Money is a terrible master…but a wonderful servant.

Still, he isn’t a free agent for two years. They have this year, then the qualifying offer, then they still have his Bird rights. Let him stick around, win another title, and then they can evaluate things next year. This seems to be another case of Danny having itchy trigger finger. There’s absolutely no need to rush him. If anything, a year from now they’ll have a better gauge on how much he should get and how good he’ll be. Even more importantly, if they win #18 next year and want to trade him, his value will be at an all time high.

old news for us Celtics bloggers. lol

rondo might want the farm but ownership has the deed. and ownership has seen how the krafts run the pats when it comes to players and money. if this true about rondo, he becomes expendable when ownership wants things to happen.

If Rondo’s and Celts are far apart now, they need to sit down and see what kind of #s they can agree upon (ball park figure) if Rondo has little to no progression or if he has a breakout season shooting from the perimeter and FT line. If we can’t be in the same ball park now or the foreseeable future then really look at deals especially if there is a possibility of getting an Amare or Chris Paul or Bosh – pull the trigger.

We won’t have 3 prime time Hall of Famers to surround Rondo making $60M in the future. Chris Paul is dynamite for the next decade. I am very cautious and would trade Rondo before giving him max money with that outside shot. We get zip if he walks this year. Either get on the same page and make the deal happen or look at other options. L.A. won it with Fisher, and the Magic were there with Ahlston. We can win the finals without Rondo if he plays hard to get.

I watched the segment in question and it was pure speculation, especially from Mannix. I think Russillo had it right: they might like to ‘avoid’ paying Rondo all that money, if a good deal can be found.

Regardless, Cs should do the Rondo extension this summer. Anywhere between 8 and 11 million per year over the length of the contract is fair market value.

If Rondo wants the greenest of pastures money wise and there are teams willing to pay that now for his potential- pull the trigger if we can get high quality in return. If he has the break out shooting and we won’t pay him next summer, he walks. If his outside shot continues to remind you of the Bagel man, than there will be less willingness to pay for his “potential” and ideally less value to the Celts if that shot still isn’t coming around after 4 years.

This are hard economic times and teams out there willing to give value if it saves on long term salary commitments. Other teams trying to position themselves for next summer’s free agency sweepstakes. There are deals to be done if Danny wants to wheel and deal. But the time to pull a smaller scale KG type dealing can be made this summer. It can’t be made next year when Rondo signs with another team and we don’t match the terms like we apparently aren’t matching them now.

My calls to sign Posey last summer fell on deaf ears. We can get #18 without Rondo. If he’s committed to the Celts, sit down and get something done in the $8-$10M range for 3 years with a team or player option for #4. If Celts don’t think he’s worth close to $10M then trade him to a team that will give us the value of a $10M future guy. If Rondo thinks $8-10M is an insult, than I trade him now rather than let him walk next season.

My understanding is the max contract for Rondo is $13.7M for a 3 year player. Too rich for my blood when your shooting 63% FT and horrific jumpers. Team X thinks he’s worth it, adios Rondo. Pay me now though because he’s a freebie next year if we don’t cash in on the kid now.

Rondo averages: 17pts 9.8ast 9.7reb 2.5steals and sports a 3.63 assist/turnover ratio in the playoffs .

He’s better than all but three PGs in basketball, and he is only 23.

Pay him his dues and enjoy watching him torment other teams.

When you`re playing along side of THREE Hall of Famers!
But, that won`t always be the case for RR.

Despite that ugly jump-shot {it usually falls a full inch too short}…his horrible FT shooting {64%}…his inability to even get to the line {3 FT attempts per game}…his many drives in the lane that get blocked——-Rondo is looking for the same $13-$18M per year that D. Williams & CP3 will be getting in 2010-2013.

At best….he`s worth 1/2 that amount!

Danny sees a “fire-storm” on the horizon trying to sign RR…and would be wise to first try trade him to get another young “beast” for the front-court.

Believe it or not, Rondo actually CAN be replaced.

I am starting to get the feeling that there is a chance Rondo might be leaving us? Booooooooooooooooy would we miss him when he’s gone.

We have one of the top 3 or 4 PGs in the game, he is still a baby and is probably the best pg we have had in 40 years. I would think we would be doing anything possible to keep him.

I dont usually like to follow the blogs much in the offseason because for whatever reason it seems the fans get really hostile about trades and player movement, but I just wanted to put in two cents about the Rondo/Ray rumors.

