Rajon Rondo Trade Yields Disappointing Return for Boston Celtics

BLEACHER REPORT

By Brian Robb , Featured Columnist Dec 18, 2014

The next stage of the Boston Celtics' rebuild appears to be in motion, and it does not include star point guard Rajon Rondo.

On Tuesday, Marc Stein of ESPN.com was the first to report that the Celtics had agreed to deal their 28-year-old captain to the Dallas Mavericks for a trade package consisting of Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, a first-round draft pick in 2015 and a second-round draft pick in 2016. Boston will also include rookie forward Dwight Powell in the deal.

The Haul
Celtics Receive Mavericks Receive
Brandan Wright Rajon Rondo
Jameer Nelson Dwight Powell
Jae Crowder
2015 First-Round Pick
2016 Second-Round Pick
$12.9 Million Trade Exception
ESPN

The deal between the two teams appeared to come together quickly over the past few days before being finalized Thursday. Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reported that Celtics President Danny Ainge had recently come to terms with the notion that his team would likely not be able to acquire another "impact player" to build with Rondo.

With that possibility seemingly out of reach, Ainge elected to move the four-time All-Star now instead of running the risk the star guard would walk away for nothing when he becomes a free agent next summer. Now that a deal has been made, let's evaluate the transaction, which can only be described as disappointing to most Celtics fans.

Matt Slocum/Associated Press
Rondo was the subject of trade rumors during nearly every season with the Celtics, as documented by Mike Prada of SB Nation, but the prevailing theory was that the Celtics never made a deal because Ainge had a high asking price for his star guard.

It’s clear Ainge’s demands came down considerably in this deal with Dallas, and Boston’s patience in finding a major return for Rondo over the years did not pay dividends.

With time running out on Rondo’s contract, the Celtics had to settle for future picks, some young role players and an aging veteran. That's a far cry from as recently as 2013, when Ainge was shooting much higher, reportedly targeting a star such as Dwight Howard in exchange for Rondo, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.

Chuck Burton/Associated Press
That’s not to say Boston got nothing in this exchange. Wright, 27, is averaging 8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game and is earning $5 million in the final year of his contract. He is a defensive presence and the kind of rim protector the Celtics desperately need on their front line. He’ll have the opportunity to play starter minutes for Boston as the team evaluates his long-term future.

With a nearly league-leading PER (26.1) and no longer fighting for minutes behind Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki, Wright could be in line for a breakout in green.

Crowder, 24, is a former second-round pick who has shown some promise off the bench in three seasons playing for Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle. He’ll be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, but with the Celtics likely to explore additional trades in the coming weeks, he should have an opportunity for some major minutes.

Nelson, 32, is a useful point guard, but he's nothing more than salary-filler in the deal. Given his desire to play with a contender at this stage of his career, I expect he will be traded or waived by Boston in the coming weeks.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
The timing of the deal was also crucial from the Celtics' standpoint. By completing the trade this week, they will have the opportunity to move any of their new acquisitions by the trade deadline on Feb. 19. Teams over the salary cap must have players on their roster for 60 days before they can trade them again, and the Celtics will fulfill that requirement with Wright, Crowder and Nelson by the trade deadline.

Boston will be able to trade all three players in February for additional assets if they are so inclined. Given that the offers for Rondo weren’t likely to get better as the trade deadline got closer, making the move now to guarantee the team would have that option was the safe play.

Even when you factor in that element of the deal, the return package is underwhelming for the Celtics, who were dealt a tough hand on the Rondo trade market over the last couple of years.

Several teams around the league already have strong point guards in place, so many franchises simply did not have a need for a player such as Rondo, something Ainge acknowledged last April on Felger and Massarotti on WBZ-FM, via CBSBoston.com:

There are a lot of people that have their franchise point guards. When they go draft and bring in their guy, they don't want to pay a heavy price to get a player of Rajon’s caliber. ... They are just going to let their guy go [develop]. And now you have a lot of point guards in the league right now. There are 20 out of 30 teams probably or more that have franchise point guards they really like.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press
For the few teams that could have used Rondo, his expiring contract was a roadblock preventing Boston from receiving an ample return. Why would a franchise such as the Sacramento Kings risk giving up significant assets for Rondo when he could walk away in free agency next summer?

That reasonable mindset caused the list of suitors to shrink even more, leaving only a handful of teams remaining that were appealing to Rondo long term and had assets to deal. Dallas emerged from that group of suitors with the best package.

