Just because I've seen a lot of doom & gloom posts after Rondo being shipped out, part of this thread is for optimism and not losing complete hope for what the future holds for our beloved Celtics. Btw I'm one who's mourning the trade as well and will expect for Rondo to absolutely turn it up when he comes back on Jan 2. for our nationally broadcasted matchup against Dallas.
Yes we lost Rondo, but that does not mean its over for the Celts for years to come. I look forward to seeing our rookies and other young guys continue to develop as there's a lot to be hopeful for with our young nucleus of Sully, Bradley, Olynyk, Smart and Young.
In lieu of the Big 3 Celtics championship era ending completely with Rondo gone, I was just sitting here thinking about a comparable time where the Celtics have been in a similar situation and what came after it.
The only comparable time I could think of was before the Big 3 was formed, but the only major difference in that 2006-2007 season was that we had a bonafide star in Paul Pierce and a star in the making, Al Jefferson, along with the trove of assets in young players and draft picks.
The closest we have now is Jeff Green to Paul Pierce (Pierce, of course, blows Jeff away) and Sully to Al Jefferson, which is a fair enough comparison. However, I'd say we have far more valuable picks than '07, but had better players in '07.
My extremely well-analyzed, well put together breakdown (<-little sarcasm) of who was better in their prospective careers at the time:
'07/'14
In my opinion,
Pierce >> J. Green
Al Jeff > J. Sullinger
Delonte West = A.Bradley
Ryan Gomes < K.Olynyk
R. Rondo < M.Smart
'07 BAM moment - blockbuster trades for Ray + KG.
'14 BAM moment - yet to be seen...
Yes, we've talked about swinging a power play for big names as we did in '07, but are there other times in Celtics history we could learn from and be hopeful for - given the current circumstances?