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(Yes, that's me) If you don't want to sit through the 36 seconds, here's the text version.
"Rondoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooo. Don't trade him."
The message is still relevant 2 years later.
By now we are used to the narrative...
Danny Ainge is blowing it up, but he still has one more big piece to move. He has to trade Rajon Rondo if he really wants to tank. Nobody wants to trade for Rondo when he's hurt so they'll wait till he's showcased this month and then make an offer at the trade deadline.
Blah blah blah blah. Spare me.
Is it possible that Danny Ainge might trade Rondo and has been planning to all along? I suppose there's a chance, sure. But I think it is far more likely that what he's been saying all along is actually, you know, the truth. That nobody is untouchable but it would take a whole lot to make Ainge consider moving Rajon. Instead, they are most likely going to move forward building around him.
Yet you'll still hear Chad Ford and many, many others trotting out the same old story about Rondo being available. The support for this line of thinking is "GMs around the league get the feeling that he'll be dealt." Well, that's nice of them to say. I'm sure they don't have any agendas or anything that would make them speculate on the secret plans of another GM who has no incentive to reveal said secret plan to them. That sounds legit.
I will say, however, that we're starting to see a refreshing twist of the narrative. Instead of "Rondo is destined to be traded" we're starting to hear about the opposite. Maybe, just maybe there's something to this idea of building around Rondo. A few examples:
Celtics fast tracking rebuild thanks to Danny Ainge - NBA - Chris Mannix - SI.com
Is Rondo a natural leader? Probably not. Is he, when healthy, one of the five best players at his position? Absolutely. Before Boston decides to deal him, they should think long and hard about how difficult it will be to replace him. You build around players like Rondo, who by the way can't be a free agent until the summer of '15. You keep this year's pick, hope the team sinks far enough in the standings to get into the Jabari Parker-Joel Embiid-Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes and you build around them.
celtics - Dear Danny Ainge: Build around Rajon Rondo - WEEI | Ben Rohrbach
This is why you build around Rajon Rondo. He turns 27 on Feb. 22, the same age as Paul Pierce when the Celtics tanked in 2006-07. (If you’ll recall, Pierce had his share of detractors at that point in his career.) Any NBA team with championship aspirations needs multiple All-Stars, so what’s the logic behind trading Rondo? Hope two or three of their 29,233,380 draft picks turn into top-25 players? Doesn’t landing one or two with all these assets to pair with Rondo seem like a safer bet?
Granted, both writers have local ties to the Boston market and maybe they are just pandering to fans like me (it's totally working Chris and Ben). But I think you'll start to see this line of thinking seep into the national media as well - if only so they can pat themselves on the back for thinking outside the box.
I could spend some more time coming up with reasons to keep Rondo and build around him, but I won't. First of all, I'm a blatant Rondo apologist so my opinions are biased to the point of rendering them useless. Secondly, I'm not going to sway anyone. And lastly, ...and I know this may shock and sadden you, ... but I have it on very good authority that Danny Ainge doesn't really read blogs much if at all. (I know, I know. think of all the priceless wisdom he's missed out on)
Suffice it to say, I full expect Rondo to be a Celtic well past next month's trade deadline. And if he isn't, ...well, you can expect an epic rant that might last for days or at least until the paramedics pry my twitching fingers off the keyboard.
Update: Perfect example of the article I was expecting right here by Sean Deveney: The Baseline: Rondo, Celtics planning on staying together, focused on 2015 - NBA - Sporting News