Now that Rondo is out of the picture, the next step in Boston's rebuild is to turn the team over to a young core. Veterans on expiring contracts, such as Brandon Bass, Marcus Thornton and Jeff Green, are likely to be traded away in the coming weeks for future assets.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported the Celtics were already shopping Green earlier this week, and the team tried to trade Bass last summer, according to Zach Lowe of Grantland. Those selling trends should continue.

After recovering from injuries, rookies such as Marcus Smart and James Young will see more opportunities for minutes alongside a young front line of Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller.

Boston will also receive a $12.5 million trade exception in the deal after using its own trade exceptions to absorb the salaries of Nelson, Wright and Crowder. That newly created exception and Boston’s stockpile of draft picks (nine first-rounders over the next four years) will give Ainge plenty of ammo to target an impact player via trade next offseason.

Rondo’s departure will likely make the Celtics' rebuild last longer, but it also provides the Celtics with plenty of flexibility to pursue a number of trade and free-agent possibilities in the coming seasons. The future is more uncertain than ever in Boston, but no team in the NBA may be better equipped to build for it than the Celtics.

I am still walking around today as if I just stepped away from an ugly auto accident where my car was totaled!

Unless Ainge is deft at turning the draft picks that we possess into valuable assets via picking at the draft or packaging them with players in trades...................this could result in a 5 - 7 year rebuild to get close to contending.

HERE IS WHY ITS GOTTEN HARDER.

We do not have a proven star player at any position - NONE....TO MAKE THE PITCH TO OTHER FREE AGENTS.

When we acquired KG & RA we had Pierce already in place to begin the sales pitch to KG & RA.

That being said.........now we have to generate at least ONE or TWO new star or stars from OUTSIDE THE ORGANIZATION.......which we know the history of Boston ...............is tough to do, IN ORDER TO ATTRACT ADDITIONAL STAR TALENT.

I do not see how Danny can do this!

I can feel the chill of a northeast wind blowing from Boston Harbor ...........as a long, cold and bleak winter approaches Boston Celtic Fans. The college draft and the summer league games cannot come soon enough!

112288

I feel the excitement that usually comes with change. Even this change.

• A center whose specialty is defense down low

• A center who can play defense without committing fouls all over the place (Wright's foul per minute stat is lower than Sullinger's, Olynyk's, Zeller's or Bass')

• A center whose blocks per minute are more than double the figures for Sullinger, Olynyk, Zeller or Bass

• A center whose offensive rebounds per minute outstrip those of Sullinger, Olynyk, Zeller or Bass

• A center whose field goal shooting percentage dwarfs those of Sullinger, Olynyk, Bass and even Zeller (try 74.8%.)

• A floor general who certainly won't record assists at Rondo's rate but whose 87.5% free throwing will not force him to change his game or to be removed from games down the stretch.

• A floor general who will not make the Celtics' offense "Jameer-centric" and might even fit into a motion offense better than Rondo.

It's entirely possible that none of these portents will translate to Celtics basketball. Perhaps, come February, we'll be seeing all three incoming players seated permanently on little cushions marked "draft picks." None of us knows what their presence will bring to, or detract from, the Celtics.

But, as a long-time Celtics fan who has found that dreaming the seemingly impossible can eventuate in amazing rewards, and in the spirit of the season, I elect the hopeful path rather than all-too-easy humbug route.

Go Celtics.

Sam

112288,
Don't be so pessimistic. Spring and summer come soon enough.
As for the trade, I think DA did good considering the current situation.
The players are OK. I don't expect them to become the core of the team. I think they'll be used in the future trades.
The main prize is the 1st rounder. I'm pretty sure that Mavs will be in the 20's this draft so the pick shifts to 2016. That season they won't get high lottery (1-7) pick, IMO, so Celtics will get the 3rd 1st rounder.
The other main prize is $12.9M TPE - a lot of money to use on a decent player.

AK

112288 wrote:I am still walking around today as if I just stepped away from an ugly auto accident where my car was totaled!

Unless Ainge is deft at turning the draft picks that we possess into valuable assets via picking at the draft or packaging them with players in trades...................this could result in a 5 - 7 year rebuild to get close to contending.

HERE IS WHY ITS GOTTEN HARDER.

We do not have a proven star player at any position - NONE....TO MAKE THE PITCH TO OTHER FREE AGENTS.

