Chad Ford on Rondo

[PhoSita]

It's more or less what Ford has been saying all along. It's always either "NBA executives" or "NBA circles" that are convinced Ainge will shop Rondo eventually.

What's more interesting is Ford's frank assessment of the talent level on the team besides Rondo, which you didn't include:

All three of the teams ahead of them (Ford is referring to the three teams ahead of Boston in his "tank rank," Milwaukee, Orlando, and Philly) have at least one young player they can conceivably build around...Unless you think Avery Bradley or Jared Sullinger is a savior, the cupboard is pretty bare. The draft is their best chance at landing a future All-Star and Ainge knows it.

There you have it. Ainge KNOWS IT, according to Chad Ford!

Head scratcher.

Philly has ... MCW and Noel.  Hm.  Maybe one of them becomes an All-Star caliber player.

Orlando has ... Oladipo and Vucevic?  Oladipo may max out at "Rich Man's TA."

Milwaukee ...   Unless he's REALLY getting ahead of himself on Giannis Antetokounmpo, I have no idea who he's referring to.

[dreamgreen]

Typical speculation. Everyone believes Ainge will go young just like the year we traded our pick for Ray Allen and went old. Ainge could be a buyer or seller at anytime depending on the deals he has out there. I'm sure he would trade Rondo for someone he thinks is an upcoming star and draft picks if the deal was out there. I can also see him trading for Melo and Asik and see what happens from there.

[BleedGreen1989]

It's more or less what Ford has been saying all along. It's always either "NBA executives" or "NBA circles" that are convinced Ainge will shop Rondo eventually.

What's more interesting is Ford's frank assessment of the talent level on the team besides Rondo, which you didn't include:

All three of the teams ahead of them (Ford is referring to the three teams ahead of Boston in his "tank rank," Milwaukee, Orlando, and Philly) have at least one young player they can conceivably build around...Unless you think Avery Bradley or Jared Sullinger is a savior, the cupboard is pretty bare. The draft is their best chance at landing a future All-Star and Ainge knows it.

There you have it. Ainge KNOWS IT, according to Chad Ford!

Head scratcher.

Philly has ... MCW and Noel.  Hm.  Maybe one of them becomes an All-Star caliber player.

Orlando has ... Oladipo and Vucevic?  Oladipo may max out at "Rich Man's TA."

Milwaukee ...   Unless he's REALLY getting ahead of himself on Giannis Antetokounmpo, I have no idea who he's referring to.

Yeah, I'm not disputing the Rondo trade rumors but Ford is reaching on these teams "building blocks".

[BballTim]

Very interesting.

The Celtics? Rajon Rondo could be that building block. But he turns 28 in February, has posed chemistry issues in the past and there is an increasing belief among NBA circles that GM Danny Ainge will use him, once healthy, to get multiple assets back. So the chances that he's the Celtics' cornerstone moving forward look slim.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10285177/tank-rank-luol-deng-trade-shakes-landscape

I'll believe when I see it. And his "chemistry issues" is only with Ray Allen. I don't see complaints from KG and PP, and they both acknowledge Rondo has a capable leader!

I say it's 50/50 he's traded.  If he comes back Friday, we'll have 16 games to showcase him... if he looks super healthy and good, I expect Ainge will get offers and I expect Ainge will consider the offers.  If he looks terrible, we probably shut him down until next year and start the cycle over in Rondo's contract year.

No guarantee he's traded... but it's a distinct possibility.

As for the "chemistry" issues stuff... we've been hearing it for a while.  Smoke/Fire.  I suspect most of the locker-room stuff is kept in house.  It usually only trickles out after a player leaves.  We didn't hear about the Ray/Rondo beef until after Ray had packed his bags...

  Rondo gets upset at times but there really hasn't been any talk of chemistry issues (other than Ray) for I would guess a number of years. Everything you hear about him from anyone associated with the team is generally positive, and they weren't shy about calling him out in the past. Also, take a look at what Doc and the players said about Ray after he left. I'll bet you can't find anything remotely resembling that about Rondo from those same guys (who aren't with the team anymore).

