Smith: Ainge wanting to pull trigger

AINGE: 'I'VE MADE ZERO CALLS' TO TRADE RONDO
By: Paul Flannery


Appearing on WEEI's The Big Show on Thursday, Celtics team president Danny Ainge vehemently shot down a report that the Celtics were "aggressively" trying to trade Rajon Rondo, saying there was, "no truth" to the report.

"Rondo is our best player. He's our most important piece of our future," Ainge said. "There's no way that we are actively trying to trade Rondo. That makes no sense. There's a difference between some great stuff that we can't refuse because somebody's desperately trying to acquire Rondo. That somebody calls me and says, 'Hey we want Rondo and we're going give you X.' But that's not happening. We're not looking to trade him. I've made zero calls to try to trade him and I won't."

Ainge also disputed the notion that Rondo's attitude has been a problem and that he's clashed recently with coach Doc Rivers.

"The stuff about Rajon and Doc, that's old news to everybody in Boston," Ainge said. "We all know that they've had bumps in the road, but Rondo is getting better at that stuff. He's had his best year on the court and off the court and so it makes no sense at this stage for that stuff to even be discussed."

Asked if he thought it was fair to call Rondo "stubborn" and "high maintenance," Ainge responded, "No, I don't think that fair. I think he's stubborn and he's intelligent is a fair assessment of him. With that, there's higher maintenance, but I don't know a quality player that I've played with that wasn't higher maintenance than your average player."

Handling players is often said to be one of Doc's strengths. And Doc is in the first year of a 5-yr contract which guarantees him $7M per year. Therefore, Rondo's stubbornness should hardly be an issue. Doc is a $35M man because he knows how to handle big-name players.

Outside wrote:I watch "Around the Horn" on ESPN (yeah, I know), and Jackie MacMullen was quite forceful today refuting the rumor that the Celtics are actively shopping Rondo, and she based that on her contacts in the Celtic organization as well as GMs for other teams. She said that they'll listen to offers but they are not initiating anything.

I'm sure they're concerned about his temperamental nature and Jekyll/Hyde performances; how could they not be. But that doesn't mean they're having a Rondo fire sale.

Only 13 days, 17 hours, and 57 minutes until the trading deadline...

Outside,

I love watching "Around the Horn." It's usually on late in the day when I hit the elliptical trainer for a few miles. At first I wasn't sure about the show, but for some reason it just grows on you. Total nonsense (what's with that scoring system?) and more fun than any show I can think of for fans who love a good debate on current sports topics.

Hey now!

NYCelt wrote:Outside,

I love watching "Around the Horn." It's usually on late in the day when I hit the elliptical trainer for a few miles. At first I wasn't sure about the show, but for some reason it just grows on you. Total nonsense (what's with that scoring system?) and more fun than any show I can think of for fans who love a good debate on current sports topics.

Hey now!

Hey now! indeed. It's a harmless guilty pleasure, and I enjoy the different personalities of the sportswriters. Like you, I Tivo it and watch while I ride the bike. Another show I've recently started watching is "Dan LeBetard is Highly Questionable." Not only do I find him enjoyable, but he does the show with his dad, and his dad ("Papi") is a hoot. I like these oddball shows SO much better than Sportscenter or Chris Berman or Stuart Scott or any of the "big name" stuff on ESPN. And having two shows queued up gives me incentive to ride the bike longer. What a deal.

Cheers,
Outside

Sam:

Getting Debusscherre put the Knicks of the late 60's, early-mid 70's over the hump. Plugging in Monroe for Barnett 2 years after the '70 title was icing on the cake. I don't remember if it was Holtzman or Dick MaGuire that pulled the trigger on those deals. However, Bellamy regardless of his stats was frequently a mental no-show for the Knicks and previous to that, the Baltimore Bullets. The starters for the Knicks '70 & '73 Championship[ teams don't take a back seat to anyone Frazier, Monroe, Debusscherre, Reed & Bradley are all Hall of Famers I believe. Only Dick Barnett wasn't in the HOF. Bradley went on to be a US Senator, and Reed's contribution on 5/8/70 was one of Basketball's, not only New York's finest moments. Riley try as he might could not recreate the Knick magic of the late 60's & early 70's in the mid-late 90's. Even as a Celtic fan, I have much respect for the Knick teams of that era.

