How devoted do you think Rondo is to the Celtics?

[Chris]

He's not Pierce, who's been the face of the franchise for more than a decade and who has bought in completely to the Celtic mystique.  Once he retires, Pierce will be showing up to sit with Mike and Scal for a quarter and do commentary.  He'll hand out the Sixth Man Award.  He'll remain an integral part of the Celtics community once he retires. 

Some revisionist history here...Pierce would've asked for a trade if KG/Ray weren't brought in. Celtics Mystique is there when the C's are winning and have a competitive roster. Rondo has bought into that as long as the C's are winning. When they're not, like almost every star player that's ever played in the NBA, he will be unhappy.

Absolutely.  And there is also another key component here...the C's management.  Do they want to keep Rondo longterm?  Does it make sense for them to keep him around, or will they be in a position where it makes more sense to move on?

Pierce was good, because he worked with Danny, and vice versa.  They had open communication on the future of the franchise, and I think were likely on the same page.  Either go all in to win, or start clean without Pierce. 

I could see a similar situation with Rondo in a couple years.  He won't want to stay for rebuilding anymore than the team will want a 28 year old PG signing a max contract, as they are trying to get younger.

[the_Bird]

He's not Pierce, who's been the face of the franchise for more than a decade and who has bought in completely to the Celtic mystique.  Once he retires, Pierce will be showing up to sit with Mike and Scal for a quarter and do commentary.  He'll hand out the Sixth Man Award.  He'll remain an integral part of the Celtics community once he retires. 

Some revisionist history here...Pierce would've asked for a trade if KG/Ray weren't brought in. Celtics Mystique is there when the C's are winning and have a competitive roster. Rondo has bought into that as long as the C's are winning. When they're not, like almost every star player that's ever played in the NBA, he will be unhappy.

I don't doubt Pierce would have asked for a trade at the time (and they would have been shopping him regardless), but I believe there's a lot more to it than just being a winning team.  Pierce has matured a LOT since earlier in his career - he isn't the punk who showed up at the press conference in the Indiana series with the dumb-ass head bandage.  That was a winning team, but that wasn't a mature Pierce. 

If the team's performance begins to decline to the point where a full-rebuild becomes necessary, I think he'll accept being traded but I don't see him actively petitioning for a trade.  But, I can't PROVE that, it's juts my sense of hearing how he talked about the team and his role in the Celtics tradition, versus how he used to be back 7-8 years ago.