Cliff Notes of Ainge on The Sports Hub (2/21/14 at 2PM)

[clover]

...I didn't really understand the whole "trade Rondo for 25 cents on the dollar" talk that people were preaching.

Who exactly is preaching that?  Trade Rondo for 0.25/1.00?

Is McLemore, Thomas, and 2 firsts for example 25 cents (which was one example trade that was discussed quite a bit)?  So I guess a fair trade would be Cousins, Mclemore, Thomas and 4 future first round picks?  No wait, that would only get us to 50 cents then.

Well considering the fact that trade literally cannot happen with SAC's pick situation, I consider what the real offer to be .25 on the dollar.

Cousins, Thomas and McLemore would be .25 on the dollar?

Incredibly ridiculous opinion, Cousins is a far superior player to RR. More valuable too.

The first one's debatable.  The second one - if Cousins is more valuable, he must've had some of the worst rosters in league history around him to hide it so well.

Yeah, Cousins hasn't yet demonstrated that he's far superior to Rondo. But he is only 23yo, he's a big ol' traditional center, and this year his per 36 is 21 and 12 with a 102 defensive rating.

I am a Cousins homer somewhat, but even if I wasn't I don't think its an outlandish opinion that Cousins right now is a much better player than RR is right now. When comparing players on a good team to a bad team I try not to use stats too much because I think any real NBA fan can use the eye test and tell who is a better player. Especially when a player on a bad team has inflated stats because they are on such a terrible team.

But when I look at Cousins today, and how hes played this season, I just think its better than I've ever seen RR play over the course of an entire season.

Rondo of course isn't at full strength right now. And I would agree that Cousins is the far more valuable player at this point--given age, size, position and potential.

But Cousins is still less than a year removed from appearing to be a major headcase, while Rondo has a ring, a string of AS appearances and some all-defensive honors.

[Jailan34]

...I didn't really understand the whole "trade Rondo for 25 cents on the dollar" talk that people were preaching.

Who exactly is preaching that?  Trade Rondo for 0.25/1.00?

Is McLemore, Thomas, and 2 firsts for example 25 cents (which was one example trade that was discussed quite a bit)?  So I guess a fair trade would be Cousins, Mclemore, Thomas and 4 future first round picks?  No wait, that would only get us to 50 cents then.

Well considering the fact that trade literally cannot happen with SAC's pick situation, I consider what the real offer to be .25 on the dollar.

Cousins, Thomas and McLemore would be .25 on the dollar?

Incredibly ridiculous opinion, Cousins is a far superior player to RR. More valuable too.

The first one's debatable.  The second one - if Cousins is more valuable, he must've had some of the worst rosters in league history around him to hide it so well.

Yeah, Cousins hasn't yet demonstrated that he's far superior to Rondo. But he is only 23yo, he's a big ol' traditional center, and this year his per 36 is 21 and 12 with a 102 defensive rating.

I am a Cousins homer somewhat, but even if I wasn't I don't think its an outlandish opinion that Cousins right now is a much better player than RR is right now. When comparing players on a good team to a bad team I try not to use stats too much because I think any real NBA fan can use the eye test and tell who is a better player. Especially when a player on a bad team has inflated stats because they are on such a terrible team.

But when I look at Cousins today, and how hes played this season, I just think its better than I've ever seen RR play over the course of an entire season.

Rondo of course isn't at full strength right now. And I would agree that Cousins is the far more valuable player at this point--given age, size, position and potential.

But Cousins is still less than a year removed from appearing to be a major headcase, while Rondo has a ring, a string of AS appearances and some all-defensive honors.

He definitely does, I didn't say cousins had the better career.

[CelticG1]

I actually havent heard anybody say this draft is as good as expected prior to the season or better.

People on this blog seemed to have hanged their tune pretty quickly as well.

I also dont really put any stock into what most people on this blog have to say about the draft or college players when most of the time they admitedly atate that they domt watch college bal much.

Im intrigued by the draft but have serious doubts about a once in a generation talent coming out of it and even if we draft first picking the "right" guy is slim choice still.

[BleedGreen1989]

...I didn't really understand the whole "trade Rondo for 25 cents on the dollar" talk that people were preaching.

