Doc Rivers: No talk of Rajon Rondo Deal

By Jackie MacMullan
ESPNBoston.com

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Doc Rivers spent an hour and a half with president of basketball operations Danny Ainge before Wednesday's win over Milwaukee, but the Boston Celtics' coach says they never discussed trading point guard Rajon Rondo.

"... In all that time we did not talk once about any trades," Rivers said. "There was not one single thing about Rajon Rondo that crossed my desk."

Forsberg: Rondo Lets Play Say It All
With his name resurfacing in trade talks, Rajon Rondo's sparkling play is rising above the chatter, writes Chris Forsberg.

Rivers said this afternoon he is irked by reports the Celtics were aggressively shopping his mercurial point guard and frustrated that his relationship with Rondo is being cited as one of the reasons Boston is willing to part with him.

"My relationship with Rajon is as strong as it has ever been," he said. "Our communication has never been better. I want him here. I can say with almost 100 percent certainty he will be here with us when the season ends. I'm tired of this stuff. It's not fair."

As the March 15 trading deadline inches closer, Rondo's name will continue to be brought up. Boston did use Rondo as trade bait in an attempt to acquire point guard Chris Paul during the preseason, but the All-Star veteran ended up in Los Angeles with the Clippers instead.

Team and league sources said that while the Celtics were willing to part with Rondo if it yielded someone of Paul's caliber, they are not actively trying to unload him. Two general managers initially involved in the Rondo-Paul trade talks as a potential third party confirmed Thursday they have not received any calls in recent months from Boston regarding their point guard.


Rondo
Rondo's uneven demeanor has been a constant topic of discussion throughout his career, from his days at Kentucky when he butted heads with then-coach Tubby Smith to his time with Boston. Early in his career, Rivers actually hauled Rondo into his office and informed him: "Your own teammates can't stand you. You need to fix that."

According to his coach and his teammates, Rondo took that advice to heart and tried to be more communicative with and responsive to his fellow Celtics. He, along with his more decorated Big Three teammates, went on to win a title in 2008.

"Rondo is a moody guy," one Celtics official said, "but so what? Stand in line. There's a league full of NBA guys who are more high-maintenance than he is.

"He's a real competitor, wants to get better and he's a real gamer. Doc loves the fact that Rondo will fight through anything to be out on the court."

In fact, Celtics sources said, if there is any friction regarding Rondo, it well could be between him and his veteran teammates, who have publicly conceded that this is now Rondo's team, but still become occasionally irritated with his antics.

His outburst Feb. 19 when he threw the ball at referee Sean Wright and was given a two-game suspension was not well-received, nor was his anger over his initial All-Star snub. Rondo eventually was named to the team to replace the injured Joe Johnson.

The Celtics will continue to listen to offers for all of their players as the deadline approaches, with veteran Ray Allen continuing to draw the most interest.

Ainge has consistently said he will always listen to offers, but added Thursday, "That's a lot different from saying we're shopping a player. We aren't. We are not out there trying to trade Rajon Rondo."

Jackie MacMullan is a columnist and reporter for ESPNBoston.com.

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Ainge: Rondo is Celtics 'best player'
March, 1, 2012

By Chris Forsberg

Danny Ainge reaffirmed that he's not actively trying to trade Rajon Rondo.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge called Rajon Rondo the team's "best player" and reaffirmed on Thursday that he's not actively trying to trade his 26-year-old point guard.

During his weekly call to Boston sports radio WEEI (93.7 FM), Ainge acknowledged the out-of-control nature of trade season and the rumors spawned at this time of the year. But Ainge took umbrage with the idea that the team would even consider shopping Rondo.

"He's our best player, he's the most important part of our future," said Ainge. "There's no way we're actively trying to trade Rondo. That make no sense, no logical sense."

Ainge went on to note that another team could always bowl over the Celtics with an offer to obtain Rondo's services and admitted he couldn't turn down one that made the Celtics better, but concluded, 'I've made zero calls to try to trade him, and I won't."

A couple more Ainge quotes of note from the call that focused solely on Rondo and the rumors:

* On communicating with Rondo after new rumors: "I talk with Rondo regularly, as [coach] Doc [Rivers] does, so we have continual conversations. I have conversations with them often, so I don’t run to him every time there’s something being said or something being done. But I’m very confident that Rondo knows what I think of him, what I feel about him as a player and how important he is to our team. I feel like Rondo is making incredible strides as a player, as a leader, as a teammate, and as a player in every way -- offense and defense -- it’s almost as silly to me as when the Patriots lose two games and people want to blame Tom Brady. When you’re the best player on a team that’s not living up to your expectations, you’re a hot topic."

* On Rondo as a player the team can build around in the future?: "I hate that terminology that we all use, ’to build around.’ First of all, nobody is that good to build around. You’ve got to have building blocks, you gotta have a 12-man team, you gotta have a starting lineup, you gotta have pieces. No player can do it on their own. So my job is to listen to everything. I’m listening to everything. I don’t come to conclusions -- except that LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the two best players in the league, I’ve concluded that -- other than that, I really don’t make those conclusions. I have to be ready to react. We have a plan, we have an idea of the most likely scenario to have happen. We have to react. And we have to be ready to react to put ourselves in position to have things go our way."

* On Rondo as a stubbor, high-maintenance player: "No, I don’t think that’s fair. I think that he is as stubborn as he is intelligent. I think is a fair assessment of him. But with that, there’s higher maintenance, but I don’t know a quality player that I’ve played with that wasn’t higher maintained than your average player."

* On Rondo's maturation this season: "I just feel, that there's not a lightning bolt that hit somebody. It's been incrementally getting better. He's gotten a little better over time and this year even better. I think that he came in after the lockout this year, he was a little more mature, I think he handled [the trade rumors] really well. I think that, the little two-game suspension that he went through recently where he threw the ball at the official is a learning process for young players. I think he’ll learn from that and grow from that. I just think it’s all part of the process with Rajon. I think he’s getting better incrementally."

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