Celtics already making summer plans

The season isn't really over yet, and in fact the Celtics aren't even officially eliminated from the playoffs yet (though Hollinger's Playoff Odds would dispute that somewhat).  But everyone knows how the season will end on April 16th.

So to that end the players are already making plans for the summer.  Rondo plans to rest his body and then start working on his normal offseason routine (perhaps even a bit early).

Date with Celtics destiny | Boston Herald

"I’ll probably ramp it up a little more, given the fact that I’ll probably have a longer break obviously," Rondo said. "So I’ll probably take a couple of weeks off from everything and just continue to let my body heal, and then get back at it pretty much normal — earlier than normal, as far as usually playing to June or late May. But obviously we’ll probably be ending on April 16, so I’ll get the chance to let my body recover and have a great summer."

This is a potentially huge summer for the Celtics in terms of the draft and trade possibilities, but they'll still need their captain and leader to be healthy and on top of his game for next year and hopefully years to come.

Another important guy for the future of this team is Jared Sullinger.  For his part, he's been tasked with improving his conditioning.

Celtics Notebook: Jared Sullinger schools doubters | Boston Herald

"We started talking about that a while ago," coach Brad Stevens said of the offseason blueprint for Sullinger. "He’s got a game plan of what he wants to do from a strength, conditioning and playing standpoint, and we’re all on board with that. We’ve already discussed that in pretty good detail with him. I think it’s most about conditioning. It’s mostly about being able to play longer stretches as effectively as possible.

Obviously Sully is a large human being by nature, and part of that helps him be an effective basketball player.  But the grind of NBA basketball, not to mention the premium on athleticism, makes it necessary to be in peak physical condition in order to perform as well as he should.

The back surgery last year put him behind the 8 ball heading into training camp and he openly admitted that he wasn't in playing shape.  Yet he played surprisingly well and has had a good all around season.  Still, a full offseason dedicated to getting into his best shape should prove very useful for his career in general.

There obviously hasn't been any official word on this, but I'll be looking forward to see who's on the Celtics Summer League squad this year.  I think Sully has graduated past that, but I'd like to see Olynyk back there.  Same with Phil Pressey and (if he's healthy) Vitor Faverani.  I'd imagine we'll see Chris Babb and Chris Johnson there too.  Obviously it will be our first look at the 2 draft picks (assuming they aren't traded) as well.  So it should be a fun squad to watch.