MD!

MD

During the early Cowens years those battles with the knicks were some of the best games to watch. The overall play of those teams were off the charts. And if not for a tough pick on Hondo by DeBusschere that seperated Hondos shoulder in the 1973 playoffs the C's could very well have #18 already hanging.

beat

Beat:

Compared to what we see today, the brand of ball played between the Celtics and Knicks was so much more pleasing to the purest. When those two teams played, it was the embodiment of team concept. Ball movement and ball reversal was the norm. The game was played much less above the rim than today. Each team functioned truly as the sum of its parts. The basketball IQ of each team's starting five approached genius levels. Today's athleticism does not compensate for the fundamental execution of that era of the 60's & 70's.

MD!

Outside wrote:

NYCelt wrote:Outside,

I love watching "Around the Horn." It's usually on late in the day when I hit the elliptical trainer for a few miles. At first I wasn't sure about the show, but for some reason it just grows on you. Total nonsense (what's with that scoring system?) and more fun than any show I can think of for fans who love a good debate on current sports topics.

Hey now!

Hey now! indeed. It's a harmless guilty pleasure, and I enjoy the different personalities of the sportswriters. Like you, I Tivo it and watch while I ride the bike. Another show I've recently started watching is "Dan LeBetard is Highly Questionable." Not only do I find him enjoyable, but he does the show with his dad, and his dad ("Papi") is a hoot. I like these oddball shows SO much better than Sportscenter or Chris Berman or Stuart Scott or any of the "big name" stuff on ESPN. And having two shows queued up gives me incentive to ride the bike longer. What a deal.

Cheers,
Outside

I'll have to look for Dan LeBetard's show!

(I like Boomer, can't stand Scott)

NYCelt wrote:

Outside wrote:

NYCelt wrote:Outside,

I love watching "Around the Horn." It's usually on late in the day when I hit the elliptical trainer for a few miles. At first I wasn't sure about the show, but for some reason it just grows on you. Total nonsense (what's with that scoring system?) and more fun than any show I can think of for fans who love a good debate on current sports topics.

Hey now!

Hey now! indeed. It's a harmless guilty pleasure, and I enjoy the different personalities of the sportswriters. Like you, I Tivo it and watch while I ride the bike. Another show I've recently started watching is "Dan LeBetard is Highly Questionable." Not only do I find him enjoyable, but he does the show with his dad, and his dad ("Papi") is a hoot. I like these oddball shows SO much better than Sportscenter or Chris Berman or Stuart Scott or any of the "big name" stuff on ESPN. And having two shows queued up gives me incentive to ride the bike longer. What a deal.

Cheers,
Outside

I'll have to look for Dan LeBetard's show!

(I like Boomer, can't stand Scott)

NYCelt,

On another, and totally irrelevant, point

Le Batard is how you say "the bastard", in french. So, he's Dan the Bastard.

Since he's Cuban-American, and the way you say "bastard" in spanish is bastardo and not batard, he probably is not the victim of a cruel joke. He just will never visit France. If he does, he'll get a lot of double-takes and smirks from the hotel registration desks (which he will blame on the french's bad attitude). I wonder where his ancestors came from? Did they emigrate from France originally? Were they sentenced to the famous French penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana and then relocate to Cuba after their release from prison? If so, then he is a Bastard, by lineage.

Whatever. It's a slow day here.

bob

.

MD,

Getting Debusscherre for another hall of famer and a double figure scorer turned out to be a good move for the Knicks. It helped propel them to their two-championship "dynasty" in the 1970s. But it was hardly a move on the level of legendary significance. In fact, it could be argued that, if he had acted more quickly to fortify Debusscherre's squad in the early 70s, either Grunfeld or Holzman (whichever was responsible for bringing Dave to the Knicks) might have been a catalyst for a true dynasty of repeat championships rather than two isolated championships that set records mainly in terms of the number of published books of adoration.

