Rajon Rondo on Leaving Celtics: ‘This Is My Team’

Following the Boston Celtics’ trade of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets, and Doc Rivers’ departure to the Los Angeles Clippers, there were a lot of questions surrounding the point guard’s future in Beantown. Was the team tanking and therefore, he on the trade block? Would he demand to be moved himself? Do him and Franklin the Turtle discuss his future on the weekends?

These are questions that will follow him into the season as he continues to recover from an ACL injury. The longer he remains sidelined, the more likely it is those in the stands smell a tank job. And even after he does return, general manager Danny Ainge could just be hoping he shows the rest of the NBA he can walk, so that he can trade him for even more draft picks and a better shot at landing Andrew Wiggins in 2014.

But don’t expect Rondo to request the trade himself. Not unless him and Kris Humphries get into it in the locker room, or one of his other teammates makes one too many Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtle jokes. Right now, he seems up to the challenge of leading the Celtics into their blatant tank job rebuild.

“This is my team; why would I want to leave?” Rondo recently said, according to CBS Sports’ Ken Berger. “Why would I want out? I’ve never really backed away from a challenge.”

Does he really want to play this game? Okay then, I’ll bite.

They’re all gone, could Rondo be next? (gamedayr.com)

For starters, the Celtics are probably going to suck this season. There’s still the chance that Rondo returns early and plays so well that they make a play for the eighth and final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference, but there’s also still a chance J.R. Smith grows wary of day drinking.

Rondo’s 27, and he’ll turn 28 in February. Before he and the Celtics know it, he’ll be pushing 30. Who’s to say they’ll be ready to contend by then. Even if they are, does Rondo really want to waste at least the next two years of his life playing for a team that may not even make the playoffs?

Looking ahead, that’s what the Celtics are up against. There is no sudden end to this rebuild. These things usually take years. At minimum, Boston is looking at a lost season this year and next. Then, assuming Rondo agrees to re-sign with the team in 2015, he can enter the 2015-16 season knowing they may, quite possibly, if they’re lucky, have a chance at contending for a title.

The time for Rondo to endure a rebuild was actually two years ago, when he was still 25 and this ACL injury wasn’t even being discussed. Incidentally, that’s probably when the Celtics should have began their current reclamation project, instead of prolonging the inevitable.

Speaking of which, let’s not pretend that’s not what could be happening here. The Celtics could be prolonging the inevitable yet again. Driven by the need to secure a top-five draft pick, they could trade him. It could happen. Don’t rule it out. Ainge and the Celtics know what we know. They understand that Rondo is at the tweener age, where he might be young enough to headline a rebuilding effort, but is also old enough to where he’s best suited on a contender.

Where this ride will stop, nobody knows. For now, Rondo appears committed to the tanking no seriously, they’re tanking Celtics. That’s all anyone inside Boston can really ask for.

“It’s a brand new start for us as a team,” Rondo said.

One that, no matter what Rondo says, I’m not so sure he’ll be around to see the end of.