A couple of recent articles wondering what life would have been like if things had gone differently.
Tom Halzack wonders "What if Rondo Played for Another Team?"
My guess is his lack of a jump shot, poor foul shooting, questionable ball distribution decisions (remember last season and the year before – he is better now) and strength as a man defender would mean he accumulates serious bench time with the D’Antoni Suns. Though his strength was in the open court, he was the anti-Sun. Development delayed.
How about if he went to say….San Antonio? Or Detroit? Both are defensive minded teams. Would he have developed quicker there? Or would highly defined systems make it difficult for him to gain valuable court time AND play the game the right way?
Empty the Bench wonders what the Celtics would look like if they never made the trades for KG and Ray.
No, Boston wouldn’t have won a title yet. They would still be must-see TV in my book though, and they would still be a playoff team out East. A starting lineup of Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Jeff Green, Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins is nothing to sneeze at, especially with the likes of West, G. Green, Gomes, Allen, Powe, Telfair and Szczerbiak coming off the bench. With Boston looking more elderly and creaky by the day, the future of this franchise for 2010 and beyond would undoubtedly be brighter, that’s for sure.
Right off the bat I see an issue with this because I'm pretty sure Pierce was ready to demand a trade if help didn't come in the way of veteran stars. So you would have to envision what we would have gotten for Pierce in way of a trade (probably not enough).
Best case is that we'd be the Portland Trailblazers (young but successful). Worst case would be more years toiling in the lottery.
Of course I wouldn't take back or change a thing, but I admit it is fun to look at and debate what could have happened.