How Rondo Landed In Boston

by Jeff Clark on Jan 21, 2009 11:07 AM EST in Boston Celtics News & Links

Great little history lesson here by Kevin Henkin on how Rondo landed in Boston. For those that think that Danny "lucked out" or somehow figured out how to be a good GM in the summer of 2007, I submit this evidence to the contrary.

Hearken back to the date of February 24, 2005, which is when this whole Rondo-to-Boston journey really began. Such was the day that Danny Ainge traded a soft European swingman named Jiri Welsch to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the pick that would eventually land Rondo. Recall Welsch, who originally came to Boston as a throw-in player from the Dallas Mavericks as part of the Antoine Walker for Raef LaFrentz deal in October of 2003. Welsch had a decent outside shot but not much else in his bag of tricks. In the 2004-05 season, he started 55 games for Boston before eventually losing his starting spot to then-rookie Tony Allen. While Welsch was sitting on the bench in his diminished role with Boston, Jim Paxson of the Cavaliers came calling in search of some much-needed outside shooting help and the deal was struck.

Needless to say, Jiri was out of the league soon thereafter, but Danny wasn't done.

Fast forward to June 28, 2006, the date of the draft during which Danny Ainge used that Cleveland pick to send to Phoenix (along with cash considerations) to obtain the draft rights to Rondo (and the to-be-waived Brian Grant's remaining contract).

Recall that at the time of the draft, Rondo was still a relatively unproven talent, considered by most to be behind UConn's Marcus Williams on the draft's projected point guard depth chart.

So what you have there is talent evaluation (on his own team and in the draft) and creative trading. Not everything he did worked out in the end, but I could see the method to his madness at every step. Nice job Danny.

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Of course...

… if Danny hadn’t made the trade with Atlanta for two months of Antoine, we never would have had to trade with Phoenix in the first place, since the picked used to select Rondo was originally ours. That pick went LA —> Boston —> Atlanta —> Phoenix —> Boston. The Cleveland pick the next year was used on Rudy Fernandez, who easily could have been Celtics property.

I think the second Antoine trade was directed by ownership; it never seemed to fit with the “build for the future” / “stockpile chips” vision. I love the Rondo trade, but it probably never should have been necessary.

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

by Roy_Hobbs on Jan 21, 2009 11:17 AM EST reply actions

yeah but

Antoine had a “stranglehold” on the team!

;)

ok, I have to admit, that first Antoine trade for Raef was bad on a number of fronts, but in the end he helped us get KG, so at least Ainge was able to bounce back from prior mistakes

"Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." Michael Scott

by Jeff Clark on Jan 21, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions

Agreed...

The two trades regarding Antoine were about the only ones in Danny’s tenure that I didn’t like. Even with the Raef trade, I understand Danny’s thinking; pre-injury, Raef was a good player. Plus, we ended up with Rondo (indirectly), Delonte, and Tony (ugh) out of that deal.

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

by Roy_Hobbs on Jan 21, 2009 11:24 AM EST up reply actions

Not A Bad Deal

The previous management said our players were not {dealable}. Danny didn’t like the build of the team when he took over, he didn’t like the style of play and he didn’t like Antoine’s game. If this was only a deal just for the sake of making a deal to start making changes it was a great deal. As you said it ended up with KG.

by TrueGreen on Jan 22, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions

"Directed By Ownership"

I doubt ownership “directs” any deal made by Danny. They hired Danny to make basketball decisions. Ownership becomes involved in the money aspect.

by TrueGreen on Jan 22, 2009 9:58 AM EST up reply actions

And Rondo's shooting is improving, slowly, but steadily:

http://nbadraft.rivals.com/bviewplayer.asp?Player=47271

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/players/4149/

up to 33% from the pro 3 line and 64% free throw. Not to mention that he is better with the mid range jumper. I am repeating this because as much as he gets criticized by whomever, if he gets to 38 and 70-74 he has essentially arrived.Any better than that I mean what are we really dealing with, a guy shooting 40% from three who can get to the hole at will and is a 80% shooter from the line?? he is heading in the right direction and I hope he is still hanging out with Ray a lot.

by wahz on Jan 21, 2009 11:36 AM EST reply actions

Interesting comparison now...

especially since Marcus Williams had a much higher rating coming out of college. He was seen as the Nets PG of the future, only to crash and burn after a season and a half.

