Jackie Mac on Around the Horn

[TheFlex]

"Jeff Green is next, by the way. He'll be hitting the road soon."

ATH dedicated a lengthy portion of their show to discussing the Rondo deal. While much of it was spent drooling over the Mavs' retooled starting five, the last bit was spent evaluating the Celtics' return. None of the analysts seem to agree with Bostonians' feeling that we got too little for Rondo, which is consistent with the rest of the national/non-local media.

The common thought process, corroborated by Jackie Mac, was that we got:

- tons of cap space
- tradeable players that shouldn't be surprised to see themselves in yet another uniform after the Feb. deadline
- a 1st and a 2nd in a market that seemed reluctant to even offer a late 1st for Rondo
- a valuable TPE that Plaschke (hack, but whatever) called "money in the bank"

Also, while they all love Rondo on the Mavs, here was their characterization of him on the Cs:

- he hasn't been the same since his ACL surgery
- he's a player whose flaws (FT shooting, poor spacing ability, lack of aggression going to the rim, sometimes unmotivated defensive play, etc.) can kill a team as easily as his strengths can lift a team up
- he was a free agent at the end of the year and that was a major part of his deflated value (essentially eliminating teams from bidding for him)
- he's in his prime and it was looking less and less likely that Ainge could put a team around him before his play fell off

Thoughts?

[D.o.s.]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

[pearljammer10]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

This is now my biggest problem with the C's. I like KO. He's not enough to build around. I like Young but he doesnt get any minutes yet. I like Green, Bass and Thorton but they are all insignificant because they'll be gone. And I love Wallace but he doesn't get any play time. That's about it.

[Donoghus]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

Pretty much my thoughts.

Smart's about the only one I have an emotional interest in at the moment. 

[Eddie20]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

This is now my biggest problem with the C's. I like KO. He's not enough to build around. I like Young but he doesnt get any minutes yet. I like Green, Bass and Thorton but they are all insignificant because they'll be gone. And I love Wallace but he doesn't get any play time. That's about it.

How do you guys not like Smart?

[TheFlex]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

Sully is my binky and I really like Smart as well.

I'm fascinated with Young's potential but he obviously hasn't been able to show much of anything on the court yet.

Outside of those three, my heart has been turned off to this team. Always liked KO but this forum's Sully-KO standoff has naturally curbed my fandom for him. Green leaving will mean next to nothing for me. I don't really get emotionally attached to guys like him (Ricky Davis comes to mind), as it was rather predictable he wasn't going to be on our next championship squad after we fell flat on our face in the Love sweepstakes.

[Nerf DPOY]

I hadn't thought of the word 'rad' in like, 15 years.

Bill Plashke sucks at life in general.

I really hope Young's shoulder heals up without surgery, as watching him may end up being the saving grace of this lost season.

I think I'm going to take up residence inside NBA Draftnet for the time being, similar to like in Tron.

[sofutomygaha]

I don't understand how this opens up cap space.

[TheFlex]

I hadn't thought of the word 'rad' in like, 15 years.

Bill Plashke sucks at life in general.

I really hope Young's shoulder heals up without surgery, as watching him may end up being the saving grace of this lost season.

I think I'm going to take up residence inside NBA Draftnet for the time being, similar to like in Tron.

Yep.

[Nerf DPOY]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

This is now my biggest problem with the C's. I like KO. He's not enough to build around. I like Young but he doesnt get any minutes yet. I like Green, Bass and Thorton but they are all insignificant because they'll be gone. And I love Wallace but he doesn't get any play time. That's about it.

How do you guys not like Smart?

I like Smart, but I'm expecting a dropoff in the full out defensive pressure once he gets up to over 30 minutes a game and assumes full time PG duties.

[Eddie20]

I don't understand how this opens up cap space.

We don't pay Rondo max money

[Chief]

I think Ainge is obsessed with draft picks. I'm starting to lose faith.

[blink]

Trade still sucks. Hurts less than Pierce and KG. Green will hurt less than Rondo.

I really don't care about any of the players on our roster right now, and I doubt many (if any) of them will still be here when we're competitive again. Assets are great in theory but watching good players go for nothing tangible in the immediate is not rad in the slightest.

Yeah it isn't just the isolated trading of Rondo that is the makes this so depressing.  It is the likelihood that some or all of Green, Bass, Thorton are gone too allowing us to bottom out.  It is the starting over from scratch that makes it feel like a long haul.  And yes, a lot of these players won't be around by the time we are a contender again.

I like AB when he is a terror on D, I like rooting for KO and Sully, but eh...I guess that is why rebuilding isn't very fun to watch.  Hopefully DA gets lucky with some talent falling into his lap sooner rather than later.

[Rosco917]

The characterization of Rondo was spot on.

He'll start off well in Dallas, moving the ball around, throwing flashy passes, hitting the open man. By seasons end he will be controlling the ball more and more. Finally Cuban will run onto the floor and tackle him to get the ball out of his blasted hands.

No seriously...he has a ton of targets to pass the ball to on the Mavericks, they have a powerhouse offense.

The trade was the best we could hope for, he wanted out of Boston.

[sofutomygaha]

I don't understand how this opens up cap space.

We don't pay Rondo max money

We didn't need to trade for Jameer Nelson in order to have an opportunity to not-pay Rajon Rondo.