Would You Trade Rajon Rondo For Chris Paul?

Rondo is the most underappreciated player on this team. Although people say that “so goes Rondo, so go the Celtics”, it’s really all about Rajon. His playmaking and decisions (and toughness) is something this team survives on. Trade him for Chris Paul and you get back a better player on paper but the chemistry and knowledge Rondo has is more useful to the Celtics than CP3’s buckets.
We need Rondo.

CP3: Same passing abilities (perhaps even better), better shooter. Chris Paul is a superior player. It’s that simple. He’s arguably the best PG in the league. He almost beat the Lakers in the playoffs with a starting 5 of: Bellinelli, Ariza, Landry and Okafor.

And if we acquire Paul, we get a shot at Dwight Howard. It might sound impossible, but it’s true.

When J.J. Barea dominates Mike Bibby and Mario Chalmers and Rondo doesn’t, you know something is wrong (and yes, he got injured, but he didn’t do much before that).

This is like not wanting to trade Eric Gordon for Kobe Bryant or Rudy Gay for LeBron James or Josh Smith for Kevin Garnett (in his prime). Ridiculous.

No, unless of course CP3 signs an extension. Gotta say that would improve our chances of luring Dwight.

a.) CP3 signs a multi-year extension.
b.) NO add two 1st rounders (this year and 2014).
c.) NO adds Aaron Gray.

Love Rajon. But if this will be the offer. I say yes.

but its Chris freakin’ Paul. You make the deal if its on the table, no questions asked. The only issue is CP3’s health, and if he has a clean bill, there should be no hesitations.

I just read the news on D. West.

Once he’s gone, CP3 will surely not sign an extension prompting Orleans to trade him sooner than expected.

As I have kept posting here in Celtic blog so many times, if we want Dwight Howard to come to us, we better get CP3!

Don’t know why so many fellow C’s fans doesn’t think it’s possible nor CP3 & Howard along our Big 3 not championship material.

Hell, they will 4-5 peat if this ever happen which is very realistic!

All we have to do is get CP3 first, then Dwight will come to us. It’s like back in 2008 when KG didn’t want to go to Boston. But once we got Ray, he quickly changed his mind.

Now, if almost 39 yo J.. Kidd is still playing well & it looks like he still have a 2 more solid years in his tank, our Big 3 looks to be that way too!

I mean, 5 years from now, a 40 yo KG will surely be as effective as a 38 yo PJ Brown , while a 41 yo Ray will be as effective as J.Kidd whereas 38 yo PP will be the same age as Kidd now who’s still balling.

With CP3 & Dwight in their prime, such a Celtic team can easily 4-5 peat!

And given our solid draftees & young players (& solid free agents in their mid 30’s joining us for the vet minimum to finally win a ring or 2), we really can 4-5 peat.

And so, we better beat LA who’s surely thinking of a package now for CP3 knowing that this will make Dwight come their way too.

But we have to remember that Boston has the best chance of all top echelon NBA team to get both CP3 & Dwight, as I have mentioned how it can be done in my previous posts.

And to all the Dwight critics, I’ll tell you this:

Once he gets to play with our Big 3 & our outstanding coach, rest assure he will finally know how to win & bring us multiple championship along CP3. That’s just how good our coach & Big 3 are in mentoring young, immensely-talented players.

Superman II will become Green Lantern! Or, Superman II joining our Green Lantern corp will bring us multiple rings & possibly even un-retire Superman I.

We better not let Superman II fall into that yellow spectrum of power & join that sinister Kobe, that will be our end!

CP3 would look good in green and white, but Rondo has great chemistry with the starters so I doubt that trade is realistic Let’s be real Chris Paul is not going to Boston he’s going to the Knicks it’s that simple. Why would Chris come to Boston and play with aging stars that’s likely to retire after the 2012 season.

The Knicks can trade Billups(35) for Paul which could possibly happen.

It’s real late here, but if you want, I can defend Rondo in the AM. :)

Yes, absolutely. Paul is simply better than Rondo. It’s not blowing anything up when you’re upgrading. Paul gives this team a better chance of winning it all next year AND is more of a marquee attraction for big name free agents in the long term.

Paul does everything Rondo does, pass, steal, run a team but also scores at one of the most efficient rates in the league. Rondo doesn’t. Paul’s a complete player, Rondo isn’t. You also know that Paul can run a team and put up great numbers without being surrounded by HOFers. You don’t know that about Rondo.

Probably not. I don’t trust CP’s knees at this point.