It was a good deal, like many other good deals, but hardly legendary stuff.

Sam

bobheckler wrote:

NYCelt wrote:

Outside wrote:

NYCelt wrote:Outside,

I love watching "Around the Horn." It's usually on late in the day when I hit the elliptical trainer for a few miles. At first I wasn't sure about the show, but for some reason it just grows on you. Total nonsense (what's with that scoring system?) and more fun than any show I can think of for fans who love a good debate on current sports topics.

Hey now!

Hey now! indeed. It's a harmless guilty pleasure, and I enjoy the different personalities of the sportswriters. Like you, I Tivo it and watch while I ride the bike. Another show I've recently started watching is "Dan LeBetard is Highly Questionable." Not only do I find him enjoyable, but he does the show with his dad, and his dad ("Papi") is a hoot. I like these oddball shows SO much better than Sportscenter or Chris Berman or Stuart Scott or any of the "big name" stuff on ESPN. And having two shows queued up gives me incentive to ride the bike longer. What a deal.

Cheers,
Outside

I'll have to look for Dan LeBetard's show!

(I like Boomer, can't stand Scott)

NYCelt,

On another, and totally irrelevant, point

Le Batard is how you say "the bastard", in french. So, he's Dan the Bastard.

Since he's Cuban-American, and the way you say "bastard" in spanish is bastardo and not batard, he probably is not the victim of a cruel joke. He just will never visit France. If he does, he'll get a lot of double-takes and smirks from the hotel registration desks (which he will blame on the french's bad attitude). I wonder where his ancestors came from? Did they emigrate from France originally? Were they sentenced to the famous French penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana and then relocate to Cuba after their release from prison? If so, then he is a Bastard, by lineage.

Whatever. It's a slow day here.

bob

.

Bob,

So following that line of thinking, if he was visiting France and needed a shower he would be a...oh please, I can't help but ask..."Dirty Bastard"...?

Sorry. I couldn't come up with a better follow-up.

Regards

NYCelt wrote:

bobheckler wrote:NYCelt,

On another, and totally irrelevant, point

Le Batard is how you say "the bastard", in french. So, he's Dan the Bastard.

Since he's Cuban-American, and the way you say "bastard" in spanish is bastardo and not batard, he probably is not the victim of a cruel joke. He just will never visit France. If he does, he'll get a lot of double-takes and smirks from the hotel registration desks (which he will blame on the french's bad attitude). I wonder where his ancestors came from? Did they emigrate from France originally? Were they sentenced to the famous French penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana and then relocate to Cuba after their release from prison? If so, then he is a Bastard, by lineage.

Whatever. It's a slow day here.

bob

.

Bob,

So following that line of thinking, if he was visiting France and needed a shower he would be a...oh please, I can't help but ask..."Dirty Bastard"...?

At this very moment, Sam may be rethinking his decision to host this forum. Or upping his meds. Little did he know what he was getting into.

Outside and NYCelt,

Hey, I'm loving every second of all the recent exchanges. The forum, somewhat like the Celtics, had been a tad sleepy lately, despite the continuing contributions of a number of steadfast posters. I'm not here to cast judgment on the nature of posts but, rather, to ensure (as best I can) adherence to that good old word—conviviality. There's never any concern when you two (among many, many others) are involved.

However, I am interested in whether there were any particular meds you might recommend.

Take care,

Sam

SAdly Bias for all his physical prowess was not mentally strong enough to resist Tribble, Brian Tribble. Since it was Tribble that got Bias the stuff that turned his lights out for good. Otherwise, the Celts have at least three more titles. Not only ruined the later stages of Larry's era, it ushered in a period of shame at the University of Maryland and the untimely exit of Lefty Dreizell.