Latest News, NBA / Nov 30, 2011 / 12:30 pm

NBA Trade Rumor: Indiana And Boston Discussing Rajon Rondo

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Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo (photo. Gary Land)

If Rajon Rondo does make it all the way to opening night still in New England, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and all the rest of Boston better be sucking up to him because dude will be pissed off. Not long after rumors began that Danny Ainge was dragging Rondo’s name into talks with rival GMs, Chris Paul came up. It turned out the league’s reigning best PG (at least in the public’s eye) was the guy Boston wanted, and if it cost them Rondo so be it. New Orleans wasn’t jumping at the deal, and now Rondo has his own suitor: the Indiana Pacers.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting “for the past few days, Pacers officials – and third-party surrogates – have been making calls and gathering information and insight into Rondo’s reputation as a teammate and leader, sources said.”

How the Pacers became involved in their bid for Rondo still isn’t clear. The Celtics were making calls to find a third party to throw into the Rondo/Paul swap; New Orleans refused to give away Paul without another team stepping in and offering them more. Indiana definitely has the young assets to please anyone so it makes sense Boston probably called to help to secure Paul. But they definitely weren’t anticipating the Pacers’ interest in Rondo.

Now the Celtics gameplan could be this: make the deal with Indiana, get young resources and then turn around and swing another deal for CP.

The Pacers are predictably nervous about adding Rondo: He’s a big name with a big head (thanks to winning so much at such a young age), and with a young coach in Frank Vogel, and no Hall of Famers to keep him in line, who would check Rondo’s ego? Still, if you put him on a team like Indiana, that’s a dangerous squad. Athletic. Young. Explosive. That would make for a very interesting lineup, depending on who they’d have to give up.

Would Indiana be a good fit for Rondo? Is Boston stupid for trying to trade him away?

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  • Banny

    Rondo is overrated, I’m not just a hater but without the crew in Boston around him I see his numbers coming down all around to something like 10 and 9 along those lines. He isn’t the superstar PG he’s made out to me. Plus his defence is vastly overrated. Steals don’t make a defender.

  • Michorizo

    The Green Lantern becoming Sinestro …

  • catdaddywhack

    Bring on The Green Hornet…

  • combzy

    Actually Banny, his numbers would not suffer if on a different squad, his points would shoot up, especially with a younger team who likes to get out and run. He isn’t overrated, just in a system that doesn’t fit him to score a lot of points. You can’t take the assists away from him because he is a great passer no matter what.

  • Russ

    I can see a deal that would involve either Darren Collision and/or George Hill and Hibbert. Not sure who else Indy would throw in there. Then they get Rondo and have the cap space to get one of the available centers. They shouldn’t do it if it involves Granger. He’s their best (only) scorer. Unless they feel confident Paul George can step into that role at SF.

  • Joe’s Momma

    I don’t see how people are saying CP3 is the “best pg in the game” when there is some dude named Derrick Rose who just won the MVP award and played like a man possessed. Without Rose, that Bulls team wins 45 games, not 60+ like they did.

    CP3 demolished in the playoffs, but don’t forget, he played against a 37 year old Derek Fisher (and slow footed Ron Artest a few possessions) who is not particularly known as a defensive wiz at this point in his career. CP3 had a down year by his standards, that knee bothered him more than he let on.

    Rondo has a huge ego, but so does Danny Ainge. Ainge blasted Rondo for being immature, then signed him to a 60 mil deal the very next week. Ainge promised Rondo he aint shopping him, and now has done it twice (once last year, and now again)

    But for all I care, Boston can suck a fat one. BUCK FOSTON!!

  • 12thman

    Hibbert, George Hill, Paul George.