It sounds like a good idea, but I see Chris Paul going to the Knicks as his first choice. He’s been hinting at going to NYK from last season.

he was amazing, a transcendent star and a clutch finisher, Rondo is very, very good but he may never be clutch like Paul

Here’s my trade proposal Jeff:

Boston Trades:

Rajon Rondo – Salary 9.09 Mil 4 Years
Ray Allen – Salary 10 Mil 1 Year
Jeff Green – Qualifying offer 5.9 Mil 3 Years (Sign and Trade)
Glen Davis – Qualifying offer 3 Mil 2 Years (Sign and Trade)
Jermaine O’Neal – 5.8 Mil 1 Year
Future First Rounder

New Orleans Trades:

Chris Paul – Salary 14.9 Mil 3 Years
Emeka Okafor – Salary 11.5 Mil 3 Years
Trevor Ariza – $6.3 Mil 3 Years

Like you mentioned Jeff, there should be a “sweetheart” in place to bring release Ray and have him come back for the Vet Min, that has to happen to first

Trevor Ariza should also be traded to replace Green, let’s face it, Trevor Ariza can give us back what we’ve been sorely missing since Posey.

Emeka Okafor is a more than suitable replacement for J.O.

One more element to add to this would be to sign Carl Landry to the MLE, his ex-teammates could help convince him to come to Boston, if not him then Aaron Gray

This could be the new line up

PG Chris Paul, Arroyo, Bradley
SG R.Allen, D.West, E.Moore
SF Pierce, T.Ariza
PF K.Garnett, C.Landry, J.Johnson
C Okafor, (FA Center for Vet Min)

That on paper is a deeper and more talent team than the one we have now with the potential to win a championship in a 2 year window

As long as Paul’s knee checks out ok long term. I love Rondo but Paul can do everything he does plus carry a team scoring when needed to.

To make the numbers work I guess Green would have to be thrown in. So I would possibly ask for a #1 draft pick in return to offset that.

Rondo is a pass first pg, Paul is a shoot first pg. I’ll take Rondo. If you want to play as a team you need Rondo. He is most effective when surrounded by good players. Once the “Big Three” end their careers Rondo would still be my guy to build around if you can surround him with good players. Rondo will make those players better, Paul will not.

Even if you throw in Jeff Green. Jajuan Johnson can fill the spot of Jeff Green and maybe even contribute more than what we got from Green last season.

Just don’t include Emeka Okafor……that’s a deal breaker.

around a 4-5 year contract

but though danny might not think this but seeing rondo playing thru that horrific injury & coming up big for us in the last 3 playoffs i just cant imagine or fathom rondo in another team & i dont want to he’s a celtic cp3 is a bite size version of the melo,lebron mold wearing a yankees cap to the heat game i mean CMON

but seriously he’s going to the knicks he wants to build another big 3 with melo & stat he said it himself if its my decsion im not trading rondo for cp3 let alone a rondo-green combo for cp3

I hope Rondo stays in green for life.

People talk a lot about Chris Paul being the superior player when the biggest disadvantage of having Rondo rather than Paul is the lack of a jumper. Rondo’s jumper will improve next year, mark my words.

oops i ment mistake

Paul might actually make things better for Ray by drawing defensive attention as a credible (!) scoring threat.

You have to remember the NBA runs the Hornets now. It’s not like this is the Denver situation, I don’t see New Orleans fighting with 2 or 3 teams trying to get them to up the ante and offer more players. The NBA gets to decide where Chris Paul will land. We all know the NBA is more popular when the New Yorks, Chicagos, L.A.‘s, and Bostons are contenders so I see the Chris Paul going there and I CP3 has said numerous times in inverviews all he wants to do is win NOW so I see him preferring Boston over New York if he thinks things through to win now since if he went to the Knicks they would have NO bench since they’d have to give up Billups, Fields and another bench player on an already weak bench.

The thunder GM already said he’s not trading Westbrook.

CP3’s health is too much of a risk

To begin with, you make it sound like a CP3 trade automatically gets us Dwight. That is not guaranteed by a long shot. I trust Ainge to know more about what is best than you guys who want to throw RR under the bus. That’s why he’s the GM and you are posting guarantees of how to get Howard. As for RR, Green, BBD, JuJuan, and draft picks for Paul, I have one comment…… are you insane?? Hell, let’s throw in KG and Doc too and even offer PP as part of that package. I wouldn’t do it straight up, let alone with add ons.

  I would absolutely trade Rondo for Paul contingent upon two things.

1) Paul agrees to a long term extension
2) The Celtics don’t have to take on any other big contracts like Okafor that would take away their cap space in 2012.

but no question asked CP3. The only issue is his knees and if he can stay at least healthy with his knees then no questions asked CP3.

