felger & mazz brought up some interesting points today. to paraphrase - normally when a team has a story get out(that they don't want to get out) they will generally come out & deny it.
listening to brad stevens response to this situation it sounds like stevens told rondo specifically before his absence that he needed to be in Sac. but rondo went ahead with his plans anyway.
also I guess back in oct. brad stevens(on 2 separate occasions) said he would not name a captain unless the NBA told him he had too. felger & mazz mentioned that rondo may have taken the captain role all on his own.
Everything I heard about Rondo being named captain was that he didn't know about it until he heard it in the lineup announcements. Also Danny doesn't deny stories that are true that the team doesn't want to get out. Felger and Mazz are complete idiots.
It was actually Marc Bertrand, not Felger and Mazz specifically, who raised a good point about who exactly named Rondo captain when Stevens was so adamant about it just 4 months earlier.
Stevens reaffirmed that, unless league rules require a captain, he'd prefer to not name one. That's just his style. During his time at Butler, he only named captains twice. In his first season at the helm (2007-08) he designated his five seniors (Julian Betko, Pete Campbell, A.J. Graves, Mike Green and Drew Streicher) as captains, and four years later he tabbed Ronald Nored -- whom he brought to Boston to be part of the player-development staff -- and Garrett Butcher to captain the 2011-12 team.
Rondo has his issues, not even Tim can argue that. The good news is that C's are fully backing Stevens, who has a 6 year deal to prove it, and won't let a player undercut him. Bogans acted up on the team bus and he was removed from the team permanently. If this were a lesser player, they likely would've received the same fate. Pretty sure the malcontent gets traded in the off-season and he starts working on his fourth straight coach (Tubby and Doc before Stevens) to have problems with.
How do you think that happened? Stevens didn't want to name a captain but Rondo forced him to? Were there threats involved, or possibly blackmail? Maybe he just bypasses Stevens altogether and just slipped the announcer a twenty to call him the team captain during pregame introductions? How exactly are you claiming Rondo managed to get the captaincy against Stevens' wishes?
And how does whatever explanation you'll try and come up with fit in with "The good news is that C's are fully backing Stevens, who has a 6 year deal to prove it, and won't let a player undercut him"? Clearly if Rondo's the captain and Stevens has the full backing of the team then Stevens wanted Rondo named captain.
They also brought up the Brossard blurb on ESPN about Rondo:
Rajon Rondo, PG, Boston Celtics
Eastern conference scout: "Three years ago, I was the only scout saying Rondo is overrated, and I was crucified for it. I was saying he was awful. I think he's a selfish player. He's only going to pass it to you if he thinks he can get an assist. I've seen him come out for pregame warm-ups with his shoes untied, shooting lefty foul shots. For him to come out for a game with that attitude makes me question his work ethic. I've never liked his game.
"If you play with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen at close to their peak, they're going to raise everyone's game. Defensively, Rondo's a bit of a gambler, and I don't think his defense is all that. If I was starting a team and had my choice of any point guard, he would be 40th. I mean it. I'd take some backups before him."
The scout's right that If you play with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen at close to their peak, they're going to raise everyone's game. That lasted through, what, 2009 or so? Since then Rondo's been named to 4 all-star teams and an all-nba team. BTW,if you didn't see enough games in the last few years to see what I mean, find some footage of the big three from their peak years (try 8-9 years ago) and see whether you can spot a rather severe difference between then and the last couple of years.
I'm not sure who named him. Perhaps he went to Stevens directly to tell him that he wanted it. Or maybe Ainge did in order to boost up his perception around the league that he's not a problem child. Oh well, back to the drawing board on the latter.
Wow, 4 all-star games! Is that really that impressive? The guy might not be on another one with the abundance of PG's around now. Joe Johnson has doubled up Rondo in all star appearances so is that really that great of an accomplishment?
Tim, you really are a fanatic. You should try to open your eyes once in a while though, it might provide you with a different perspective.
I bet you can't respond with something in the last 2 years or other than:
4 all star game appearances...1 named as a replacement
1 3rd team all-Nba...great 1 year he was considered a top 15 player
44 pts vs Miami... in a loss
"Led" us to the Finals...which he didn't by the way. He was one of the 3 best players on the team and each had their moment(s).
So what's your take? Much ado about nothing? Blowing off your coach is no big deal?
Topic: Rondo skips trip to sacramento (Read 87313 times)