As of Thursday evening, much is still murky as the Celtics work through trade offers for Rajon Rondo. But through numerous conversations with sources, one conclusion has emerged with clarity.
It appears that it will be an upset if Rajon Rondo is still a Celtic by the end of Friday.
League sources are telling the Herald that the Celts are fully prepared and willing to make a move right now with their best player, believing that, despite what Rondo says about wanting to re-sign here when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, it will be hard for the club to compete with more inviting situations elsewhere once he begins being recruited.
And there seems to be more than a little eagerness on all sides to avoid having this situation linger. The fact the NBA trade deadline is February 19 and that acquired players must be held for 60 days before being traded from a team over the salary cap in an aggregation deal (package of players) is also said to be a factor in trying to get something completed.
The three teams in the running for Rondo at present are Dallas, Houston and the Lakers. (Sacramento has shown no interest.) The composition of the offers has been shifting, and there have been talks about expanding the deal beyond Rondo to make it more attractive to the Celtics.
The latter scenario would seem to make sense, as trading Rondo would be an open acknowledgement that the rebuilding process here will take longer than hoped. In that case, the Celts would want to clear from the roster as many players as they can who would not fit in two to three years.
Involved sources are saying that Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is focused on potentially high draft picks. He is not expecting to get a major player in return, and, in fact, anyone coming to Boston would almost certainly be on an expiring or limited contract.
"Danny's not interested in players," a league source told the Herald. "He just wants future assets."
Another source said that teams in the running are trying to work through other clubs to get the quality of draft picks Ainge is seeking. Absent outside help, one or more picks down the line from Dallas may be the most enticing because Dirk Nowitzki is 36 and nearing retirement (two more years on his contract after this).
As reported in today's print edition of the Herald, the market for Rondo is significantly lighter than one might expect for a four-time All-Star point guard.
It was first thought that the Celtics were in no hurry to deal and would wait until the trade deadline to make a move if nothing was of great interest now, figuring that offers would, at the very least, not be getting any worse.
But word is the club has come to believe the opposite, that the offers they receive now may be the best they will get -- and could even diminish over the next several weeks.
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/c...do_within_days