FanPost

Three Rondo Trades (They Drafted Smart for a Reason)

The Celtics drafted Marcus Smart and immediately put the word out that Smart could coexist with Rajon Rondo. Whether that's true or not, they had to be thinking about Rondo's upcoming free agency in the back of their minds. So if Marcus Smart is the next Celtics point guard and Avery Bradley is signed up to play shooting guard, who can Rondo bring back that would put the Celtics in the playoffs?

First off, Rondo made it be known he doesn't like Sacramento and he wants to play for a winner. I've got three trades that send him to the Midwest to play for teams with a chance to contend in the Eastern Conference.

The first trade is the most likely trade of the three ideas for two reasons. First, Detroit isn't yet a contender but they have a huge building block in Andre Drummond and second, this trade brings back the best return for the Celtics. Rondo will make Detroit better and he gets to play with Josh Smith. So the trade is Rondo to Detroit, Brndon Jennings to Sacramento, Greg Monroe to Boston, and Ben McLemore to Boston. Detroit gets an upgrade at point guard and while they give up Monroe, they free up a logjam up front and they won't have to overpay to keep. Monroe next offseason.

The next trade is to the Pacers, who send Chris Copeland, Ian Mahinmi, and Solomon Hill to the Kings. Boston gets CJ Watson from Detroit to be a backup point guard and they get Derrick Williams along with McLemore. Indiana would send future draft picks to both Boston and Sacramento. The Kings get some athletic front court help while moving McLemore to make room for Nik Stauskas at shooting guard. Boston gets a weaker return with Williams instead of Monroe, but both guys are free agents so they can go after whichever free agent front court help they decide.

The third option is to send Rondo and Sullinger for Tony Snell, Jimmy Butler, and Taj Gibson. The Bulls added Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic this summer, so Butler and Gibson could be moved. If Rajon Rondo can be expected to coexist with Marcus Smart then why couldn't he get along with Derrick Rose? With Rose's injury history, it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Bulls to have another point guard. With Smart running point guard for the Celtics, adding Butler and Gibson along with Bradley would be a top notch defensive team. Jeff Green and Kelly Olynyk would be counted on to help Smart carry the scoring load.

I don't expect a Rondo trade to happen until the deadline, but I could see Rondo wanting to move to the same division as LeBron James and help create a renewed rivalry that was started in the old Boston/Miami battles.

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