With Rajon Rondo done for the season...does this team make the playoffs?

[Bird Fan]

The Celtics will make the playoffs. Guy's the Celtics are and have been a scond half team. It's regular season, a very long season.

The Celtics will make 4-7 seed in the east. The Celtics may survive the first round but lose in the Eastern Conf. Semi's.

^ Whoa....that from Bird Fan. And people say im negative at times. It seems that im more hopeful than most.

This team will come together and win some games. They have 0% chance of winning NBA Championship.

[69centers]

They have 0% chance of winning NBA Championship.

If Danny can pull off a miracle deal to snatch Calderon, that zero would go up.

[bagwell368]

If Danny can pull off a miracle deal to snatch Calderon, that zero would go up.

BTW weren't you just ripping on me for having Calederon above Rondo in my rankings last week? Glad you've seen the light....


Tell you what, everything else aside, that's what I call a women.

[thebrianscal]

Rondo is my favorite Celtic and favorite nba player. That being said without big time scorers around him a team solely based on him for offense wouldnt win a title. Not a knock on him, just realistic. Rondo is one of the best the nba has ever seen at putting players in a good position to score and finish, but for this to be an acceptable form of offense the people who are hitting those shots need to be above average players nd play at a high level very consistently. When they don't rondos skills become limited as he has shown improvements in his own scoring but cant be a number 1 scoring option given his style play.

If the celtics were to acquire, say, Jose Calderon and rondo was then moved for pieces including young scorers or a talented big, the celtics playoff chances and seeding would not change much but their chance of contending for a title increases based off of how their style of play would change.

I realize the moving rondo part isn't probably going to be any time soon with the injury, but down the road moving him may be the best option and this is coming from a huge fan of him and his game.

[69centers]

BTW weren't you just ripping on me for having Calederon above Rondo in my rankings last week? Glad you've seen the light....


Tell you what, everything else aside, that's what I call a women.

Calderon is putting up some SWEET numbers this year, no doubt, but I still had Rondo above him. I'll easily take him to fill out our PG role the rest of the way this year. He'd be an excellent replacement.

I figured you'd like my new sig.

[bstnfn34]

november 15 bkn L 97-102
november 30 por w 96-78
december 1st mil L 88-91
december 29 gs L 83-101
january 7 ny w 102-96
january 27 w mia 102-98
january 29 w sac 99-81
w/o rondo rec 4-3
w/ rondo rec 18-20
w/o rondo ppg 95.3
w/ rondo ppg 92.6
w/o rondo opp ppg 92.3
w/ rondo opp ppg 94.7
w/o rondo +2.7 ppg
w/o rondo -2.4 opp ppg
i know its a small sample but it does show we score more and get scored on less when he is out. not saying that we dont need rondo just showing that were not dead. and the way the ball moved around tonight was great. defense was great too

[Bird Fan]

If Danny can pull off a miracle deal to snatch Calderon, that zero would go up.

Ok 3%.....the chances are very low. Listen I don't like it, but I refuse to be unrealistic, delusional, homer Celtic Fan.

I must allow myself to use good judgement.

[Corey]

Yep.

We play better team ball without Rondo.

[YoungOne]

I really dont like this team in the playoffs without rondo, rather do sth for the future..

[Bird Fan]

I really dont like this team in the playoffs without rondo, rather do sth for the future..

I hear ya, but I don't see that happening. Everything I hear from Ownership/ Celtics Management, they have no plans on giving up (2013 Celtics Team).

To " blow it up " make little sense anyway. From a marketing view/ business model. NBA collective agreement makes this almost impossible. You are dealing with so many financial factors, not the least being a salary cap. The others involve business partners, ext....

It's not baseball, you can't just dump payroll.

This team will make the playoffs (eastern conf very weak). Maybe beat a first round team, lose in the second round. That is the most likely outcome......not the only outcome, but MOST likely..

[Opalmerr]

Appologies in advance for rambling.

Basketball is a game of decision-making skills.

Doc likes the ball in Rondo's hands because of his decision-making ability, his basketball IQ. Perhaps to a fault?

I've been reading player quotes from the last couple of days with great interest. The role players, to a man, infer they welcome the prospect of more touches on the ball. On the surface that is a "no brainer" consideration and could perhaps be viewed as veiled criticism of Rondo. It is neither, imo.