There was also the water bottle incident where he threw a water bottle at Doc and stormed out of the team meeting.

  He threw a bottle at a monitor, not at Doc. He's also had a few incidents involving referees. None of that means he's having chemistry issues with his teammates.

[CFAN38]

I think if rondo gets traded it comes down to championship window. Rondo is 28, James is 29. Lebron has a solid 4 more years in his prime. DA has to realistically feel that he can surround rondo with enough talent to knock off James in order to build around rondo. If he doesn't think this is possible then he needs to construct a team out of you g guys and continue to build assets so he is ready when James starts to slip. In 5 years when AB and sully are hitting their primes the landscape of the nba will be much different. This may also be why Stevens got such a long term deal. This also is why getting one of the top 6 guys this year is so important.

[BballTim]

I think if rondo gets traded it comes down to championship window. Rondo is 28, James is 29. Lebron has a solid 4 more years in his prime. DA has to realistically feel that he can surround rondo with enough talent to knock off James in order to build around rondo. If he doesn't think this is possible then he needs to construct a team out of you g guys and continue to build assets so he is ready when James starts to slip. In 5 years when AB and sully are hitting their primes the landscape of the nba will be much different. This may also be why Stevens got such a long term deal. This also is why getting one of the top 6 guys this year is so important.

  There's no way Danny will wait until LeBron gets old before he tries to contend. Even if he did, he'd have to face Durant in his prime, and then after that it will be someone else.

[slamtheking]

Ford has been beating that drum for a while.  I'll believe it when I see it though.

ditto

when Ford gets something right about the Celtics, someone let me know.  pretty sure I'll be waiting quite a while

[Celtics18]

I think the only people that Rondo has "chemistry issues" with are members of the sports media. 

[Vox_Populi]

As others have said, Ford has been a pro-trade Rondo guy for quite sometime. This is just more of the same. That doesn't mean he couldn't be right, obviously.

[celty86]

The other thing to consider is that if Danny has any plans on signing a major free agent he would want to hang on to Rondo. The big time guys normally only go where there is someone else in place that is pretty talented. 

[Fafnir]

I think the only people that Rondo has "chemistry issues" with are members of the sports media.

Ray Allen comes to mind.

There have been other reports of him rubbing teammates the wrong way. In the 2009-2010 season he was frustrated feeding the ball to Paul/Kevin as they were working back from injury and that caused some friction as well.

Rondo's not JR Smith or anything like that, but he's not Eddie House either.

[D.o.s.]

Maybe it's just me but I don't see the point of trading Rondo at all... yeah DA is gonna get offers but not only will they most likely be low ball offers since hes coming off an injury but  we're also talking about an all star pg here... we're trying to rebuild and having a guy like Rondo as a leader and very talented player is helpful from a win perspective and FA perspective, and it's something most teams don't have. Trading Rondo to bottom out for assets is like being the Bobcats. We have enough draft picks, a trade exception, and some nice expiring contracts. Smart move is to keep Rondo and keep making little trades to get under the cap like DA did with Lee, still conceivably get a good pick, and use the assets and picks to gain more pieces with Rondo to contend... not build around him, but build with him.

Now next year if we aren't contending and Rondo decides he wants to bolt, then you trade him. I think he's worth a contract extension though, he's put everything into this team

You trade Rondo if you felt it could make the team better. As in:

Team with assets from Trading Rondo> Team With Rondo.

I don't know why that's such a hurdle.

[Boris Badenov]

Trading Rondo by the deadline seems incredibly unlikely to me.

IMO Danny would only trade Rondo right now for:
1. A clear current upgrade - e.g., with other assets for someone like Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony.
2. A top 3 2014 draft pick.
3. A budding star (someone like Monroe at a minimum).

