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Good shot, Rajon
Bum ***
Good shot, Rajon
Bum ***
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"Sully" would honestly pair well with a Noel or Embiid. Wouldn't have been mad, for Philly or Boston, if Ainge traded up to #3 overall to nab Embiid instead of sitting at #6 for Smart.^^^ agreed. i think he'd be better off playing along with a true C because if he's our best 'rim protector' or lack thereof on the floor, that's not good at all. But he's been solid. I think his game will shine even more because he'd be more than suitable being #4 whilst having a true center caliber player patrolling the paint with him.
I'm just concerned about what value Ainge would get at this point, for Rondo. Ainge's track record lately is pretty average
definitely true. no one is gonna give Ainge fair value for Rondo. but I rather get at least something before he walks. I don't think he resigns with us this offseason.
watching my first C's game of the year since i'm home
Joakim Noah Loves Playing in Boston: Celtics Fans ‘Talk a Lot of Sh*t’
The first-round pick may well fall in the 20s, and god knows Dallas has whiffed on just about every shot it has taken down there. But it’s still valuable and represents a real get for Boston, considering that expiring contracts have netted very little in midseason trades under the collective bargaining agreement.
For the Celtics, this is a disappointing deal on the surface — but only on the surface. You can cherry-pick other recent deals for expiring and semi-expiring contracts that netted better return, but the circumstances are never equivalent. The Magic got more for Dwight Howard, but he’s Dwight Howard. Rajon Rondo is not Dwight Howard.
The Rockets got what will likely be a better first-round pick for Omer Asik. The Bulls got cap relief (Andrew Bynum) and multiple picks, including what could be a late lottery pick this June from the Kings, in the Luol Deng deal with the Cavaliers.
Those Cavaliers were desperate to make the playoffs, tossing bundles of picks all over the league for veterans who didn’t move the needle. New Orleans is desperate to make the playoffs now, and the Pelicans nabbed Asik in the summer — in time for training camp and the full season.
Boston was dealing Rondo in the middle of the season, giving any potential suitors much less time to integrate him. It didn’t have a trade partner with the right combination of sweaty “WE HAVE TO WIN NOW!” desperation and good trade assets. The Lakers can try to sign Rondo this summer, which is why they were planning to cap their offer at Steve Nash, the Houston first-round pick they got with Jeremy Lin (likely to be in the mid-20s), and a second-rounder, per sources familiar with the matter.
The Rockets could have dangled a potential lottery pick from New Orleans (the Asik pick), but they appear to not have done so, and they’d have needed a third team to make a deal with Boston. The wackadoo Kings didn’t pony up in the end, and there just aren’t many other teams with a need at point guard and any motivation to deal picks. Maybe the Knicks would have done a dumb Knicks thing had they already not done a dumb Knicks thing in dealing a first-round pick and two second-rounders for Andrea Bargnani. They’re also set to have big-time cap room this summer for Rondo’s free agency, and he would appear a bad fit for the triangle.
The market just wasn’t there. It’s easy to criticize Boston for waiting too long, and it was indeed asking two and even three first-rounders for Rondo over the last year or so, per multiple league sources. But the Celtics weren’t getting more than this in the end.
Rondo’s ACL tear in January 2013 was devastating in every way. Last season, 2013-14, was the year to trade Rondo if Boston was determined to do so. The Celtics were determined, but there was no getting max value as the league watched to see what Rondo looked like after his midseason return.
Trading Rondo in 2012-13, with three seasons to go before the expiration of his contract, would have been cutting bait way too early on a healthy star in his prime. Hell, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were still on the team then; Boston was just a few months removed from taking Miami to Game 7 of the conference finals.
Trading Rondo now, a few months from the end of his contract, is too late for Boston to get a fat trade return. Rondo’s knee injury obliterated the sweet spot — the two-years-away trade Utah made with Deron Williams.
All things considered, Boston has done fairly well here. The Celtics convinced Dallas to protect the pick in both directions, per Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, so that the Mavs keep the pick in the 2015 draft if it falls within the top three (ha!) or between no. 15 and no. 30. That last part is key. Boston wants to maximize its chances of getting a decent pick, and it knows Dallas is picking in the 20s this season.
After 2015, the pick is only top-seven protected, so that if Dallas somehow blows free agency or otherwise dives into mediocrity, the Celtics could get a pick in the middle of the first round. That’s a solid return, considering that only one certain first-round pick changed hands over the last two trade deadlines combined.3
The Celtics, in the meantime, get a free look at Wright, Crowder, and Nelson. Wright and Crowder are both set to be free agents this summer, though Crowder will be restricted. All three could net some return at the trade deadline. Wright and Crowder could be keepers at the right price. Wright provides a bit of rim protection, badly needed in Boston, and you can envision him slicing down the lane on pick-and-rolls as Sullinger and Olynyk spot up. (Kindly ignore the question of who might be dribbling the ball.) Crowder is a menace on defense who has improved his 3-point shot, especially from the corners. The Celtics also get a fat trade exception here, a nice carrot for later.
It’s not the bonanza Boston and its fans were expecting two years ago, but that kind of return became unrealistic almost the moment Rondo tore up his knee. It couldn’t risk Rondo for nothing, clearly didn’t want to give him the max, and realized after losing out on Kevin Love that Rondo likely no longer fit its rebuilding timetable.
Now Boston just needs to turn all of those draft picks, and all of that cap space, into a team — and with no other obvious star target on the horizon. Ask Orlando and Utah how hard that is.
It’s the end of an era in Boston. The starting lineup from the 2008 title team still hasn’t lost a playoff series. It never will. Those players are all gone now, and their quirky point guard is off to chase a ring elsewhere. He’s not likely to get it, but you have to admire the Mavs for going all in.