Celtics Turn Down Trade from Kings for Rajon Rondo

A rumour was released last night that an offer was made from the Sacramento Kings to the Boston Celtics.

The Kings offered rookie Ben McLemore, point guard Isaiah Thomas and two picks. In return they wanted starting point guard Rajon Rondo. The Celtics declined.


My initial reaction was "What a bad move by the Celtics". But after a bit of thought, I see their thought process.

As it stands, the Celtics have a potential 21 draft picks in the next 5 years, an absolutely staggering number. Add this to a roster that already contains 7 players aged 25 and under, and you are looking a team that has serious potential for the future. But of course, every team needs a leader, and I think that Rajon Rondo can provide that. Along with Jeff Green and Brandon Bass, the Celtics have a decent big three.

And let's look at the players offered by the Kings. Isaiah Thomas is having the best season of his career (despite his team having an awful record), averaging 20 points and 6 assists a game. However, these numbers aren't as good as Rondo's could be once he fully recovers from injury. Ben McLemore has potential, and I think it would be a stupid move by the Kings to trade him away, especially with the Kings not having an abundance of young guards.

Rondo is 27 now, and with most of those previously mentioned draft picks coming in a few years, he could be aged 30 by the time the Celtics make the play-offs again. Will Rajon want to stay that long, or will he trade away to try and win a second ring to add to his previous one from 2008 ? Only time can tell.

Will Rondo stick around through the Celtics' difficult period ?

[Update : Since first writing this post, it has been rumoured that Rondo is on the trade block, with the Knicks, Raptors and Kings all interested]

Despite Changes, Dunk Contest Still Leaves Viewers Cold

When the NBA released the changes to the Dunk Contest, fans (including myself) were optimistic. But after the contest, plenty of angry viewers took to social media websites to vent their frustrations.

So, what happened ?

Well first, let's look at the dunkers. 2014 was the first dunk contest that had three All-Stars in it since 1988. Okay, they weren't quite Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler, but it makes a change from unknown players, and "up and coming" prospects. The only player I'd have a bit of a problem with would be Damian Lillard, but he proved me wrong with his battle round dunk (more on that later). 

The format was changed this year, after most people felt that the Dunk Contest should be declared "dead" after last year's disappointment. For the first time ever, there would be a team round, where the 3 dunkers from each conference had 90 seconds to throw as many dunks down, as they could. I had high hopes for this round. I thought it would be a non-stop barrage of amazing dunks, and the energy would be sky-high.

An All-Star squad, but not an All-Star competition. Nick Cannon failed to keep the crowd involved

However, the audience seemed uninterested. The atmosphere was flat. This was probably because of two things.

1) There were too many missed dunks. But this can be forgiven because we're all human.
2) The dunks weren't very good. There were a couple of highlights (the 3 man alley oop from the East wasn't bad) but overall there wasn't anything that could go down as a "great".

Never mind, surely the battle round would save the day. This was the best dunkers in the league, getting head to head, mano a mano. Again, there were high hopes, but it let spectators down.

Terrence Ross' dunk was mediocre, Harrison Barnes' was boring, and I expected more from Paul George after seeing what he could do in-game. Admittedly, Ben McLemore over Shaq was impressed, but the whole build up was very cheesy. John Wall's double pump reverse over G-Man was the highlight of the night, and he deserved the "Dunker of the Night" accolade.

To be honest, the battle round also fell flat, as I don't think one dunk each was enough to really allow us a chance to see what these guys are capable of. Maybe if it were a best of 3 format for each "battle" then fans would have got more into it.

Although I admire Adam Silver and the NBA for trying to change the format (especially so soon into Silver's leadership), they need to go back to the drawing board if they want to keep the fans involved in years to come.

Even John Wall's impressive dunk wasn't enough to save the Dunk Contest from being considered one of the poorest in recent year