I long ago grew weary of the Pierce and KG iso's with Rondo delivering the ball. My impression has been Rondo had as well. Many here have voiced opinion the C's needed to share the ball more. Rondo is definitely ball dominant in the C's system - the two are inseparable and thus share any criticism, imo. I myself have criticized the lack of off ball movement by the Celtic players. Doc gave Rondo a lot of freedom in calling plays... another aspect of decision making. Whose number gets called? Who is a play run for? Doc will likely call more plays with Rondo out.

And with Rondo out, everyone must become more involved in the decision making process. Everyone will need to be more engaged. By extension, the C's should become less predictable with the decision making duties divided among many instead of resting largely with one. This could lead to increased productivity individually and collectively... a little of which we have seen when Rondo has been out. It could also lead to spells of chaos and individual play, something we have yet to see in any large degree.

In the long-term perspective, I think the team benefits from Rondo being out. This can be especially true if Doc and the coaches learn from his absence and adjust the offensive system when he does return. Doc / the coaches and perhaps certain players have been guilty of falling into a comfort zone of relying too much on Rondo, imo. Too much of a good (great) thing, if you will.

DAnny wants to wait it out, evalaute where the team is over the next couple of weeks and I believe this is a very smart approach. Let's find out who the good decision makers are. Which players are going to step up and fill that particular void and in doing so demonstrate the ability to be dependable in other areas as well.

One obvious area to watch is individual turnovers. As players are asked to take on more decision making to what degree will their turnovers increase? Turnovers are not a be all end all stat for this but can be a good indicator from a negative perspective. On the positive side, assists, shot charts and points can be indicators of quality decision making.

[bagwell368]

I don't see a "blow it up" mind set either. But I hope they are open to resource reallocation. Say make a few small deals, deals that get us a player and a 2nd round pick, but also make us less competitive this year. As meh as the draft appears to be this year moving up 5 spots can't hurt.

Losing resources over the next couple of years for the sake of this year is what I don't want to see. It's like driving N from Moosehead Lake when you are lost, but have 2/3 of a tank of gas. Just cause you can, doesn't mean you should.

[Opalmerr]

Gary Dzen‏@GlobeGaryDzen

On Rajon Rondo's value, Danny Ainge tells WEEI: "He single-handedly carries us every night, and I don't know how people don't see that."


I agree DAnny. He is a special, unique one of a kind talent. It's been an honor and privilege to watch him play. Hope he has a full and speedy recovery so I can see him play again.

[bagwell368]

Basketball is a game of decision-making skills.

Doc likes the ball in Rondo's hands because of his decision-making ability, his basketball IQ. Perhaps to a fault?

That's true, but it's also true that Rondo's only real elite skill on offense is passing. I might say driving the hoop, but he doesn't do it much anymore, and rebounding offensive glass, but that's also fairly infrequent. This puts pressure on the other 4 offensive players, and allows a team to have a guard drop off an cover the top of the key area, or go to a zone, or whatever the other teams D wants to do gets easier since Rondo can't shoot outside of 14 feet.

I long ago grew weary of the Pierce and KG iso's with Rondo delivering the ball. My impression has been Rondo had as well. Many here have voiced opinion the C's needed to share the ball more. Rondo is definitely ball dominant in the C's system - the two are inseparable and thus share any criticism, imo. I myself have criticized the lack of off ball movement by the Celtic players.

And player movement too.

And with Rondo out, everyone must become more involved in the decision making process. Everyone will need to be more engaged. By extension, the C's should become less predictable with the decision making duties divided among many instead of resting largely with one. This could lead to increased productivity individually and collectively... a little of which we have seen when Rondo has been out. It could also lead to spells of chaos and individual play, something we have yet to see in any large degree.

I believe every player you trust should be able to carry out every function on the floor, and should be looking to do the right thing. It's sort of a cascading logic for all.

(off topic a bit) For instance my son is playing the best he's every played this year, the best of both of my sons over 16 seasons worth of travel, AAU, HS. He can do everything, and chooses to do what is right. He burned a team for 28 recently, so they put their best defender on him, and trapped him every time he touched the ball. He took no shots in the first half. Our Center fouled out (my son is a wing 3/2), they lost concentration on their D for 2 minutes and he got 9 points, and finished with a line of 9/14/10/5 in 26 minutes.

That's what I'm talking about, do the right thing, but you can't score on the outside if your efficiency sucks - nor can you act as a threat to shoot, making your passing easier (thanks for reading up on my son BTW).

[CELTICS4LYFE]

You would figure with Rondo out we would be dead, But against the Kings(yes its only 1 game n the Kings) I actually felt like I was watching a Celtics game for the first time this year. With Rondo out n the ball not in his hands all the time maybe we can utilize all this pieces we have.