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| The winds of change are blowing towards Boston as the Big 3 era ends. (Getty Images) |
As a primer, from Ken Berger of CBSSports:
At a trade deadline that is defined by the indecisive nature of its biggest players, no entity most embodies the ambiguous consideration of the future being endured with six days to go than the Celtics. Ask around about the Lakers. "Not sure what they'll do." Ask around about the Magic. "They don't even know what they're going to do." Ask about the Celtics.The Celtics are prepared to entertain offers for Paul Pierce, whose subtraction from the Boston core would be the most advantageous to the post-Big Three rebuilding effort given his age (34) and the $32 million he's owed over the next two seasons. And for those same reasons, he'll be the most difficult of Boston's top four players to move. The Clippers, indeed, have interest in Ray Allen, but little in the way of movable salary to make a deal work. Rival executives believe Celtics president Danny Ainge would have to be blown away by an offer to move point guard Rajon Rondo.
No one has any clue.
Trade the Big 3. Blow it up. Stand pat. Move Rondo. Keep Rondo. Add a piece for Jermaine O'Neal. Stay the course. Aim for free agency. Aim for 2014. Aim for this year.
All of these are on the table. All of these have been talked about by the upper Celtics braintrust. But what's real? Here's what we know... No. That's not right. We don't know anything. But here's what they want us to know, and what we think.
Rondo is only available under the most narrow of circumstances, and you better knock their socks off.
From WEEI in Boston:Both publicly and privately, the Celtics have been consistent about what it would take to get them to trade Rondo: Equal value. Short of Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and a handful of other superstar players, they’re not inclined to go that route.
Assessing Rondo’s value is also a part of the equation and this is where it gets complicated. He’s undeniably talented, but teams around the league are fearful that A) he wouldn’t be as good without the shooting ability currently around him and B) his personality would be a difficult match for a rebuilding team.
via Green Street » Get ready for the longest week of the season.
Rondo's the master at keeping you on the edge of your opinion. Just when you think he's a surly, hotheaded malcontent without a jumper, he drops a 15-17-20 triple-double on you that makes you re-think the way you look at the point guard position. Just when you think he's an All-Star-caliber point guard that belongs in consideration for the best at his position, he has a game where he appears uninterested, disengaged, and supported only by the Hall of Fame talent around him.
It's hard enough for us to figure out Rondo, let alone Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers. One thing is clear, they have been on the offensive in regards to discussion about whether they'll move him or not. Again, from WEEI:
“No, I don't think that’s fair,” team president Danny Ainge said on The Big Show on Thursday while vehemently denying a report that he was “aggressively” trying to trade Rondo. “I think he's stubborn and he's intelligent is a fair assessment of him. With that, there's higher maintenance, but I don't know a quality player that I've played with that wasn't higher maintenance than your average player."
Rondo is the most eclectic mix of weird in a league that is full of singular talents, and that seems to be the crux of the issue right now. Obviously, he’s trade bait. Or he’s not.
"Rondo is our best player,” Ainge said. “He's our most important piece of our future. There's no way that we are actively trying to trade Rondo. That makes no sense. There's a difference between some great stuff that we can't refuse because somebody's desperately trying to acquire Rondo. That somebody calls me and says, 'Hey we want Rondo and we're going give you X.' But that's not happening. We're not looking to trade him. I've made zero calls to try to trade him, and I won't."
via celtics - The ever curious case of Rajon Rondo - WEEI | Paul Flannery.
Basically: "We're totally not trying to trade Rondo. But we'll listen to offers. But we're not making them. We love Rondo. But we'll move him. But not now. But maybe sometime. But the offer has to be great. But we're not looking."
Go that?
Yeah.
It's a perfectly reasonable position, publicly, privately, whatever. But the effect is the same. Rondo doesn't like it. He's getting more comfortable with it but no player likes being dangled especially when it's possible he could wind up being shipped to basketball Siberia. Great players are great players anywhere, right? Tell that to Devin Harris, considered one of the best young point guards in the league, shipped to New Jersey and never heard from again. He's in Utah wondering what happened to his life.
