Rajon Rondo Won’t Be With Boston Celtics After 2014-2015 Season

By chriscruz on October 15, 2014

The last time that the Boston Celtics had a winning percentage close to .600 was during the 2011-2012 season. They won 39 games that season, and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. This was a pivotal season for them, because they were undoubtedly in the midst of their decline as a team. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen were all getting older after a few years of being on top of the NBA. They were playing the Miami Heat and went up 3-2 against them heading back to Boston in a game, everybody remembers, swung in Boston’s favor. Virtually nobody believed that Miami would bounce back from the deficit.

Miami had just come off their historic first season, as the Big Three came together to dominate everyone and everything in the basketball world. LeBron James was taking his talents to South Beach, and everywhere else they were headed to. But Boston, a team on its last legs, were not going to relent. After going up in the series headed back to Boston, Rajon Rondo, who averaged over 20 points per game in the series, looked like he was ready to dominate the league in a fashion that the league has not seen since Oscar Robertson. A glimpse of this is in Game 2, when he scored 44 points, but also collected 10 assists with eight rebounds.

So what happened?

Well, the first thing that happened was LeBron. If you remember the series at all, you remember LeBron’s historic Game 6. He was transcendent in that game. Then Boston lost the series. Then Allen opted for other living situations. Then Garnett and Pierce left. So now what do we make of Rondo’s situation? He has simply been left alone in Boston.

Remember his father-figure coach? Yeah, he left too.

Now Rondo must learn to figure his own way through the NBA. Beforehand, he could lean on his sturdy columns, figuratively speaking. Now, he has nothing to lean on except himself. The player whom I believed would take over the league has to elevate the Celtics now that he is alone. They have picked up some players that may be helpful. Jeff Green still has potential. Marcus Smart is someone who can play defense well, and create for other players. Avery Bradley is still a good player who can create for himself off the dribble and also as a spot-up shooter.

There is still a chance for this team to make the playoffs this season, sneaking into the last few spots. And if they do, it will be Rondo that takes them there. And if Rondo does, then I think that he is going to have an MVP-type season. Last season, he averaged 9.8 assists per game, only behind the best point guard in the league, Chris Paul.

In order for Rondo to get the Celtics to the playoffs, he may have to average a triple-double. We need to see the old Rondo come back, but without any injuries this year.

But even all of this, even if Boston is somehow able to clear the regular season hurdle and stumble into the playoffs, I don’t think that Rondo will stay in Boston. It is something that just has to be accepted. Why would a player choose to stay in a situation like that? Everything looks grim at this moment. They have no chances at signing free-agents, they don’t have any promising players and are looking to have two option effective immediately: to be a non-team (like Philadelphia), or be middle of the pack.

Let’s be honest with each other, Rondo won’t deal with this long-term. Even though Rondo has the skill to be able to elevate this team’s play, I think it is more likely that he is traded this season.

Christopher Cruz is a Miami Heat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @_chris_cruz, or add him to your network on Google.