Throughout the season he was the pg that was under the radar in a sense while Rose stole all his shine, but when the playoffs hit and he played the Lakers the way he did in game 1 and game 4, I knew he was still the best pg in the game. He can pass, shoot, rebound, heck he can defend and has high basketball IQ. The only issue is whether he will stay and if he can stay healthy.

I can’t believe 60% want to trade Rondo and another player for Chris Paul, it seems like a lopsided trade imo, Rondo and say Jeff Green for Paul, you’re losing 2 assets in return for 1 and that 1 asset has knee problems, people don’t understand that his left knee is bone on bone, one more slight tweak or injury and he’s done and we’re left without are best and youngest talent for the future.

NOT in a Billion years

I do not think Rondo is overrated at all, he is probably underrated by most. However Chris paul can take over with scoring and is a much better shooter, plus he is a great defender too. Rondo is a top 5 PG, Chris Paul at his best is #1. Especially if are only comparing pure point guards (Rose is a combo guard).

I wish NO would just do something with him to settle the issue so we can put a stake through this topic’s heart.

My opinion: LIke always, it would depend on the nature of the trade. But on the face of it: No way.

To make a trade work we’d have to give Rondo plus Green to make the salaries work and that is WAY too much talent to give up for Paul.

Lets set aside any arguments about whether CP is better than Rondo. The real question is whether he is 7M better. Because 7M buys you quite a bit of talent. If you swap Rondo for CP, you have to spend that 7M replacing Green first of all. Let’s assume you find a suitable replacement for the athletic young SF that you let go of. So you are 7M in the hole and you’ve made your team … marginally better. You have 7M less cap space with which to try to land Howard, who will take a max contract in order to bring here. You’ll probably have just enough room to squeeze him in … but your team will have no talent around him other than CP and Pierce and Jajuan. And no more cap room to get any. Is Howard going to want to come here for a recreation of Orlando’s situation the last few years?

If we got a first round draft pick back to sweeten it, I might consider it.

Otherwise, a team of Rondo, Pierce, Green, Jajuan & Howard PLUS an additional 7M to fatten the roster with sounds a lot more competitive to me. Probably to Howard as well.

… anyone saying that Rondo + Jeff Freaking Green > Chris Paul is looney. You make that trade in a heartbeat. Anyone would.

None. None whatsoever. Trust me on this. WHEN NO accepts Rajon and filler for CP 3, CP is a Celtic. Danny has longed for Chris since the draft, has floated Rajon before anmd Cp is still a more complete player than Rajon. Do I need to add that injury history’s don’t dissuade Danny? Id give it 70% odds we get Chris, BUT in my mid the issue is Rajons great contract vs the unkown of CP’s.

Rondo is great, but there is little risk and great reward with acquiring Paul.

1. Paul is young, good window
2. Paul is better offensively, much needeed
3. Paul has more “star power” for recruiting
4. Paul has strong ties to Dwight

But the biggest thing missing in these arguments is the lack of leverage NO has. Boston doesnt have to put up a monster offer for Paul. NO needs cost controlled value in return, but is limited in its options due to Paul’s deasire to win right away.

Boston is a much more attractive sell to Paul because of the cap management job Ainge has done. NY and Miami dont have the pieces to offer NO.

LA has Bynum, but they are not financially set up to acquire more pieces thereafter. Any Dwight package leaves with Bynum, the rest of LAs core is too old and has too many years on deals to be attractive to any but contenders.

Boston is in a unique position to offer NO a top 5 PG who is locked up lonb term. They are in the other conference and they have expiring deals and draft picks to make it work.

Paul signing long term is about salesmanship. Boston has the cap space to sign his pal Dwight and would have a solid core of young talent as well as retaining the vets potentially.

The big question is: can you get Paul/Howard to ztructure their deals in a way that creates enough czp space to offer KG and Ray enough to stick around

Unless another team will eat Okafors deal in the trade. At that point Boston would likely be forced to concede unless they were willing to offer a buyout that somehow freed their cap space back up in year two.

But if LA and NY are the prime competition, i dont see how either of them can make offers that satisfy both NO and Paul. LA can take on the money, but wouldnt be able to get Dwight. NY just has an inferior package and would have to hope Paul bits free agency.

Boston can offer both the talent NO wants and the opportunity to contend short and long term due to cap management.

I believe this will, in fact, happen once there is a labor agreement…..in 2012 sometime….

 If we.don’t trade for.him then is probable.he’ll end up in.L.A. or with.a.conference rival.

Are you kidding me? This question can’t be seriously.