The Celtics are handling the Rondo situation delicately. Just not too delicately.
And if they're not moving Rondo, isn't it possible they don't do anything at all?
A total detonation is unlikely
From ESPN.com:
"We have some good pieces," Ainge said. "We have some players still under contract that we really like on the roster, more than we did back in the 2003-04 era (when Ainge first arrived in Boston). Completely rebuild? I'm not sure we need to do that."
via Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge say no rush for Boston Celtics to make changes - ESPN Boston.
The Celtics are not like other franchises. They don't need to send themselves back to the stone age to try and build a championship. They have the lure of being "The Celtics" and play in a large enough market to be able to afford salaries in the luxury tax range, even after the more punitive measures are put in place in two years.
So they can keep what they want, let Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen's contracts expire and still be able to build around what they have in place. They'll still have Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce. They'll have Avery Bradley and JaJuan Johnson and Brandon Bass if he activates his option. From WEEI:
"As of right now we have nothing close to happening," he said. "It's not from a lack of trying. Not necessarily to make major changes, but to make small changes at least."
via Ainge: Won't deal future assets for present.
They'll have pieces to build around. There's no reason to rush into a total detonation, particularly since from all appearances neither Dwight Howard nor Deron Williams have an interest in joining the Celtics. The Celtics need superstars, demand superstars, demand the elite and they will have the chance to get them if not now, then later.
It's maybe the only way that they have a superior position to the Lakers. The Lakers are desperate because Kobe Bryant's window is closing. The Celtics are not because their window is already closed.
Change is coming, regardless
Doc Rivers on ESPN:
"We are going to make changes," Rivers told Colin Cowherd on "The Herd." "I don't think we have to make them this trade deadline. We saw this coming. Danny Ainge is a great GM and we all saw it coming. We know this summer we'll be able to get under the cap, we'll be able to do a lot of moves. This could be one of the best drafts of the last 10-15 years. There's time.
via Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge say no rush for Boston Celtics to make changes - ESPN Boston.
The question of sentimentality in the Celtics has been brewing since last year when they traded Kendrick Perkins. It was then that the talk began, loud and clear, that the team would not sacrifice their forward flexibility nor dramatically impact their salary cap situation in order to keep "the boys" together.
But lost in the discussion of how Ainge and Rivers had an obligation to do the smart basketball thing in all decisions is that the Celtics' culture itself is rife with sentimentality. The organization has had its share of gaffes, that comes with the territory of being this successful at this level of attention for this long. But Red Auerbach set a standard that is at least attempted to be followed in terms of doing the smart thing but also whenever possible doing the right thing. To that end, the Celtics will not be moved patently against their wishes unless a unresistable deal is presented.
That sounds ambiguous, right? "They'll totally trade Paul Pierce if the deal is great but otherwise probably not." That's the case in every trade, ever. But here it matters because there isn't a direct desire to remove any guy from this roster. It's a matter of survival and necessity. It really is just business.
From WEEI:
"As of right now we have nothing close to happening," Ainge said. "It's not from a lack of trying. Not necessarily to make major changes, but to make small changes at least."
via Ainge: Won't deal future assets for present.
There will be changes. Maybe this summer. Maybe in the next six days. The Big 3 era in Boston is, for all intents and purposes, over.
What do they look for? The answer is ability. Not on the floor, but down the line. Ainge tailored his roster starting in 2005 to be able to make the moves in 2007 for Garnett and Allen. The same situation will be replicated here. Not specifically for older superstars, but any huge talents that come available.
The idea is not to have a blueprint for what kind of team to build with players that aren't yours. It's to have a blueprint for how to put yourself in a position to succeed. After that, it's about luck. You still need the benefit of chance. No one knows that better than the Celtics.
