Don't Worry Tankers, Rondo is Coming Back

[D.o.s.]

Reading between the lines, I see Rondo back around Christmas to New Years.

Reading between your lines, I'd say you missed the twitter update. If Rondo's not even meeting to be cleared for contact for another week-and-a-half/two weeks, Christmas to New Years would be a very fast turnaround.

[Celtics4ever]

It will affect our chemistry negatively for a few games.   Implementing a new guy in the middle of the season almost always throws guys out of rythym.

[LarBrd33]

I figure he'll come back about 10-20 games before the trade deadline.  Where does that put his return?

Edit:  Jan 8-26

Enough time to showcase and ship.

[mgent]

Reading between the lines, I see Rondo back around Christmas to New Years.

hahaha? what? you read Ainge's quotes? He won't be back until Mid-January at the earliest?

Where did you read that?  Ainge's quotes don't tell us a thing more than what we already know.  He says Rondo isn't at full strength (which Rondo has said himself) and is at least weeks away.  Rondo hasn't even been cleared for contact or ran a full practice.  That means he hasn't even started getting himself to full strength and into game shape.  Guys coming back from this type of injury midseason always need 2-4 weeks of full speed before they actually start playing games.

That doesn't mean mid-January at the earliest.  Until Christmas/New Years come and he's still not cleared you don't really have any reason to laugh at someone who suggests a date before mid-January.

[TwinTower14]

Reading between the lines, I see Rondo back around Christmas to New Years.

hahaha? what? you read Ainge's quotes? He won't be back until Mid-January at the earliest?

Where did you read that?  Ainge's quotes don't tell us a thing more than what we already know.  He says Rondo isn't at full strength (which Rondo has said himself) and is at least weeks away.  Rondo hasn't even been cleared for contact or ran a full practice.  That means he hasn't even started getting himself to full strength and into game shape.  Guys coming back from this type of injury midseason always need 2-4 weeks of full speed before they actually start playing games.

That doesn't mean mid-January at the earliest.  Until Christmas/New Years come and he's still not cleared you don't really have any reason to laugh at someone who suggests a date before mid-January.

He is not even going to see Dr. Andrews for another 10-14 days? So that puts us at December 19th, if all goes well he is cleared to PRACTICE! not play games? you think he is going to get cleared by Andrews and jump back into the line-up?  With his quote that he is still limping, you think the C's are going to throw him back on the court any time soon?

[Moranis]

Rondo is definitely going to play this year as Ainge will want to get his value up for a potential trade this summer.  You can't trade him for anything more than peanuts if he doesn't suit up at all.  I suspect he will come back towards the end of January.  That way he will be on the court at the trade deadline (though I don't think he gets moved this year) and if by some chance he looks like his old self right out of the gate Boston will still have time to acquire pieces around him for a playoff push (if they go that route).  If he takes awhile to get back into shape that will give him a couple of months to get his sea legs under him in an otherwise lost season.

   I doubt Danny's looking to do anything short term. If they make the playoffs, they make the playoffs. That isn't likely to affect any moves that he'll make, which would be geared towards the future or towards better financial flexibility.

If Boston is still lingering around the Atlantic lead and if Rondo comes back like he hasn't lost a step I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Ainge make all in type moves.  I mean he isn't going to be trading for old men, but I could certainly see him giving up a number of picks and young players to go for a shot this year. 

[LooseCannon]

What if Rondo doesn't want to be traded because he wants to be a Celtic for life and holds himself out until after the trade deadline so that Ainge can't showcase him for a trade?

[Donoghus]

What if Rondo doesn't want to be traded because he wants to be a Celtic for life and holds himself out until after the trade deadline so that Ainge can't showcase him for a trade?

Would Rondo ever actually come out and say that he was holding himself out for that reason, though?  He could just play the "waiting until I'm 100%" card and not risk kicking up things with the organization & the media.  Why kick up a little controversy when you don't need to.

[BballTim]

Reading between the lines, I see Rondo back around Christmas to New Years.

hahaha? what? you read Ainge's quotes? He won't be back until Mid-January at the earliest?

Where did you read that?  Ainge's quotes don't tell us a thing more than what we already know.  He says Rondo isn't at full strength (which Rondo has said himself) and is at least weeks away.  Rondo hasn't even been cleared for contact or ran a full practice.  That means he hasn't even started getting himself to full strength and into game shape.  Guys coming back from this type of injury midseason always need 2-4 weeks of full speed before they actually start playing games.

That doesn't mean mid-January at the earliest.  Until Christmas/New Years come and he's still not cleared you don't really have any reason to laugh at someone who suggests a date before mid-January.

He is not even going to see Dr. Andrews for another 10-14 days? So that puts us at December 19th, if all goes well he is cleared to PRACTICE! not play games? you think he is going to get cleared by Andrews and jump back into the line-up?  With his quote that he is still limping, you think the C's are going to throw him back on the court any time soon?

  The team doesn't have too many practices during the season. He's been running through offensive drills with the team for a while already.

[erisred]

"He's just not himself yet"-
Danny Ainge

"I just don't think he's close yet"-
Danny Ainge

On 98.5 the sports hub.

Thoughts?