When we acquired KG & RA we had Pierce already in place to begin the sales pitch to KG & RA.

That being said.........now we have to generate at least ONE or TWO new star or stars from OUTSIDE THE ORGANIZATION.......which we know the history of Boston ...............is tough to do, IN ORDER TO ATTRACT ADDITIONAL STAR TALENT.

I do not see how Danny can do this!

I can feel the chill of a northeast wind blowing from Boston Harbor ...........as a long, cold and bleak winter approaches Boston Celtic Fans. The college draft and the summer league games cannot come soon enough!

112288

112288

I think you make some valid points.  It does not seem feasible that the same formula can or will be used to rebuild as it was prior to the 08 surprise.

Danny has made some assumptions and we do not know what they are.

It does however seem unlikely that a top of the line free agent will look at the Celtics to sign with in absense of some other high end player or players on the team.  As we know the stars in this league have found a way to find their way onto the same teams.  

What is it that attracts a player to a team?

Many of the players coming in now only know about Celtics lore as a history long past.  Already it has been 6 years since the last banner was earned.  In other words the Celtics franchise may no longer be a magnet to attract free agents.  Thus one of the downsides of moving Rondo and perhaps jeff green (down the road) is that no high end players wants to play with a collection of scrubs.  

Another factor is coaching.  Brad Stevens is still very much an unknown among pro players.  He does not have the ability to pick up the phone and convince a star player to come play for him.  There is no track record to expouse.

The Celtics have a collection of first round picks.  No one knows where those pick will be slotted.  The Mavs pick may fall into the scrapheap of the first round.  Now that the Celtics have jumped into the tank we will all be crossing our fingers come lotto time in hopes that we finally luck out.  

I think the length of this rebuild is unknown.  I guess we can assume that all thoses picks will be used to (1) draft some talent and (2) used in trades for veterans.  It's a recycling project.  We will get our annual MLE player and hear about how lucky we are to sign him and in the meantime us Celtics fans will need patience to avoid slipping off the edge of a cliff.

We are looking at a panoramic picture of a franchise that is in the midst of a major transition that began last year with the PP and KG trade.  This year is just a continuation of that process although Danny led us to believe it was otherwise.

We were told that all we needed to do was add a piece or two (center and a scorer for certain) and we could be right back in the playoffs.  The only fireworks that we heard was the ones set off on the 4th of July.  There was zero chatter from those wonderful reliable sources about us going after a center except for the Asik talk and other teams were certainly not going to part with an allstar player at the behest of Mr Ainge.

So here we are ages removed from the fallacy that was perpetrated on us fans.  

The reality is that the Celtics are light years away from being a good team again let alone a serious contender.  We need a serios infux of talent across the board as I cannot think of one player except for maybe Jeff green, that is allstar caliber.

The Celtics have an opportunity to build through the draft and remain competitive as long as the next big ticket doesn't squander our future.

Being a long time Celtics fan I have always suffered from getting attached to a player only to see them traded.  It really was not like that in the old days but the NBA of today is like a hedge fund looking for a quick return around the magins.

Go Celtics!

dboss

Guys

I hope you are right on all your comments. I taking this worse then when PP and KG left because I knew they were near empty in terms of all star quality play. Rondo I thought, has 5 great years left and would have been the next Paul Pierce Celtic legend to least us to the promise land.

112288

I wonder what the trade exception will yield... Hopefully a decent player.



KJ

I think Ainge got the best he felt he could get under the circumstances.

From my perspective, it seems that either a) he didn't think they could re-sign him at a price they were willing to pay; b) he thought Rondo wouldn't re-sign with Boston no matter what they offered; c) they didn't think Rondo was a good fit moving forward; or some combination of those.

I think depending on free agents to build a contender is fool's gold. It works on occasion, but draft picks, trades, and player development are the slow and steady route.

Boston traded away their star, but they also unburdened themselves of his enigmatic performance. They knew he could play at an elite level, but the triple-doubles and league-leading assists were increasingly offset with poor or nonexistent offense, turnovers, pounding the ball into the floor, and indifferent defense. They'll get less on the spectacular side of the ledger but save themselves on headache and ulcer medication.

Rondo stated that he was going to test free agency and would seek a max contract. I do not think he is worth that kind of money. Furthermore, getting a great return on a guy who is about to become a FA is not reality. Ainge got what he could, and I think the first round pick (the real prize) was about all he could realistically expect.