This is just based on what I believe to be Danny's philosophy, of not trading a major asset unless you are getting back a player with at least solid potential to be better than the guy you're giving up. No quarter-for-three-dime deals. Nor do I think Danny would trade Rondo simply to get worse this year - the draft is too uncertain to give up a player like Rondo for peanuts. (And better to try to convince RR to sit out the last 20 games of the season...)

But taking these one by one, none make sense to me.

(1) What opposing GM is going to give up a major star for Rondo plus pieces, when Rondo is coming off major surgery and has only one year left on his deal after 2014? It's not like he's Al Jefferson circa 2007...the downside risk is substantial, either that he's hurt or he leaves for greener pastures.

(2) As discussed in other threads recently, the lottery pick deal makes no sense mid-season. For one, Rondo might improve the other team. And second, even the 2nd worst team in the league right now has only around a 60% chance at a top 3 pick. With that uncertainty and the murkiness about who will be in the draft (and how good these guys really are), I just don't see Danny taking the risk now of giving up our best player for what might be the 8th pick in the draft - particularly when we already have 2 picks. Better to wait until after the lottery.

(3) Again, I just don't see an opposing GM taking on Rondo at this stage in exchange for another player with All-Star potential. Better to wait until Rondo's played half a season and shown that he's still an All-Star.

Maybe I'm just missing something...fill me in if you think I am.

[D.o.s.]

Trading Rondo by the deadline seems incredibly unlikely to me.

IMO Danny would only trade Rondo right now for:
1. A clear current upgrade - e.g., with other assets for someone like Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony.
2. A top 3 2014 draft pick.
3. A budding star (someone like Monroe at a minimum).

This is just based on what I believe to be Danny's philosophy, of not trading a major asset unless you are getting back a player with at least solid potential to be better than the guy you're giving up. No quarter-for-three-dime deals. Nor do I think Danny would trade Rondo simply to get worse this year - the draft is too uncertain to give up a player like Rondo for peanuts. (And better to try to convince RR to sit out the last 20 games of the season...)

But taking these one by one, none make sense to me.

(1) What opposing GM is going to give up a major star for Rondo plus pieces, when Rondo is coming off major surgery and has only one year left on his deal after 2014? It's not like he's Al Jefferson circa 2007...the downside risk is substantial, either that he's hurt or he leaves for greener pastures.

(2) As discussed in other threads recently, the lottery pick deal makes no sense mid-season. For one, Rondo might improve the other team. And second, even the 2nd worst team in the league right now has only around a 60% chance at a top 3 pick. With that uncertainty and the murkiness about who will be in the draft (and how good these guys really are), I just don't see Danny taking the risk now of giving up our best player for what might be the 8th pick in the draft - particularly when we already have 2 picks. Better to wait until after the lottery.

(3) Again, I just don't see an opposing GM taking on Rondo at this stage in exchange for another player with All-Star potential. Better to wait until Rondo's played half a season and shown that he's still an All-Star.

Maybe I'm just missing something...fill me in if you think I am.

Mostly agreed.

I think the only teams really interested in trading for Rondo are the teams that have already had their cupboards rummaged through by other GM's and trade (Brooklyn & NY spring to mind first), and/or teams that are otherwise convinced that they can hold onto him beyond a rental and don't look to the lottery to rebuild (I think Dallas and the Lakers both fit into that mold). The team also has to be convinced that the Rondo they're getting is going to be worth the max extension he'll be gunning for.

Now, whether any of those teams can put together a package that would snag him away remains to be seen. I don't see it happening.

[tarheelsxxiii]

I don't think this is a matter of keeping stuff private or not. He will get shipped b/c he's our best asset, 28, coming off a serious knee injury. Danny is probably salivating at the idea. Doubt there has ever even been a question.

For Rondo, I hope he finds a good home. He deserves it, as did Pierce and KG. He's at the age/stage to give a few strong years to a contender. Hope he gets another chance. As a Celtic, he gave more than we could've asked for.

Add-on: Monroe is a very good player. Budding all-star? I think that's a reach. We have probably seen his ceiling - what more do you expect him to do? He isn't an enormous body that can acquire skills; it's the opposite, in fact.