One option to consider: Trade Rajon Rondo

Let me start this post by (once again) declaring that I'm a huge, huge Rajon Rondo fan. I think the Celtics can (and ultimately probably will) build around his unique set of skills.

With that disclaimer out of the way, allow me to diverge from my own beaten path and explore the option of trading Rajon. The general idea is this:

Regardless of what Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett do, our best trading chip is Rajon Rondo. The Celtics have very little hope of re-building on the fly. Heading into the lottery (or worse, just barely making the playoffs as an 8 seed) is a good way to waste at least a year or more of Rondo's prime. He's coming off one and a half seasons of leading the league in assists per game and despite undergoing surgery, his value might never be higher than it will be this summer. He also happens to have a very cap friendly contract for a young superstar.

So instead of waiting another couple years and hoping that another superstar either falls into our laps or develops exponentially from our current cast, the best way to hit the restart button is to trade our best young player for assets and pieces that might become stars.

What can you get for Rondo? Last year the Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins rumor was all the rage and that sounds about right for Rajon's value. Or perhaps he could be packaged with another salary for a superstar looking to spend a year with Garnett and Pierce and then recruit someone the following summer as those two head off into the sunset (and more cap space becomes available).

Want a really nutty idea? What about Rajon Rondo for Derrick Rose? Coach Thibs has experience with Rondo and Rose might need a fresh start in a new location after all the controversy over his injury status. Plus the Bulls have prospered without their former MVP and might be open to the idea of moving on. Still, it is a wild idea on the level of a Stephen A. Smith rumor, so take it for what it is worth. The point being, nothing is off the table and why not get creative?

The more likely option is to get prospects and picks for Rondo - which of course means full rebuilding mode and perhaps a bit of tanking. That would be hard to swallow but might end up being a smart move in the long run. It worked out for the Sonics/Thunder (though that took a lot of luck as well). A year of further developing Jeff Green as the main man in a no stress situation might be a good thing. Sitting at the top of the draft board for 2014 is one of those once-in-a-decade talents in Andrew "Ender" Wiggins.

Rondo is an odd sort of cat that has butted heads with his coaches at every level, so not everyone is going to want to sign up for that. But all it takes is for one GM to see him as their final Championship piece. Danny has never been shy about gauging the value for everyone on the roster and you can be that he'll be open to just about anything this summer.