Well I've had a lot of drinks and until Rondo says "There was no way on Earth I was coming back to the Celts, even if they offered me the most money" I won't believe he wasn't coming back.
And there's no reason for RR to ever say that now, so I suppose you'll never believe he wasn't coming back. I don't see any proof to believe that Rondo was coming back.
Exactly. We had the most money to offer him. No trade demands on his part. He signed with us before for a reasonable deal. Exactly. I will never believe he wasn't coming back. Given a reasonable offer he would have been back. So would have Perk.
He's not coming back. 
Since Danny was in the same building as RR day in and day out and it's his job to know whether or not a player is coming back (and worth the price they're asking), I'll have to trust his judgement rather than inventing hypotheses to fit a pre-established conclusion. It is logical to conclude that either Danny had good reason to believe that Rondo was not coming back or that he didn't want to spend the money it would take to resign Rondo. On the latter, given Rondo's play post-ACL I can't blame him. I wouldn't want to spend max money on a player who is probably not even in the top 10 at his position and no longer a top 50 player in the NBA.
Of course, maybe Danny is just vindictive and has it out for RR. Maybe he has a secret handshake with Rondo who then returns this summer in FA. Maybe Rondo's career is revitalized in Dallas and he returns to his previous form which was worthy of a max deal. Me, I'm a Occam's Razor kind of guy. The simplest solution is often the correct one and thus that wouldn't involve Danny being massively incompetent or somehow out to get Rondo. He moved Rondo because he figured that was the best long-term value he was going to get, which would indicate that he didn't think Rondo was either going to stay or was worth paying to stay. But that's just me - I'm a logical kind of person - and that doesn't prevent anyone else from believing something different.
It was clear Rondo was going to go to free agency. That's when we offer him more than anyone else can offer him because we have his bird rights. Then see what others offer and see if he takes less money and years.
If Danny wanted to not offer any money to the assist and pg rebound leader and good defender in favor of a rookie pg who looks a lot more like Marcus Banks than D Wade....well then in that case in Danny I don't trust.
So the Cs have his Bird rights. Big deal.
If Rondo wanted to go elsewhere, he would just force a trade much like Lebron just did from Miami. What'd they get? Two really low first round picks and a trade exception. What did Danny just get? A role player, a 1st round pick that projects to be better than the Cleveland pick and a trade exception. So when you look at what Miami got for the best player in the NBA versus what the Celtics got for Rondo, Danny looks like he swung a pretty good deal. That deal would be worse during this summer if Rondo decided to walk.
So if it is clear Rondo was going to FA and your plan is that you have to pay him the highest dollar value PLUS hope he doesn't force a trade, that's a pretty crappy plan IMO. Seriously, thank you for proving my point for me.
As far as his play, Rondo still does a great job of assists and rebounds but the negatives now start to really cut into the positives. There's a reason the Cs haven't played as well with Rondo on the court for 3 years now. His defense has been pretty lackluster by every single measurable statistic. His shooting is so bad it's pathetic. He's become such a liability from the line that 'hack a Rondo" has become a viable strategy. His play in the 4th quarter of close games has become atrocious. His assist to turnover ratio is going the wrong way in both directions - assists are down, turnovers are up. He doesn't get to the line even half as much as he did early in his career. PERs down, VORPs down, ORtg - DRtg is negative for the first time in his career. The list goes on and on.
Yes, Rondo is a master of creating points. But he's giving up a ton of points too - defensively, turnovers and his shooting all cost his team points. That doesn't mean he's a bad player, but he's not elite. As has been pointed out on this very blog, it's fairly easy to name 10 PGs who are playing better than Rajon Rondo right now. So now if the plan is to offer the most money AND hope he doesn't force a trade all for a player who isn't even all that great anymore (or you're banking on him to dramatically improve even though he's almost two years out from the ACL injury now), the plan outright sucks in my opinion. I'd much rather have the birds in hand - a 1st round pick, a role player with value and a TPE that everyone in the league is drooling over.
Topic: Fun time to be a Celtics fan I promise you I havent had a drink yet (Read 11013 times)