As a fan I am grateful to Wyc for this
So far every single 'rumour' that has come up regarding Rondo has been incredibly one sided in favour of the other team...the only exception being the rumoured Sacramento offer (Thomas, McLemore, 1st Round pick) and it looks like that deal would have beenb shot down by Rondo, not by Danny/Wyc.
Rondo is a very unique talent and is well and truly elite at what he does. The biggest argument for trading Rondo is that he isn't a good enough scorer for an Alfa Dog (i.e. Lebron, Jordan, Carmello) type role. While that is true, he does have all the talent to be truly elite in a sidekick (i.e. Stockton, Pippen, Gasol, Bosh) type role.
Think about this. Many years ago Utah drafted John Stockton - Utah were a weak team at the time so you could argue they needed a superstar to bring them to relevance, and it was clear from the start that Stockton would never be a #1 scoring option on an elite team. Did Utah trade him away for picks and role players? No. The held on to him, and then the following season they drafted Karl Malone. Malone went on to become one of the greatest scorers in the history of the NBA, and John Stockton made his mark in the hall of fame as one of the all-time greatest PG's. To this day, the "Stockton to Malone" is still one of the most famous lines ever uttered in the NBA, and this combo is widely acknowledged as one of the greated two-man combinations to ever play. Did the Jazz win a title? No. They were unlucky enough to be at their peak while Jordan's Bulls were dominating the league. They did however make the Playoffs something like 15 years straight, and during this era the Jazz were consistently one of the scariest teams in the league.
There are so many such examples out there. Would Jordan have ever won a ring if he didn't get Pippen by his side? Would Kobe have won his post-shaq titles if the Lakers didn't swing that unlikely Pau Gasol deal? Would The Lebron have won his ring if Bosh never joined he and Wade in Miami?
While every champion needs an elite go-to scorer, every champion also needs an awesome sidekick. Right now I truly believe that Rondo is about as good a sidekick as you will get in this league. He's a guy who has proven he can score 14-15 points a night on a championship calibre team, yet he's the perfect compliment because he doesn't need to score to dominate a game - his greatest asset is his ability to create easier shots for his less-talented teammates, his ablity to rebound, his ability to get in the passing lanes and wreak havok on defense, his ability to control a game with his elite BB IQ, etc. As long as Rondo is here, we are one superstar scorer away from being one of the scariest teams in the NBA.
The next biggest argument for trading Rondo is that he's going to demand a max contract, and some people don't believe he is worthy of one (because of point #1 - not being a superstar scorer). Have a think about those 'sidekick' guys I mentioned earlier - Stockon, Pippen, Gasol, Bosh, etc. If those guys were playing in their prime today, they would all receive a max contract (and if not, very close to it). Bosh is only averaging about 15 and 7 the last time I checked, yet if he left Miami in free agency I can guarantee it would take a max contract to get him to leave. Everybody knew that SOMEONE would offer Josh Smith a max contract. Rudy Gay got one from memory. Guys like Jeff Green, Andre Iguodala, Kris Humphreys, Gerald Wallace and Luol Deng are not All-Star calibre players right now - some of those guys never were. Still, they are all on contracts paying up around $10M a year. Rondo is FAR superior to all of those guys, so to me a max contract for Rondo is perfectly justifiable. If he goes elsewhere via free agency, he certainly will be getting signed to a max deal.
Finally Rondo is one of those few players who really DOES have the potential to bring other players to Boston. Some of the most elite stars in the game (Kobe, Lebron, Carmello) have expressed immense respect for Rondo because of his skillset, his IQ, his toughness, his championship experience, his desire to win. Rondo spent several years playing alongside three future hall of famers, so we already know he can play effectively alongside other stars.
For Boston, losing Rondo is a move that takes us one big steps backwards. Right now all we need to do is acquire a scoring star - we can do that through the draft, we can do it through free agency, we can do it through trades. It's not an easy task obtaining such a player, but we have the assets to make it happen. Trade away Rondo and now we need to acquire TWO stars. That's twice the challenge. That means you need to score big in two drafts in the very near future, or you need to find assets to bring back two stars, or you need to find cap space to sign two stars. That's not an easy task.
Plus as soon as Rondo goes we have zero championship experience, zero star power to attract free agents. Even if we draft a great prospect this year, prospects tend to take time to show their true potential. Superstar free agents aren't going to sign here just because we have a young player who scouts believe might one day become a star. Three years ago, there were no Lebron James' signing with Indiana in the hope of joining Paul George. Now everybody wants to go there to play with him, but it's taken a couple of years for him to reach that type of elite level whereby he can really draw other players to Indiana.
So at the end of the day I'm glad Wyc is asking a king's random for Rondo...so he should. You should give up a player like Rondo unless you have an above average chance at obtaining a future All-Star in return, because that future All-Star is what you are going to need if you want to even begin to replace all that Rondo offers this team.
You want either:
* A pick high enough that it has a good chance of producing a future all-star (i.e. a top 5 pick in this years draft)
* A young guy with a good chance of becoming a future All-Star (e.g. Demarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe)
* A current All-Star (e.g. Lemarcus Aldridge)
Right now nobody seems to be making such offers (Rondo's injury status likely doesn't help). Right now teams are offering:
* Mid to late first round picks
* Bad players on expiring contracts
* Role players / borderline starters on bad contacts
This is poor value and does not come close to replacing what Rondo offers, so if I'm a Boston GM I hang up the phone...which looks to be exactly what Wyc has asked Danny to do.
I have no problem with this - I see absolultely no justification right now for giving Rondo away for less than his value.
Even if a team could absorb his contract (and clear > $10M off our books), I don't think there is a single player in the upcoming free agency who would be:
1) As good as or better than Rondo
2) willing to sign with a Rondo-less Celtics team
3) Willing to sign for the $12M that Rondo is currently on
Both Monroe and LMA are expiring from memory, and you could argue that both would be solid return for Rondo...but there is no way either of those guys would sign for less than a max contract, and I doubt either of them would attracted to a Celtics roster sans-Rondo.
Again, no reason to low-sell on him.
Topic: Wyc prefers to keep Rondo, tells Danny to set price high (Read 16100 times)