I am a self admitted Rondo fangirl, and Ray’s a close second. But even ignoring that fact, ignoring the numbers and the %s and the wins/season…. RR is incredibly fun to watch on his ‘good days’ . And it’s incredibly fun to watch him and Ray ‘click’ together. I would be sad to lose that.

Will it be a disadvantage if we wait and next year find that Rondo still hasn’t improved and we need to look to move him. Will we be painted into a corner if he gets a big offer from someone else? It could be Ainge is under the gun to make that decision (pay the money or trade him) now. Maybe, maybe not. ??? Thoughts….

Is to have Rondo play out his contract until he is a restricted free agent. With restricted free agents it often happens that players won’t get huge contract offers from other teams because there is a high likelihood the original team will match. So next year we sign Rondo to a qualifying offer, if someone offers him a max contract we match it. If we can’t come to an agreement then he signs a one year deal to become an unrestricted free agent the year after. By then he should be worth the max contract, that we will offer him. He will accept because he can make more money with us than with anyone else.

Very interesting comments. I think there is no urgency. See next year whether he brings better shooting and as Hobbs said the Bulls series Rondo to the regular season. If he does, pay him. We should not expect a home town discount. With this economy, which WILL be around next season, $21 mil Starbury-type contracts are in the same wastebasket as Collateralized Debt Obligations.
I think the salary cap and luxury tax and all those other complicated salary issues are not player-owner neutral but actually favor the owners collectively. Danny has played his cards well and Danny worked hard to get a long term solution at point guard and he isn’t going to “fiddle & diddle” with it, as Johnny Most might have said

  Rusillo said “I think they’re trying to throw some pieces around and let basketball people know that they’d move some of these guys to avoid maybe having to pay Rondo all the money they’ll have to pay and then pair him with guys that are going to be two years older than they are right now”. That seems to imply that, instead of somehow trying to reload on the fly they’re thinking of not just letting the big three stay but also shying away from big contracts that extend beyond KG’s deal. If we don’t strike it really rich with FA signings we could be in for a quick drop and a long rebuild.

I love Rondo. He is a very good point guard and does things that really no one else in the league does. But, that said, he can’t shoot and is often a liability in the half court offense. Rondo for all of his virtues is not worth a max contract. Chris Paul and Deron Williams and maybe in a few years Derrick Rose are the only PGs worth that kind of money. If Rondo is asking for near max money, the Celtics should look at trading him. His value is at its height. He still has two years before he becomes a free agent. He is the kind of player that a franchise looking to dump a big name player can go sell to their fans. Let someone else overpay for Rondo.

(ie the kind of stats he put up in the CHI series) is a max deal…..but who really brings their A-A-game every night. It doesn’t really happen.

Plus, on this team, Rondo’s A-game is pretty deceptive. Rondo’s not going to score 20 PPG on a team with GPA. He shouldn’t be with three great scorers. So, does it mean that he is not bringing his A-game when when he’s not putting up lines of 20 PPG, 10+ REBs and 10+ ASSTs?

Frankly, I actually think Rondo IS bringing his A-game, and it shows not so much in his stat line, but how the team plays.

It’s very deceptive like that and would only be truly noticable when he’s not there. Partly it’s due to the fact that when GPA are on the floor, Rondo actually functions like a PG SHOULD function. And I think a lot of people here are trying to downgrade him because when he does that he doesn’t have the huge stat lines (eg CHI series)…

I agree with the people who have pointed out that we would be in for a rude awakening if we no longer had Rondo manning the point. They way he impacts a game with GPA out there woven fairly tightly into the fabric of our offense and defense and is very important IMO to the team’s success.

I just think he IS bringing his A-game, but it’s just going somewhat unrecognized at this point.

Personally, I think he is in the 10-12 million dollar range….I wonder what he’s asking for.

Rondo is at the top of the second tier of point guards in the NBA. If he gets a better outside shot and wears high tops, then he’s in the top tier. Unfortunately, because Rondo exposes his body far too much, I fear he will get a serious injury sooner rather than later. He has to stop sacrificing his body on drives to the basket or it will come back to bite him.

The top 5 point guard salaries in the NBA range from $12.5 to $21 million. Let’s say Rondo thinks he is worth at least Nash-type of money at a $12.5/year. Next year rolls around and you’ve got 6 or so teams with a LOT of cap space trying to land LeBron, Wade, Bosh, etc… Now they can’t all get LeBron, so there will be some teams with a lot of extra dough to offer to free agents. If Rondo plays hard and improves his value, one of those teams will offer him a deal the Celtics just can not match.