Pumpsie

Happy Holidays...have not seen you posting for a long time. Did you attend the first Dam's Celtic dinner in Boston about 4 years ago?

Any way....yes he is not worth a max for the position he plays.

112288

112288 wrote:Pumpsie

Happy Holidays...have not seen you posting for a long time.  Did you attend the first Dam's Celtic dinner in Boston about 4 years ago?

Any way....yes he is not worth a max for the position he plays.

112288

Happy Holidays to you too.....no, I didn't go to that dinner, but when Sam was out here in my area (San Francisco) a couple of months ago we were able to have lunch together. That visit prompted me to visit this site again. I have been lurking here once in a while, but haven't posted at all. I was curious what the reaction to the trade was. Most of my online posting is on the Globe's Red Sox forum where I am one of the three moderators.

Pumpsie Green wrote:Rondo stated that he was going to test free agency and would seek a max contract. I do not think he is worth that kind of money. Furthermore, getting a great return on a guy who is about to become a FA is not reality. Ainge got what he could, and I think the first round pick (the real prize) was about all he could realistically expect.

Pumpsie,

Nice to hear from you.

You've pretty much got it. We got what we could given the situation.

Regards

NYCelt wrote:

Pumpsie Green wrote:Rondo stated that he was going to test free agency and would seek a max contract. I do not think he is worth that kind of money. Furthermore, getting a great return on a guy who is about to become a FA is not reality. Ainge got what he could, and I think the first round pick (the real prize) was about all he could realistically expect.

Pumpsie,

Nice to hear from you.

You've pretty much got it.  We got what we could given the situation.

Regards

The Celtics are still my basketball team, but man, have they been struggling. I view the Rondo trade like the Lester trade: an expiring contract owned by a player who will soon become a FA just isn't going to yield high level talent. For Lester we got three months of Cespedes and turned him around into Porcello. I don't think there was any chance at all for the Celtics to lock Rondo up; he was determined to test the FA market.

Pumpsey

Give me the Red Sox site....I am a big fan and would love to join.

Best

112288

112288 wrote:Pumpsey

Give me the Red Sox site....I am a big fan and would love to join.

Best

112288

With pleasure: http://www.boston.com/community/forums/sports/red-sox/on-the-front-burner/100/1250

I have the same username as here.

Thanks Pumpsey

112288

112288 wrote:Thanks Pumpsey

112288

Let me know what your username is there.

Pumpsey

Do you have a New England Patriots site as well?

Big fan of them.

112288

Pumpsey

112288

112288 wrote:Pumpsey

Do you have a New England Patriots site as well?

Big fan of them.

112288

There is a Patriots forum there too, and its very active. You can easily navigate to it from the link I gave you.

Needless to say, Pumpsie, I'm overjoyed to see you posting here once again. Although we've corresponded periodically (mostly you sending me amazing photos from your dives) and lunched recently, it's always nice to have an old friend rejoin the forum.

I have to admit that I'm having difficulty keeping track of all of the Red Sox moves. And I hear they're getting the catcher, Hanigan, from the Padres. A .191 hitter with two home runs last season for a .218 hitter with five home runs. Obviously, the Red Sox got the better of that deal by .027 and three homers. (LOL)

As for the Celtics, I'm cautiously optimistic that the play they demonstrated in their first post-Rondo game portends well for their ongoing story without Rondo. It's been quite a while since I saw such spontaneous energy, nearly perfect spacing of the floor, and opening of the lane for drive after drive by Celtics bigs. Twenty-nine assists, with something like nine different players contributing, along with 19 fast break points and (gulp) 68 points in the paint. Even Jeff Green, not necessarily noted as a big assist guy, seemed to enjoy hitting guys like Zeller and Olynyk steaming down the lane. Yes, they played a mediocre-to-poor team, but it was still impressive. Reversing the trend in recent games, the starters performed better (a collective +12) than the bench (a eollective +4). Olynyk continued his recent surge; Green continued to be the most consistent Celtic (a real turnaround from years past); and Smart has the earmarks of a real dynamo (although he obviously needs refinement of his shooting skills).

Most of all, they seemed to be having fun out there. That's one of my chief criteria for a team that's feeling pretty good about themselves.

Anyway, welcome back, and thanks again for the most recent shipment of gorgeous underwater photos.

Happy holidays,

Sam