Report: Rajon Rondo "intrigued" by Free Agency in 2015

[BballTim]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

[Tr1boy]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

[BballTim]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

[LilRip]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

well, who is close to Lebron in today's game? I mean, even KG and Kobe only have one MVP each.

[Celtics18]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

well, who is close to Lebron in today's game? I mean, even KG and Kobe only have one MVP each.

Nobody's close to Lebron James, except maybe for Kevin Durant.  If Rondo ever returns to full health, he might be able to return to the relatively sizable and changeable tier occupied by the players that are a notch below that level, though.

That said, I can't see Danny Ainge signing Rondo for five years at over $100 million.  I can't really see anyone else signing him at that price tag either.  I think we are still in the running. 

[indeedproceed]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

well, who is close to Lebron in today's game? I mean, even KG and Kobe only have one MVP each.

Nobody's close to Lebron James, except maybe for Kevin Durant.  If Rondo ever returns to full health, he might be able to return to the relatively sizable and changeable tier occupied by the players that are a notch below that level, though.

That said, I can't see Danny Ainge signing Rondo for five years at over $100 million.  I can't really see anyone else signing him at that price tag either.  I think we are still in the running.

You didn't say it explicitly, but the problem is not the players who get max money. The problem is that Lebron James is so severely underpaid that comparing him to max players is useless. Lebron could make double his salary and still be a bargain.

[Celtics18]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

well, who is close to Lebron in today's game? I mean, even KG and Kobe only have one MVP each.

Nobody's close to Lebron James, except maybe for Kevin Durant.  If Rondo ever returns to full health, he might be able to return to the relatively sizable and changeable tier occupied by the players that are a notch below that level, though.

That said, I can't see Danny Ainge signing Rondo for five years at over $100 million.  I can't really see anyone else signing him at that price tag either.  I think we are still in the running.

You didn't say it explicitly, but the problem is not the players who get max money. The problem is that Lebron James is so severely underpaid that comparing him to max players is useless. Lebron could make double his salary and still be a bargain.

I don't see how Lebron James playing for less than he's worth is a problem. 

If there were no salary cap, I wouldn't care one lick what players were making.  If someone doesn't work out, just spend more.  The problem is the salary cap.  Honestly, I wouldn't necessarily mind seeing a few teams go belly up and letting the richer teams stick around, spend more money, and create a smaller, but overall more competitive league.

The current system has become farcical.  I really hope the new commissioner makes some serious changes.

 

[BballTim]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

well, who is close to Lebron in today's game? I mean, even KG and Kobe only have one MVP each.

  While he's close to retirement, if we're using player's primes you'd have to go with Duncan out of today's nba players. 2-3 years ago  you could have gone with Shaq. For the record, Ray in his prime is well below either of them in their primes as well.

[BballTim]

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015. WEEI.com

That would be unbelievable money for Rondo.   

That is Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, KG (at their peaks), Durant, Lebron money.

  That's the problem with max money, the difference between Ray and LeBron is pretty significant.

At Peak, Ray Allen was a top player in the nba. A notch lower then Lebron but still a guy who can avg 25 pts a game. Clutch performer also

  At his peak Ray Allen was a notch lower than PP, not that close at all to LeBron.

well, who is close to Lebron in today's game? I mean, even KG and Kobe only have one MVP each.

Nobody's close to Lebron James, except maybe for Kevin Durant.  If Rondo ever returns to full health, he might be able to return to the relatively sizable and changeable tier occupied by the players that are a notch below that level, though.

That said, I can't see Danny Ainge signing Rondo for five years at over $100 million.  I can't really see anyone else signing him at that price tag either.  I think we are still in the running.

You didn't say it explicitly, but the problem is not the players who get max money. The problem is that Lebron James is so severely underpaid that comparing him to max players is useless. Lebron could make double his salary and still be a bargain.

I don't see how Lebron James playing for less than he's worth is a problem. 

If there were no salary cap, I wouldn't care one lick what players were making.  If someone doesn't work out, just spend more.  The problem is the salary cap.  Honestly, I wouldn't necessarily mind seeing a few teams go belly up and letting the richer teams stick around, spend more money, and create a smaller, but overall more competitive league.

The current system has become farcical.  I really hope the new commissioner makes some serious changes.

 

  What they should do (to go off of IP's point) is eliminate max salaries but keep the salary cap in place. The bulk of the players who get the max deserve it if you compare them to the average player. But the fact that they get the same pay as players like LeBron and KD is crazy. LeBron might easily be worth $10M more than the average max player. So in effect Miami gets $10M  of value for free and it's quite an advantage over other teams.

