Boston Celtics: Who Will Step Up in Rondo’s Absence?

The Boston Celtics took a huge blow on Sunday when it was revealed that Rajon Rondo tore his ACL and would be out for the rest of the season. Rondo was leading the team in assists, with a league-high 11.1 per game, and steals with 1.8 per game. He had undoubtedly taken over as the leader of the Celtics team and was the facilitator of their offense.

With Rondo out, that leaves a huge hole in their lineup that can’t be filled. No one can replace Rondo, who leads the league in triple-doubles with five, but the Celtics will be forced to make some big decisions in the coming days that will undoubtedly affect the future of the franchise.

In the meantime, who has to step up in the absence of Rondo? Of course, a lot of the burden falls on the shoulders of team veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. But it’s the guards who will receive more minutes in Rondo’s absence that are really going to have to work hard to keep the Celtics in the playoffs this season.

The biggest benefactor of this injury is undoubtedly Avery Bradley. We already know that the Celtics have a lot of faith in the future of Bradley; he was one of the big reasons why Boston were okay with Ray Allen going to the Miami Heat.

Bradley was out for a big chunk of the beginning of the season, just returning on Jan. 2. Since his return, his production has been marginal at best, averaging 8.1 points per game and just one assist per game in 24.4 minutes.

Despite these disappointing numbers, he will most likely be asked to take over the starting point guard role now, which gives him a chance to increase his production, and more importantly, gives him a chance to play substantial minutes with Pierce and Garnett, who will attract a big chunk of the defensive focus from opposing teams.

This is going to allow Bradley to penetrate more frequently, giving him more scoring and passing options from the inside. Expect the Celtics to put a lot of support behind Bradley for the rest of the season and expect Bradley to seize the opportunity to prove he can be a starter in the NBA.

Another player who will step up in Rondo’s absence is Jason Terry. He’s comfortable in a scoring role, serving as the second option in Dallas for many years, and can pick up the slack in the scoring column now that the Celtics have lost the 13.7 points per game they were getting from Rondo.

Expect Terry to raise his 9.8 points per game average into the double digits very quickly. He’ll be getting a lot more touches as he’ll be called upon to backup Bradley at the point.

The final piece to this puzzle is the lightly used Leandro Barbosa. He’s playing just 10.4 minutes per game so far this season, as he has been shuffled down to the bottom of the depth chart in Boston. But with Rondo out, the Celtics will be looking to the bench for a dynamic player to step up and Barbosa is just the guy.

Barbosa is a 12.1 point-per-game scorer in his career, but has fallen a little flat so far in Boston, averaging just 4.6. This doesn’t take away the fact that Barbosa has the same speed that Rondo brought to the team and can definitely be called upon to speed up the offense at times and confuse opposing defenses with a maddening change of pace.

Of course, all of these players stepping up is dependent on what moves the Celtics make now that Rondo is out. Boston will definitely be shopping some players before the trade deadline now, in search of a deal that will fit with their current plan.

The big question now is: Without Rondo and with the team floating around near the bottom of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, what is their plan?

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