Rajon can’t shoot ?? You are kidding me!
Of course he doesn’t has a very good effi between 16 – 23 feet (41%) but thats better than Rose has. And dont forget that he is the best puzzle piece to win with the KG, RA and PP. It’s all about Chemistry.

And btw. I really don’t like Chris Paul. He seems to be cocky and arrogant. (He is playing so good for New Orleans, cause he MUST. The Hornets has no other shoot power then Paul.) Are you sure that Paul might be able to subordinate ?? I dont think so.

Rondo showed in the past that he has skills like very few point guards. He has the ability to dominate a game (with triple doubles!!).
I would be glad to see him retering in a Celtics Shirt.

Needless to say, as it was with the time of the Ray & KG acquisitions, the next 15 months will be very interesting for celticsblog.

Rondo but Okafer would be a great Perk replacement

  Chris Paul is the only PG I would currently trade Rondo for.

  IMO Paul would help the Celtics offense because he can score at a higher clip then Rondo. With Pierce, KG and Ray no longer capable of carry an offense it is important to get scoring wherever we can.

  Paul would improve the Celtics offense without killing the defense like say….Steve Nash would.

Did you all forget about this?

Rondo is a celtic

I’d sign baby and send him along

I would. Rondo is a great player, and a great passer, but as we get deeper in the playoffs (and against bigger teams) his limitations show. Before his injury he just wasn’t scoring in the Miami series, despite having Bibby on him. The Lakers aren’t going anywhere, they’re most probably getting Dwight and are going to be just as big. Rondo didnt do crap against the Lakers in the Finals, he can pass but if Kobe is able to take time off when guarding him and just clog the lane it kills everything for us. Paul beat the Lakers pretty much by himself twice, Rondo could never do that.
If it was only for Rondo and say a sign and trade for BBD I’d do it. NOH might be on it now that David West had opted out too. Anything more and it’s not worth it. Rondo and Paul are the two best PGs in the league, and whilst Rondo is a great fit for us, think how amazing an extra 10ppg from our PG would be. And it’s not like Paul is going to steal any of the Big 3’s offense either, it’s a great fit. I’m happy with Rondo, but if we can get Paul for Rondo and Baby, I’d do it.

Is that CP3 = Howard. After the new CBA we might not even be able to PAY them both without breaking the CBA. Instead, we have Rondo locked up for long enough.

What’s more is that a veteran team like the Celtics couldn’t go through such drastic changes as swapping their starting (All-Star) point guards. What I keep saying here is that the trade looks terrific on paper but I don’t think it would pan out good in real life. Y’all were bashing Danny for the Perk trade but on paper the trade was great – Perkins is nowhere near Green. The argument was intangibles, toughness etc. etc… It’s the very same thing you are forgetting now when you ask for the Rondo trade! CP3 is better.. but you have to look at all the things Rondo brings and you wonder if Paul can duplicate that.

From a marketing stand point it’s no brainier. The Hornets are currently being bailed out by the NBA owners – ergo, adding a hometown hero certainly won’t hurt attendance . A straight up S/T for Landry would suffice, but now that JJ is in the picture can we assume he will be given some of Davis’ minutes? That would be risky since he’s nowhere near the defensive player Baby is.

So Landry would be good insurance making the trade package more palatable for us. Let’s not forget RR’s contract is valued based compared to CP3 or D. Will, so NO saves a few million over the next three years. BTW … Bradley, expendable in this scenario, is a team option next season. E’Twaun could be groomed as the future hybrid guard, and there’s G. Brown and a free agent SG to consider. So CP3/Landry for BB (S/T)/RR/AB and cash is worth talking about. Or perhaps CP3/A.Gray for BB/RR/AB.

Our payroll-2012 in case we trade Rondo for CP3 and seek for Howard as free agent:
Pierce $16,790,345
Bradley $1,630,800
CP3 (player option in NO) $17,779,457
Howard (player option in Orlando) $19,261,200
Johnson+Moore appr. $1,500,000

$56,961,802 to six players.

Stern wants new СВА with $62M cap without exceptions.
So, Celtics will have appr. $5M to resign Green, KG, Allen, West and to add five more players to the roster. Is Danny a magician?

