A couple of interesting Friday news stories

In browsing news on the Cs via various outlets, I ran into a couple of interesting tidbits.

First, a mention on the excellent CelticsHub website about Big Baby's minutes this year and his potential issues with an uncertain role. CelticsHub was careful not to sound the alarm to vigorously, but this is definitely an issue to watch. He is the one guy on the team who can reasonably be expected to have some uncertainty about and dissatisfaction with his role. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't, but the potential is there. He had a great post-season, such that he was expecting a big payout, which didn't happen. He was badly outmaneuvered by Danny and Co. His only thing to do is put on his hard hat and go to work without complaining. With KG and Rasheed being pretty advanced in years, he will get some games with 30-35 minutes. But if they are healthy, his minutes are a major question mark. I am not expecting that this will become a problem, but it is something to watch.

Second, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo has a great piece of reporting on an incident late last year, which sheds a lot of light on the weird off-season friction between Rondo and management. The rumblings over the last two years about Rajon's coachability and relationship with the vets seem to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The fact that we saw a little means that there is probably a lot more below the surface, which we can't see. Rondo is trying hard to mature and do the right thing to be a leader, but that is awfully difficult on team with 3 players with the stature of the Big 3. He is finding his way and making plenty of mis-steps, but hopefully he is taking the lessons to heart and will use them to find a way to be a true leader without stepping on the toes of the veterans on the team.

On a team that is so well put together and which has such great chemistry, you have to look pretty hard to find possible concerns, but they are there, however small they may be and however little they may end up mattering.

House

How about some links?

House,

A good piece of reporting of your own.

Actually, I think Baby and Sheed are both figuring out their respective roles with the bench. And, in a sense, they are intertwined as the two primary "bigs" on the second unit. The whole inside vs. outside thing will probably fluctuate for both of them, and they're going to have to develop synergy as to who goes where and when. As for minutes, I'm betting the bench may see more minutes than some people think. And it's likely that KG will log the fewest minutes of any starter except possibly Perk...with Glen being his primary backup. Moreover, as part of the bench, I think Baby won't be thinking so much of any any personal minutes scarcity because it's a condition he'll be sharing with some pretty good veterans.

As for Rondo, I think it's a good sign that he's sitting with KG when on the bench (almost without fail). They're talking all the time and smiling during a lot of it. My guess is that KG has quietly taken Rondo under his wing for a while and Rondo is responding quite well to it. We'll see.

Thanks for the updates.

Sam

http://celticshub.com/

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-rondoceltics102209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Big Baby is not a starting power forward in the NBA yet. If he doesn’t know that, he needs to take a look around the league. He received no legitimate offers, was resigned on a title contender, and instead of being thrown into the deep end on a crappy, going no where team – he can continue to grow and mature on a championship team. I don’t know about you, but that sounds much more appealing than being the 6th man in Charlotte or Sacramento.

The Rondo saga looks like it will play itself out with Rajon playing his butt off to live down his attitude last season, and earn a big payday come July. I think the Celtics will eventually resign him – but either way, if we get the best out of him this season that is all we should be concerned with in the short term.

He is an amazing athlete, but needs to keep in mind that his position is at least half (if not more) mental. Many of the best point guards ever were average athletes at best. But they were 2 or 3 steps ahead of the competition in terms of thinking on their feet, something that Rondo has yet to completely grasp.

In the end I think Baby and Rondo end up here long term, but only time will tell.

House

From what I have seen of the way he is moving sans 15 BBD's play will DEMAND minutes.

The Rondo thing dont worry me too bad yet but there is a fair amount of smoke..

JEB

I remember KG early on stating publically that Rondo was no doubt all star material with PP and RA looking on and nodding approvingly. It is hard to imagine Rondo misinterpreting that or chaffing with that sort of love from 3 HOFers.

A higher compliment could not have been given to a 2nd year player.

gacracker

Hi,
I wonder why AW's article on Rondo came out just yesterday?
But I do hope that it's just after-fire smoke and smell and Doc keeps it under control.

AK