Let’s all just agree we have no idea what Celtics and general manager Danny Ainge are doing.
One day, Boston is expected to trade Rajon Rondo; the next they plan to keep him.
Today is one of those latter days. According to NBA.com’s Sam Smith, the Celtics, after naming Rondo the 15th captain in franchise history, are looking to trade Jeff Green and re-sign their point man:
It sounds more and more like with Rajon Rondo’s return and a ceremonial bestowing of captaincy the Celtics plan to keep Rondo and try to get him to extend. It makes sense given the importance of point guards. More executives think the Celtics want to trade Jeff Green. They’re probably trying to persuade someone to take Gerald Wallace along with Green, though many figure they’ll eventually move Green. A nice exchange could be for Omer Asik, giving the Celtics a point guard/defensive center core to move forward with along with Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk. And Houston could use Green as a stretch four scorer.
Things will get interesting if Rondo doesn’t want to extend. He will become an unrestricted free agent in 2015, and if he’s unsure of where the Celtics will be by then, he could opt to explore the open market and keep his options open.
And if the Celtics cannot get Rondo to extend, you have to wonder what Ainge will do. Roll the dice? Deal him? Play pocket billiards until this saga figures itself out?
Risking free agency becomes a whole lot easier if the Celtics are able to move Green and Wallace, since without them, their books would be wiped (almost) clean in summer 2015. Should Rondo leave for nothing, then at least Boston will have ultimate financial flexibility.
But trading Green won’t necessarily be easy—especially if Ainge is looking to attach Wallace’s bloated contract to his.
Green is owed $27.1 million through 2015-16, assuming he exercises his player option for the final year. Pairing him with Wallace, who is owed over $30 million through 2015-16, makes for a difficult, if not impossible, deal.
Moving Green on his own will be hard enough, because his salary doesn’t quite match up with his inconsistent production. Although he’s putting in 15.8 points per game this season, his shooting percentage is underwhelming (42.9) and he’s posting a 13.9 PER, below the league average of 15.
What team is going to spend roughly $9 million annually on him? The Rockets? Maybe. But even that’s thin. Feels like any Green deal may have to be greased with a first-rounder, assets that Ainge has at his disposal, but may not want to use.
None of which is to say that Rondo’s days in Boston are definitively numbered. He could stay; he could be traded before 2015; he could leave in free agency. It’s impossible to predict because of how many variables are at play.
Doesn’t help that Ainge works quickly and relatively quietly, either. That Courtney Lee trade came out of nowhere, and the Jordan Crawford deal, while rumored, happened almost as soon as conjecture went public.
Whatever decision the Celtics make, then, could come in similar fashion. They could plan on keeping Rondo now, only to trade him next season. Or this summer.
Or sooner.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