  If teams could pay players whatever they wanted someone would have offered James and Wade well over the max so the likelihood of them turning down many millions of dollars a year to play together wouldn't have been as great. What you'd end up with is more parity in the league and more teams with a chance to contend for a title. If you have LeBron or Durant they might be getting (as IP noted) twice what they are and still be a bargain. Whoever was paying them that would have to build a team around them with limited resources because they'd take up so much of the cap. Teams without superstars could have a couple of "regular stars". Either team would have a chance in a series.

[LooseCannon]

What you'd end up with is more parity in the league and more teams with a chance to contend for a title.

What you'd probably end up with is most of the league looking like the non-Indiana, non-Miami Eastern Conference.

[BballTim]

What you'd end up with is more parity in the league and more teams with a chance to contend for a title.

What you'd probably end up with is most of the league looking like the non-Indiana, non-Miami Eastern Conference.

  Not really. Some of the teams would have players like LeBron or Durant, some of the teams would be solid all-around with a star or two, say something like Rondo/(high draft pick)/Green/Sully/Asik, many teams would still be poor. It wouldn't be a league full of .500 teams, it would be a league with few if any super-teams so more than 1 team in the east would have a decent chance at getting past the Heat.

[D.o.s.]

This season Kendall Marshall is averaging a double double in points and assists, per 36 minutes.

Over his actual minutes (33 per game),  Kendall Marshall is averaging almost a double double 10-9.5

Kendall Marshall has played in 18 games so far this year.


Is his sample size too small? Are his numbers unsustainable? Shouldn't both of those questions be applied to Rondo's eight games?


If you don't think so, does that mean we should resign ourselves to the fact that post-injury Rondo is going to be less effective then Kendall Marshall?

  I'd guess if you don't expect Rondo's play or his numbers to improve at all as he gets healthier and his teammates get more used to playing with him or if we put better shooters around him then, yes, we should resign ourselves to the fact that other players will be more effective than him. I would point out, however, that Rondo's in his 8th season so the sample size on his play is somewhat larger than 8 games. We'll be sure to mark you down in the "Rondo's current level of play is at an unsustainably high level" camp though.

Sample size for player after his injury, obviously. Whatever he was doing before he tore his ACL is largely irrelevant to his play now. See Hardaway, Penny. Or Arenas, Gilbert.

And I missed the magic game, unfortunately, but I got a text with his stat line. How'd he look?

[BballTim]

This season Kendall Marshall is averaging a double double in points and assists, per 36 minutes.

Over his actual minutes (33 per game),  Kendall Marshall is averaging almost a double double 10-9.5

Kendall Marshall has played in 18 games so far this year.


Is his sample size too small? Are his numbers unsustainable? Shouldn't both of those questions be applied to Rondo's eight games?


If you don't think so, does that mean we should resign ourselves to the fact that post-injury Rondo is going to be less effective then Kendall Marshall?

  I'd guess if you don't expect Rondo's play or his numbers to improve at all as he gets healthier and his teammates get more used to playing with him or if we put better shooters around him then, yes, we should resign ourselves to the fact that other players will be more effective than him. I would point out, however, that Rondo's in his 8th season so the sample size on his play is somewhat larger than 8 games. We'll be sure to mark you down in the "Rondo's current level of play is at an unsustainably high level" camp though.

Sample size for player after his injury, obviously. Whatever he was doing before he tore his ACL is largely irrelevant to his play now. See Hardaway, Penny. Or Arenas, Gilbert.

And I missed the magic game, unfortunately, but I got a text with his stat line. How'd he look?

  I thought he looked pretty good. 4 points and 6 assists in the 4th, and he had a hand in almost all the points we scored when he was in the game that quarter. His lateral movement is still pretty poor but he's starting to get into sync with the other players.

  Edit: weren't both of those players micro-fracture cases after multiple knee injuries? Because Rondo ending up like that seems like it would fall squarely in the "not impossible but serious outlier" category.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah, I wasn't relating them directly, but more of a "pre-injury"/"past-injury" differential. I could've used Michael Redd (after the first injury, before the second), I guess?

Either way, I'm glad he's had a legitimately great game--it makes my All-Star Break round into form prediction seem a little more realistic, and the C's are way more fun to watch when Rondo's playing well.

[Snakehead]

Either way, I'm glad he's had a legitimately great game--it makes my All-Star Break round into form prediction seem a little more realistic, and the C's are way more fun to watch when Rondo's playing well.

Down the stretch last night is when we would have definitely blown it without him during the year.  But he made a few great shots and found everyone right where they want the ball.  It was the first time I felt like I was watching Rondo... and a confident shooting Rondo that we haven't quite seen yet, even last year when his shooting improved a lot.