As far as Rondo’s shooting, he has to work in FT’s, floaters and the elbow jumper. Ray & PP can help him with that. Rajon is the perfect candidate for hitting the elbow jumper off of screens, he just needs to get comfortable with that range and perfect his shooting mechanics.

by LuckyNumber07 on Jan 21, 2009 11:45 AM EST reply actions

Another aspect to the Rondo story: Back in the dark days of 2005-06, when the Cs were looking at a lottery pick, most Cs fans were absorbed with the various draft websites. Chad Ford at ESPN.com covered the draft and he, almost alone at the time, would periodically write very favorably about Rondo. On a few occasions he cited an unnamed NBA GM who thought that Rondo had the legitimate potential to be a superstar and was the best player in the draft. The one GM seemed to be Ford’s main pro-Rondo source, as everyone else talked about his lousy J and lousy attitude. Maybe I am speculating because of the Mormon thing, but I am willing to bet that Danny was Ford’s source. (Ford acknowledges that he talks to Danny a lot, or at least he did.) Although one must wonder why Danny would spill the beans; guess he figured the other GMs were smart enough to see what he was seeing. Fortunately, they were not.

by elrod enchilada on Jan 21, 2009 11:50 AM EST reply actions

Danny knew

When he drafted Rondo, he said that he had been following him and wanted to draft since high school along with Telfair. So it wasn’t luck, he knew he was good but it was impressive trading to acquire him.

by celtics1786 on Jan 21, 2009 12:40 PM EST reply actions

I've Read This Also

Prior to making a deal you must know the purpose of the deal. Some will not work out, but often those deals weren’t made with the thought that they would be long-term. The thing that makes Danny successful is that he recognizes talent when others don’t see it. He also understands human nature. This there are certain players Danny has in his sites years before a deal is made to get them here. He is prepared when the opportunity comes to get these players. Ray Allen wasn’t a spur of the moment deal in Danny’s mind. It seemed that way when it was done, but Danny probably wanted Ray long ago if the situation here was right and the opportunity to deal came along. Same with Posey last year. Danny wanted Reggie Miller. But the moment Miller said no Danny was on the phone to Posey because he was prepared. He got lucky because of the timing because Pose was about to sign with NJ.

by TrueGreen on Jan 22, 2009 9:55 AM EST up reply actions

Half the people

on this site wanted Williams over Rondo. LOL Hate to toot my own horn (not really), but I was one of only a handful (maybe even less than that) that wanted Rondo with the 7th pick. Danny did a great job getting him at 20.

by Bankshot on Jan 21, 2009 12:50 PM EST reply actions

Yep...

… you and Chris were the big Rondo supporters from the very beginning. Others came around a bit as the draft got closer, but you liked him for awhile.

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

by Roy_Hobbs on Jan 21, 2009 2:37 PM EST up reply actions

Pre Draft Tryouts

Rondo outplayed all the pg’s Danny was considering in pre draft tryouts.

by TrueGreen on Jan 22, 2009 10:03 AM EST up reply actions

What happened to Jiri Welsch?

I remember in the preseason before he got traded he scored around 22 points in a game and a headline in one of the newspapers read:

“Welsch has Rivers gushing”

or something like that. I was hoping he’d be a Peja Stojakovic type of shooter, instead he was more like Viktor Khryapa.

by Ruben Wolkowyski on Jan 21, 2009 1:37 PM EST reply actions

What happened to Jiri Welsch

Jiri Welsch is spending his third year in the Spanish ACB league, where he stays in green playing for Unicaja Málaga, a powerhouse in the league and among the Top-16 in the Euroleague. He shares the SG position with Spanish international player Berni Rodriguez, averaging 8 ppg, 4rpg and 2apg in 20 minutes.

His NBA days might probably be over, and he’s never gonna be a star in Spain, nothing of a go-to guy, but has earned a reputation of a team player, with a decent shoot without being a pure shooter, adding a bit of defense on some nights.

by Fleetwood_mat on Jan 21, 2009 7:30 PM EST reply actions

congrats on your prescience bankshot and others. i remember not knowing much about rondo but people were touting him on this board. i also seem to remember that danny was on him all the waway from the beginning.

by nazzbo on Jan 22, 2009 10:03 AM EST reply actions