Out of all of those above...Pierce is the only one who could create his own shot.

With Rondo..Bradley gets 2-3 backdoor layups practically every game.  With Rondo...There wouldn't be a half-dozen entry passes in every game intercepted. 

2-2....Maybe 3-1 so far with Rondo running the team.

[BballTim]

2-2  I think.

This is what I think.

Yeah, me too. 

And it's not so much that Rondo is so great (although he is a really good player), but I think this team wouldn't be 0-4 if they even had a replacement level point guard. 

Heres how many wins I think this team would have this year, with the following three options.  Current healthy roster, Rondo, replacement level PG (lets say Luke Ridnour).

Current Roster: 20 wins
Rondo: 38 wins
Ridnour: 30 wins

Not having Rondo is tough.  But replacing Rondo with Bradley/Crawford is just embarasing.

This team is no where near a 38 win team with Rondo.  It just isn't very good.  Rondo will certainly help cut out turnovers and running the offense, but he isn't going to magically make bad players not bad.  The Celtics lack talent everywhere.  They just aren't very good.  This team was a .500 team last year with two actual legit #1/#2 scoring options in PP and KG (that was both before and after Rondo got hurt).  You can't just eliminate those type of players, basically not replace them at all, and expect the team to be only slightly worse.  This is a 15-20 win team without Rondo and a 25ish win team with him.  There just isn't talent on this team capable of winning a lot of games, even with Rondo.

  Put a healthy Rondo on the team and I don't know that our opponents (aside from Memphis) are overly better than us. Just cutting back on the turnovers alone will both get the Celts more chances to score and cut back on the number of eaxy baskets they give up. I'm not sure you're really underestimating the Celts as much as you're overestimating other teams talent level, or at least their ability to get good play from that talent.

[Moranis]

2-2  I think.

This is what I think.

Yeah, me too. 

And it's not so much that Rondo is so great (although he is a really good player), but I think this team wouldn't be 0-4 if they even had a replacement level point guard. 

Heres how many wins I think this team would have this year, with the following three options.  Current healthy roster, Rondo, replacement level PG (lets say Luke Ridnour).

Current Roster: 20 wins
Rondo: 38 wins
Ridnour: 30 wins

Not having Rondo is tough.  But replacing Rondo with Bradley/Crawford is just embarasing.

This team is no where near a 38 win team with Rondo.  It just isn't very good.  Rondo will certainly help cut out turnovers and running the offense, but he isn't going to magically make bad players not bad.  The Celtics lack talent everywhere.  They just aren't very good.  This team was a .500 team last year with two actual legit #1/#2 scoring options in PP and KG (that was both before and after Rondo got hurt).  You can't just eliminate those type of players, basically not replace them at all, and expect the team to be only slightly worse.  This is a 15-20 win team without Rondo and a 25ish win team with him.  There just isn't talent on this team capable of winning a lot of games, even with Rondo.

  Put a healthy Rondo on the team and I don't know that our opponents (aside from Memphis) are overly better than us. Just cutting back on the turnovers alone will both get the Celts more chances to score and cut back on the number of eaxy baskets they give up. I'm not sure you're really underestimating the Celts as much as you're overestimating other teams talent level, or at least their ability to get good play from that talent.

Not doing either just looking at the crap that is Boston's roster and realizing there is very little talent on the team and no one that can be relied on to score critical baskets (something Rondo won't fix).  This team is quite simply a bad team and Rondo can't save it.  Now sure, Rondo would add 5-10 wins, but that only gets you to 25-30 as that is how bad this team is.

[nickagneta]

Again with the torn up knee. The guy was running 2 a days months ago. The delay was in making sure he comes back at 100% and not putting excess stress on him because one quarter of the Celtics entire schedule this year is in November.

When he returns it will be because he can go and be 100%. His game might have rust and he may have some confidence issues about what the knee can withstand(happens sometimes to even the best athletes, in others it doesn't)but I expect him to be the same Rondo athletically as he has always been. A partial ACL tear without further problems(meniscus, PCL, MCL, etc) doesn't exactly destroy a player's athleticism anymore if they don't come back before it is fully healed.

[TwinTower14]

A partial tear and a full tear are the same thing, it requires the same surgery? same recovery time?  If you think he is going to hit the ground running you are crazy?  Name one player that has?  ADP even got off to a slow start last year, Welker had his lowest out put the year he returned, look at Derrick Rose now...  You don't take a year off from playing a professional sport, jump back in and expect to be the same player?  Fast forward a year from now, Yes! Rondo will be an elite PG playing at a All Star level...

[nickagneta]

A partial tear and a full tear are the same thing, it requires the same surgery? same recovery time?  If you think he is going to hit the ground running you are crazy?  Name one player that has?  ADP even got off to a slow start last year, Welker had his lowest out put the year he returned, look at Derrick Rose now...  You don't take a year off from playing a professional sport, jump back in and expect to be the same player?  Fast forward a year from now, Yes! Rondo will be an elite PG playing at a All Star level...

I completely disagree with this and will leave it at that.

[TwinTower14]

small sample size but here is an article post Rose's injury to show that players have a slight decline once they return from a torn ACL...

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2261