That's fine. Bring him back when he's back to 100%. I've been thinking mid to late January for a while now and that still looks like a pretty good bet.

[LooseCannon]

What if Rondo doesn't want to be traded because he wants to be a Celtic for life and holds himself out until after the trade deadline so that Ainge can't showcase him for a trade?

Would Rondo ever actually come out and say that he was holding himself out for that reason, though?  He could just play the "waiting until I'm 100%" card and not risk kicking up things with the organization & the media.  Why kick up a little controversy when you don't need to.

He obviously wouldn't and he wouldn't say that to Ainge in private, but how would you feel if Rondo loved the team so much that he would try to sabotage any attempt by Ainge to trade him?  For the record, I don't think Ainge wants to trade Rondo.  I think it is a silly idea that Ainge would trade Rondo for pennies on the dollar and if people can engage in that sort of silliness, why can't I have some fun in the opposite direction?

[erisred]

Oh My Gosh, Cs are atop the Atlantic?
I guess that's what happens when I don't follow the NBA for a week (smh at myself).
We need to start playing Marshon Brooks more. And Humphries too!

I'm shocked as well. Although, look at the teams in our division. Philly is the only "real" competition. At least until the New York teams get their chemistry right and aren't plagued with injuries.

This early in the season, with some teams having played more and some having played less, I'm only looking at the loss record...not the official one. That has the C's 1 game behind the Raptors and only 1 game ahead of both the Nets and Knicks...and down near the bottom of the eastern conference overall. Once games even out, in another month or so, standings will matter more.

[Donoghus]

What if Rondo doesn't want to be traded because he wants to be a Celtic for life and holds himself out until after the trade deadline so that Ainge can't showcase him for a trade?

Would Rondo ever actually come out and say that he was holding himself out for that reason, though?  He could just play the "waiting until I'm 100%" card and not risk kicking up things with the organization & the media.  Why kick up a little controversy when you don't need to.

He obviously wouldn't and he wouldn't say that to Ainge in private, but how would you feel if Rondo loved the team so much that he would try to sabotage any attempt by Ainge to trade him?  For the record, I don't think Ainge wants to trade Rondo.  I think it is a silly idea that Ainge would trade Rondo for pennies on the dollar and if people can engage in that sort of silliness, why can't I have some fun in the opposite direction?

Have at it.  You won't hear any qualms from me.

[LooseCannon]

Oh My Gosh, Cs are atop the Atlantic?
I guess that's what happens when I don't follow the NBA for a week (smh at myself).
We need to start playing Marshon Brooks more. And Humphries too!

I'm shocked as well. Although, look at the teams in our division. Philly is the only "real" competition. At least until the New York teams get their chemistry right and aren't plagued with injuries.

This early in the season, with some teams having played more and some having played less, I'm only looking at the loss record...not the official one. That has the C's 1 game behind the Raptors and only 1 game ahead of both the Nets and Knicks...and down near the bottom of the eastern conference overall. Once games even out, in another month or so, standings will matter more.

I really do expect the new GM of the Raptors to explore blowing up the team and trying to move Gay, DeRozan, and Fields.  Of course, trading Gay might be addition by subtraction.

Fun fact: Rudy Gay and Kobe Bryant have both recorded exactly 7 games in their career where they had 30 or more points with zero assists.

[mgent]

Reading between the lines, I see Rondo back around Christmas to New Years.

hahaha? what? you read Ainge's quotes? He won't be back until Mid-January at the earliest?

Where did you read that?  Ainge's quotes don't tell us a thing more than what we already know.  He says Rondo isn't at full strength (which Rondo has said himself) and is at least weeks away.  Rondo hasn't even been cleared for contact or ran a full practice.  That means he hasn't even started getting himself to full strength and into game shape.  Guys coming back from this type of injury midseason always need 2-4 weeks of full speed before they actually start playing games.

That doesn't mean mid-January at the earliest.  Until Christmas/New Years come and he's still not cleared you don't really have any reason to laugh at someone who suggests a date before mid-January.

He is not even going to see Dr. Andrews for another 10-14 days? So that puts us at December 19th, if all goes well he is cleared to PRACTICE! not play games? you think he is going to get cleared by Andrews and jump back into the line-up?  With his quote that he is still limping, you think the C's are going to throw him back on the court any time soon?

Again, I have not yet seen a quote from Ainge saying Rondo's not coming back until mid-January like you're referring to.  He says Rondo needs more time, but you're laughing at New Year's even though it's 4 weeks away.  We don't know how Rondo's going to feel then.  A limp isn't a death sentence, it's probably expected pain.  I doubt Rondo is going to stop working out and sit for a month to heal the limp.

I did a quick search and here's what Danny actually said:

“It has nothing to do with Rondo’s health and it’s not like a final straw or anything,” said Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “It’s just a checkup that they’ve scheduled for the beginning of December. It’s been on the calendar for a while.”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/12/05/rajon-rondo-due-for-checkup-with-andrews/yhOT0UA3d8UuX66gPPhg1H/story.html

This checkup was probably the whole source of the early-mid December talk.  Considering he's already been running plays with the team for a while, it's not laughable to consider 2-3 weeks from the moment he's cleared within reason (assuming all continues to go well).