Is anyone's head spinning yet? A few days ago I was feeling pretty happy that we escaped preseason with only the Bill Walker injury and whatever lingering issues Scal and Tony Allen are dealing with. Now David Aldridge is reporting that Big Baby could be out for several months or even the whole season.
The Celtics were also waiting on Monday for results of a second opinion on the right thumb injury suffered by backup center Glen Davis, who reportedly suffered the injury in an off-court altercation with a former teammate of his Sunday. "It doesn't look good," said a league source. The Celtics were hopeful that Davis hasn't fractured his thumb; if he did, surgery would be required and Davis would likely miss several months, if not the entire season.
As reported earlier, the Celtics are holding last minute talks with Bill Duffy, Rondo's agent. Though again, David Aldridge is reporting that the sides are still pretty far apart.
But the discussions haven't yet led to a consensus on how to pay Rondo in a potential five-year deal. Rondo and Duffy are seeking a maximum or near-max contract that would pay him between $80 and $85 million; the Celtics are loath to put anything near that much into Rondo, given their existing expenditures for star players like Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
You can't fault an agent for trying to get the most for his client, but $85M is a lot of scratch. Hopefully the sides can find some common ground and get a deal done that works for everyone. I wouldn't be too shocked to see a 3 year deal with player options for an additional couple years.
And here I was thinking that Ray Allen's stitches would be the major story line headed into tomorrow night's game against the Cavs. Oh yeah, the game. We get our first look at Shaq playing the role of Robin to King James's Batman. (or will he revert back to trying to be Superman?)
Meanwhile back to the Big Baby issue (sorry to jump around like this, but this day has me spinning), we are once again facing a situation where we might have to worry about big man depth. Once again, Perk's shoulder could go out at any moment and Scal, ...well, I don't think we can rely on Scal to be healthy anymore. Like it or not, Danny's decision to bring in Shelden Williams and let Leon Powe go could have a major impact on the season if Big Baby is indeed gone for a long time.
Thinking out loud here a minute. If we lock up Rondo, whatever small chance we had to make a run in free agency next year would go out the window, which in turn might make the Celtics more willing to make a trade sending away some of their expiring contracts for help now. These dominoes could be setting longer term things in motion beneath the surface. Or maybe it is just a really busy day in Waltham and that's all there is to it.
How will tomorrow top this? Well, did I mention there's an actual game? Can't wait.