Ainge on Rondo: "his teammates back him and want him on their side"

I begrudgingly post this, but I'll try and add as little fuel to this fire as possible.  Check out the entire interview here, but to me, here's the most relevant quote:

"What I care about is he a guy I want to play with, play for, if the guys on the team back him and want him on their side night-in and night-out. Those are the really important issues. Rondo is never going to become Tom Brady and say all the politically correct things and do everything we want him to do, but we still love him in spite of that because his teammates back him and want him on their side. They will go to war with Rondo, anytime."

Ultimately, this is a media-driven, scandal-starved story that shouldn't have meant anything in the short term and certainly won't have any bearing in the long run.  Rondo assumed his absence wouldn't be an issue because it was a planned day off for him and in the past when Kevin Garnett was injured, KG very rarely sat on the bench and accompanied the team.  My only gripe was that Rondo should want to be with the team at every opportunity that he can because he's the captain and the leader.  Brad Stevens didn't want him to stay in L.A., but I'll give Rondo a pass on this one.  It's clear that Stevens values camaraderie with his teams and this is probably just a disconnect between a first-year coach and a vet in his seventh year.  Case closed.