Rondo Sees Bright Side

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Rondo Sees Bright Side Empty Rondo Sees Bright Side

Post by bobheckler Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:34 pm

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2014/04/rajon_rondo_sees_bright_side



The season was over, and Rajon Rondo felt free to let his humor out.

“We finished the season with 10 guys, so hopefully we can get five more guys,” he said when asked last night about Danny Ainge’s quest to find new players.

Kidding aside, though, Rondo knows he will be part of that quest, provided he’s not the centerpiece in one of Ainge’s deals. He played just 30 games this season after coming back from ACL surgery, and even missed last night’s season-ending loss to Washington with a sore hamstring.

But if there’s a free agent in need of convincing, Rondo expects to be part of the pitch team. That’s what the centerpiece of a franchise does. He sells the rest of the league on his team.

And right now, it does appear that Ainge plans to rebuild with his 27-year-old point guard as the cornerstone.

“Every team is different. I wouldn’t mind being that guy,” Rondo said of playing the pitchman. “I’ve been that guy in the past couple of years, when there’s a guy they’re recruiting I’ll call them on the phone. This isn’t new. Me being the only guy here maybe — the biggest name — but back when Kevin (Garnett) and Paul (Pierce) were here, I was still involved. I was in trade talk myself, but Danny has always been in great communication with me, talking about his plans and what he has in store for this team.”

Rondo believes that he has a good product to sell, too, regardless of the 25-57 record the Celtics posted.

And Rondo spoke up, once again, in support of his coach last night.

Transitions to the NBA have rarely been successful for college coaches, but in Rondo’s estimation Brad Stevens was a first season success.

“It’s his positive outlook on things,” Rondo said. “He wants to win, he’s positive and he’s a competitor. He puts the work in, and that’s big in a coach.

“He did the best he could do. He had a lot of rotations, a lot of guys who played or didn’t play. For the most part I think he did an excellent job.”

Rondo has no idea what Stevens’ rotation will look like next season, and the coach’s notion of it probably isn’t that much better.

But on a level not connected to winning and losing, Rondo enjoyed being team captain this season. That position was Stevens’ surprise gift to him and testament to the coach’s faith in his recovering point guard.

Rondo found himself at the head of a roster that included young talent like Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk. He enjoyed playing with the Celtics’ three undrafted rookies — Phil Pressey, Chris Johnson and Chris Babb.

“This is a good group to play with,” he said. “A lot of young guys who are learning the game, (who) want to study and get better. Not a lot of guys who are knuckleheads and want to go against the grain. They want to work hard.”

In light of this, Rondo’s offseason role will be simple.

“Show up,” he said. “Show up and put the work in, and hopefully they’ll follow.”

There were lots of off-nights this season — those games Stevens referred to as “clunkers.”

But Rondo saw something encouraging the rest of the time.

“You don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself or be down, because there’s 82 games,” he said. “(The media) didn’t kill us too much this year and that always helps. We have a good group of guys. It was positive from Day 1.

“It just shows the character in the guys we have. It starts with Danny and it starts with Brad. It carries down through the locker room. Sometimes we dressed 14 guys and sometimes we dressed eight, but they gave it all they had.”

It’s a debt Rondo believes these Celtics owe their city, especially during a week when Boston is memorializing last year’s marathon bombings tragedy.

“Pretty much everywhere you go you learn as a Bostonian that sports mean a lot in this city,” he said. “The four sports are big here. It’s not just one team one fan, it’s collective. It’s a group of guys — the Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots and ourselves. We all take pride in playing for this city. It was a special week for us and every athlete in this city. It means a lot.”



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Rondo Sees Bright Side Empty Re: Rondo Sees Bright Side

Post by Sam Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:46 pm

Amazing.  Three undrafted rookies in the rotation at season's end.  I fully understand that injuries had a lot to do with that, but it's still impressive.

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