I largely shared your desire to ditch Rondo, but I don't understand how one could both want to deal Rondo and want the Celtics to win games with the squad they have post-Rondo. The whole point of dealing Rondo and his veteran buddies on this team is to accelerate our bottoming out and thus accumulate young talent ASAP.
TheFlex,
That was my mentality last season when I desperately wanted Boston to trade Rondo. I thought it would help us tank. But that myth was put to bed last season.
For the season we were 25-57
Games with Rondo = 6-24 ... 16 win pace
Games without Rondo = 19-33 ... 30 win pace
How about 2012-13. We were 20-23 when Rondo went down with an injury. We lost the last 6 games he played. The offense then transformed itself with him gone, went on a 6 game win streak... finished the season over .500 and made the playoffs.
So far this season we are 2-0 without Rondo.
We played without him on November 8th, shot 52%/37%/75%. Seven players scored double digits. We had 25 assists.
Last night 6 players scored in double digits. We shoot 57%/35%/72%. Team gets 29 assists.
Everything I see suggest we are a more efficient team without Rondo. If Marcus Smart is what we expect, his increased minutes improves our defense. There's a chance the Dallas vets (Wright in particular) will help us a bit as well.
I don't think that trade was a tanking move at all. We should be better after the deal. Now... if we move Jeff Green, it could make an impact in our offense. But we should keep cruising along on a 25-30 win pace regardless of that Rondo trade.