I’m sure they would want to match as not to lose the asset. But if they did how much flexibility will be lost? My concern with Rondo is that normally you wouldn’t think twice about moving him as in 3 years it will be him and Perkins as the key performers to lead this team. But this team in 3 or 4 years is going to need a primary scorer and as of right now it can’t be Rondo. Who will Rajon pass to in 3 or 4 years? That’s why I am worried that if he is the “main man” how good we will really be?

I meant to say that normally you wouldn’t dare think about trading him… sorry.

These playoffs Doc gave Rondo the keys to the bus and his case to shine sans KG. To a certain extent he did well. He puts up sick #s for rebounds/assists but those #s are highly overblown (more later).

Rondo shot 41% from the field these playoffs. Without KG to bail him out on offense and more pressure for him to take up the slack the shooting caught up to him, especially on the outside shot where he had ample open looks. As good as Rondo did offensively verse the Bulls, he couldn’t stay in front of a rookie point or stop his rookie conterpart. Rose scored 20 pts verse Rondo verse 17 reg. season, shot 49% verse Rondo in the playoffs, and also grabbed 6 boards a game- all improvements over his reg. season stats. And Rose shot the rock from the perimeter too with that 49%. We always seem to give Rondo a free pass on his rookie year, 2nd, 3rd, but here’s a rookie with a better all around game and potential that what Rondo has.

Of the 13 playoff games Rondo is just not consistent. For $10M+ the dude has to be able to be a second option on offense. Ray didn’t bring it, KG gone, Powe gone, this was Rondo’s moment. Too many games where he is totally unreliable. Half his games were:
4/17, 2/8, 2/12, 3/12, 7/18, 7/19 and that’s your second option that wants max money?

Rondo averaged about 10 boards/10 assists but even NBA announcers will tell you how overblown these stats can be. How many times does a guy like Shaq or D-12 get a great pass for a layup attempt but he gets fouled and sent to the line. These types of guards miss out on probably at least 4-5 or more assists because teams will foul rather than give up the dunk. A vast majority of these assists come from simple perimeter passes. Ray gets the pass off the screen, hits it. Eddie is alone, Rondo kicks it to him. The clock running out and KG hits an 18’. Joe Six Pack Point could easily on many nights grab 8 assists on simple perimeter passes that pad Rondo’s stats. Now, on the boards. Rondo got to play center field on Alston and he will get 3 or 4 tough boards a game. There are many times though when I see Rondo swoop in the lane when the opponent misses to grab the ball in front of Perk or Baby. There are many instances where there are 2 or 3 Celts around the ball for the board and it is usually Rondo that grabs it in front of one of our bigs.

This was Rondo’s shot to play straight up man to man D on a great rookie point and shut him down-didn’t happen. Rondo continued to try to do the reach around steals but there wasn’t the anchor of KG/Perk to bail him out.

Finally no surprise, Rondo shut a bummer 65% FT from the line which is piss poor for your PG. And then the 3-ball he was not a threat, but hoisted up 24, making 6 for 25%.
The worst of the worst is not all the stats but how opponents can let Rondo dribble the clock away as his man falls back in the lane clogging it up for Pierce to drive, etc. It is sometimes embarrassing to see how futile our offense is when it is packed in and we aren’t hitting the jumpers.

I’m sorry, but you put Rondo on a mediocre team and his assists go way down. Alston’s bad shooting allowed Rondo to roam and pick up boards. Fisher from the Lakers would have embarrassed him if he was giving the open looks like we got away with from Orlando. We have 3 hall of famers that can consistently bury open jumpers and one of the best bench subs hitting jumpers in Eddie. Even Baby assumed that outside shooting role.

In their own ways, Paul, Parker, Harris, D Williams, Nash, A. Miller, Westbrook, Ford, Bibby, Rose, Billups, Mo Williams, Kidd, Harris, bring enough of their game to be in the discussion with Rondo’s ability. I would not be surprised if Rose, Westbrook, Rubio type guys are considered superior to Rondo within a few more years if Rondo’s jumper continues to stagnate and he loses all the benefits he gets from having the Big 3 and defensive Perk anchor. Rondo’s swipe for the steal burned us time and time again in these playoffs. It will happen when he opts out or our Big 3 retire.