Who exactly is preaching that?  Trade Rondo for 0.25/1.00?

Is McLemore, Thomas, and 2 firsts for example 25 cents (which was one example trade that was discussed quite a bit)?  So I guess a fair trade would be Cousins, Mclemore, Thomas and 4 future first round picks?  No wait, that would only get us to 50 cents then.

Well considering the fact that trade literally cannot happen with SAC's pick situation, I consider what the real offer to be .25 on the dollar.

Cousins, Thomas and McLemore would be .25 on the dollar?

Pretty sure you misunderstood me.

The rumored "offer" from SAC was IT, McLemore, and two picks for Rondo. Considering SAC is not allowed to trade a first rounder, those picks would need to be 2nd rounders.

In which case, I think that's a very bad deal for Rondo.

I wasn't referring to anything about Cousins. They're not trading him.

[McNoob]

I'm a big fan of Demarcus Cousins, but since we're playing hypotheticals,

If the C's traded Rondo (Bradley too?) for Cousins, Thomas, and McLemore, are we looking at an improved Celtics team or just another version of the Kings? I guess it would be good having Sullinger play PF in that lineup, and maybe the C's could have drafted a PG like Exum, Smart, or (more likely) Ennis to move Thomas to a much more suited 6th-man role.

But is that team actually competing anytime soon? I guess a foundation of McLemore, Sullinger, Cousins, and the 2014 pick have all the potential in the world, but I see the C's hovering around mediocrity a la early 2000s Celtics. Maybe one of those players morphs into a superstar, or maybe the team turns into the 2004 Pistons. I just see a lot of "very good, not great" though.

That's just me. I'm not even saying keeping Rondo will otherwise make the C's great in a couple years.

[Vermont Green]

...I didn't really understand the whole "trade Rondo for 25 cents on the dollar" talk that people were preaching.

Who exactly is preaching that?  Trade Rondo for 0.25/1.00?

Is McLemore, Thomas, and 2 firsts for example 25 cents (which was one example trade that was discussed quite a bit)?  So I guess a fair trade would be Cousins, Mclemore, Thomas and 4 future first round picks?  No wait, that would only get us to 50 cents then.

Well considering the fact that trade literally cannot happen with SAC's pick situation, I consider what the real offer to be .25 on the dollar.

Cousins, Thomas and McLemore would be .25 on the dollar?

If Cousins, Thomas and McLemore is 25 Cents, the four first round draft picks I joked about must be at least another 25 cents.

For the record, yes, I would trade Rondo for Cousins, Thomas, and McLemore, even without the 4 picks so I guess by some people's opinion, I am one of those that would trade Rondo for 25 cents on the dollar.

Maybe it is more like Bitcoins or something where in that currency, Rondo is worth 1.00 dollars of bitcoins which on any given day could range between $0.12 and $1,200.

Also for the record, I am not long on Bitcoins.

[vinnie]

Reading between the lines, because Danny didn't quite say this explicitly, I heard that he thinks if KO has the internal fortitude and commitment to toughen up his body and his play and to become the player that he's capable of being, he could become one of the stars they need to win. But he needs a guy like Humphries to set a great example and show him how to do that, because KO still hasn't really picked it up well enough so far. And, Danny isn't yet convinced that he's got the will to, so he'll be interested through the remainder of the season to see what KO shows him in terms of commitment.

I highly doubt Danny thinks KO could end up being one of the stars. I would say there is less than a 1 percent chance of this happening and of Danny thinking this.

[Celtics18]

Reading between the lines, because Danny didn't quite say this explicitly, I heard that he thinks if KO has the internal fortitude and commitment to toughen up his body and his play and to become the player that he's capable of being, he could become one of the stars they need to win. But he needs a guy like Humphries to set a great example and show him how to do that, because KO still hasn't really picked it up well enough so far. And, Danny isn't yet convinced that he's got the will to, so he'll be interested through the remainder of the season to see what KO shows him in terms of commitment.

I highly doubt Danny thinks KO could end up being one of the stars. I would say there is less than a 1 percent chance of this happening and of Danny thinking this.

I don't know if I feel comfortable using the word "star" yet to describe Olynyk.  I will say, though, that I really like the look of Rondo and Olynyk together.  Those two could form a really fun and exciting combination.