First off. I think we should NOT trade for CP3 for multiple reasons.
Rondo can be taught, eventually to be a good jumpshooter. You can’t teach CP3 to pass like Rondo does. Not talking about assist numbers but the things Rondo can do on the court by passing, CP3 can not.
CP3’s knee injury worries me. Yes he showed brilliance vs LAL in the first round but througout the regular season he wasn’t the same, he was good but not the same. I rather take 82 games of testing than a 6 game series to see how he can still play.
Rondo has showed that He Is a CELTIC. Now I know a lot of people think Celtic Pride is a bunch of BS & people just say it to sound like they’re diehards, etc. But Rondo played through a dislocated elbow, all to show that he has Celtic Pride. Please raise your hand if you didn’t think that was awe-inspiring. But in Boston, Celtic Pride is REAL & Rondo showed it.
Rondo is the BEST, PASSING PG in the leauge. Sure he can’t dunk like D.Rose or Westbrook, sure he can’t shoot like D.Will, Nash, or CP3. But they can’t pass like Rondo, not talking assist number wise, save it stat lovers.
A lot of people think Rondo can NOT shoot, point blank period. But in truth he can. He has a decent mid range, if you watched the entire season. IDK bout his 3 pointers but thats not the point. His TRUE flaws are his free throws and his turnovers. His FT %‘s are unforgivable, but he’ll work on em. Turnovers I think are a bit of the Big 3’s faults because they can’t keep up with Rondo’s pace.

Yes CP3 attracts a lot of FA. BUT, I think Dwight will be leaving to (If he even does leave) New Jersey. They have a good core working there. D.Will is a great PG to play along side Dwight & when they move to Brooklyn, Dwight gets his mainstream media.
To be perfectly honest I don’t want Dwight in a Celtics jersey. Yes, he IS the BEST Center in the leauge, hands DOWN but he doesn’t play with a fire. He plays like a child in a park with his dad, smiling everytime he makes a basket to look back to see if his Dad is proud of him. He shows sooo much immaturity on the court, this guy led the NBA in tech fouls. I prefer guys like Tyson Chandler & Kendrick Perkins who play TOUGH, no nonsense, intense basketball.

All in all, I think even though CP3 is a superior all around player to Rondo…We keep Rondo. It’s like cars really. I’m not a car expert so don’t expect a lot of detail about cars lol. CP3 is like the Camaro in the Transformers movies. Rondo is like that Gran Torino. The Camaro is faster, better looking, more reliable, more stable, almost everything better than that beat up, dirty Gran Torino. But damn it, that Gran Torino is MINE. I don’t care if it won’t start up in the morning when I’m running late to work, I don’t care if the paint is rusty, I don’t care if people don’t double-take when I drive down the street, I don’t care if I gotta manually pull up the windows rather than holding a simple button down to do it. I don’t care if the AC sucks in the car. It’s MINE & I rather have this beat up Gran Torino than any of these new fancy cars that ARE better than it. It’s mine…

The wording of the poll question makes it tough to answer and maybe misleading. At first glance I see Rondo for Chris Paul and I think of course I would. But when it’s Rondo (and filler), the “(and filler)” makes it tough. Then rereading the article it says probably also Jeff Green and maybe also Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett. And now it’s a lot different from Rondo for Chris Paul.

I really can’t believe the level of homerism on this site today… I like our team and I’m a die-hard Celtics fan, but honestly, CP3 is a MUCH better basketball player than Rondo. If you take a step back, out of the green glow surrounding this city, and ask anyone (or just look at an position power poll), CP3 is a MUCH higher rated point guard. He has made scrub teammates look like all-stars. With an all-star line up, he would make the finals. This team could easily get back there with CP3 leading the game, because when the older shooters are having off-nights he can handle the scoring burden, and when they aren’t, he can make them look 25 years old again.

Secondly, a Rondo/Garnet trade for Paul/Okafor, with Garnett getting bought out and rejoining the Celtics, would be a huge win for this team. We would not only regain Garnett, but would get the efficient post presence of Okafor. While Okafor is not anything spectacular, he plays hard and can grab boards – which the Celtics need.

Paul is a fantastic passer, maybe the best in the game right now. Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn’t seen any footage of him playing. He has an extra gear that Rondo doesn’t, and has a wide variety of offensive weapons. He can protect the ball better, and makes better decisions.

If you check the position power polls outside of this site, I think you will see that most pundits have CP3 and Rose as the two best point guards (in some combo), and Rondo between 4-6 in the NBA – not higher. If you trade #5 for #1, and pick up inside rebounding through Okafor, I think you win the trade.

Chris Paul is only good on papers! Rondo is a proven champion with heart. If C’s will go for your moronic idea. then I’ll root for the Miami Heat fck the Cs

Rondo is overated, can shoot from the perimeter nor charity stripe, two big negatives for point guards. This could land us Howard in 2012. Danny has always liked CP3

Don’t bet the lakers aren’t after him, and howard, and would give up better players than Rondo, but not point guards, and they may not want to trade in conference