Trading Rondo always comes back to the same issue, value.
Because of the rule changes, and a plethora of good (not great) pgs, there is little value in trading Rondo.
Yeah. So many times I've racked my brain trying to come up with good, realistic Rondo trade ideas. It's difficult.
Yet, my thinking is that the Celtics may be in a position where they need to trade him in order to get something for him instead of allowing him to walk for nothing.
Better to trade him sooner (i.e. this summer) rather than spend all next season with yet another "will they / won't they" thing with Rondo. Especially since the potential trade return for Rondo might be at its lowest at the deadline next year if other teams think Rondo's leaving.
I agree - but the reality of the issue is this: The league (no surprise whatsoever) doesn't worship Rondo the way the majority of posters here do.
So consider this: Whatever we would get for Rondo, the players involved are going to be marked for relentless fan bashing - and on this blog - because they had the temerity to be acquired for the greatest point guard in the history of the game, at least in the eyes of Celtic fans who've swapped any semblance of objectivity for green-colored glasses.
It doesn't matter if we get Kevin Love in the deal; Love will be relentlessly attacked by some, as Jeff Green has been - despite the reality that getting Green for the rotting corpse of Kendrick Perkins was a John Dillinger-style heist on Ainge's part.
Would the Celtics be better off moving Rondo? Probably. But the reality is Ainge can't make a Rondo trade that will satisify the fans all wound up in Rondo himself. His market value and his fan value are two radically different things.