  • Joe’s Momma

    Indy already said Hibbert is pretty much untouchable, if you watched his progression last year you would know why. Dude can become a top 3 NBA center this year with some more paint touches a game. Tell Granger to stop chucking and pass the damn rock

  • s.bucketz

    Derrick rose is a beast of a sg in a pg’s body..if he was 2 inches taller no1 would consider him a playmaking 2 guard…just a really good 2 who hasn’t learned how to shoot yet…

    And lol paul won’t sign a extension in beantown even if the hornets traded him (but they won’t cuz rondo is straight butt cheeks)…also, apparently they offered rondo for westbrook and okc turned that down wit the quickness…lol I guess they figured a trigger happy pg is better than a pg wit a broken trigger….hahah I thought according to dime “waajon waando is the gweatest pg of all time”

  • http://www.dimemag.com panchitoooo

    @combzy

    i agree that Rondo would most likely get a few more PPG if on another team but its silly to think his assist average will still stay the same when passing to less talented players. Rondo is a great passer and has good court vision but if the guys your passing to cant hit a jumper or finish at the rim like Allen, Pierce, or KG than its only logical that his assist will go down.

    thats like saying if me and you where on Rondos team and he passed it to us we could finish against anyone in the NBA just cause of how great of a passer Rondo is. thats like saying if Rondo passed it to Kwame Brown on the elbow he would score the same amount as KG would. or if you gave it to Evan Turner at the 3 point line he would drain as many 3s as Ray Allen could….kinda ridiculous

  • http://www.dimemag.com panchitoooo

    QUOTE OF THE DAY:

    I guess they figured a trigger happy pg is better than a pg wit a broken trigger

  • control

    My main question would be, what is Rondo going to do when he is actually guarded in a game? Right now, NO ONE guards him, literally. Someone MIGHT pick him up if he enters the paint, where he can be dangerous, but other than that, I’ve never seen a guy with the ball ignored as much as he is.

    I’m sure most of the discussions about Rondo go like this: “hey, you want an egotistical douchebag who couldn’t shoot to save his life?”, “nah, I’m good, thanks”.

    If Rondo goes to Indy, he will be the biggest fall from being an “All Star” ever. Even more than Jamaal Magloire.

  • http://www.dimemag.com panchitoooo

    still no beiber newz to defend Rondo and say its a bad GM move to want to trade him…

    STAND RIGHT THERE

  • Sean Sweeney

    @control There’s no way Rondo is on any kind of Magloire level as a player. The man was .2 assists per game away from leading the entire NBA. The two players aren’t comparable on any level.

    Some of you guys are basically saying Rondo became arguably a top 5 PG because the rest of his teammates make him look good. C’mon now… The next thing you know someone’s going to come in here and say they’d take Jameer Nelson over Rondo.

  • catdaddywhack

    I’d take Jameer Nelson over Rondo.

  • catdaddywhack

    Nah… lol

  • http://www.dimemag.com panchitoooo

    @Sweeney

    you got it right, thats basically what im saying…

    if im on the court with you and i hit you with a pass for an open layup and you miss the shot, i still look good for finding the open man and you look bad for missing the shot but in the end my overall assist average suffers cause you couldnt get the basket.

    on the flip side if i hit you with a bad pass in the wrong place but you still finish the basket then our coach may say “hey panch that was not the right decision” but in the end i still get an assist cause you made my bad pass look good because of your talents even though i messed up.

  • http://www.dimemag.com panchitoooo

    btw i wouldnt take Jameer over Rondo, im a strong believer that suffocating defense is what wins games and crushes souls and Rondo can play some D, im 100% sure of that…

  • Banny

    Rondo can swipe and get steals. He’s not a great defender.

  • doc

    they better trade Rondo now because when the big 3 leaves its a wrap for all this all star pg bs rondo gets now.

  • Nyeme

    I wouldn’t even say Rondo has excellent or superior court vision. It’s not like he passed the ball to anyone other than those 3. Let’s not overlook how good they are at getting to their spots and moving to allow him the perfect passing angles. Y’all act like he’s Jason Kidd or Nash, Chris Paul or even J. Williams with threading the ball through 3 defenders, hitting everyone perfectly.

    As for Jameer, I’d take him over Rondo. If Jameer played with a big man skilled enough to play the 2-man game, he’d be 17 & 7 (Billups numbers)

  • http://www.dimemag.com panchitoooo

    ^^^no one is saying that Rondo is a great defender or shut down guy. but like you said he can swipe, steal, and play defense…

  • catdaddywhack

    the thing with jameer he’s still in denial he isn’t a true point guard. he’s a shooting guard in a pg’s body. nelson can be a better version of jj barea if he stops pretending to be a pure point.

  • ab40

    no and yes

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