Rajon Rondo: ‘I Love Being A Celtic’

Rajon Rondo made it clear once again that he loves being a member of the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics have been rumored to be interested in trading star point guard Rajon Rondo for quite some time now, but they still haven’t pulled the trigger on a deal and could be holding out hope that they can lock him up to a new long-term deal. Rondo has been one of the Celtics’ franchise players since he came into the league, and has continue to improve his game at an incredibly high level.

Take a look at Rondo’s stats through Boston’s first five regular season games:

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/13/2014.

Needless to say, those are impressive numbers and at just 28 years of age he has plenty of high quality basketball left in him. According to a report from Steve Bulpett of the Boston Globe, Rondo loves being a Celtic and might very well end up sticking with the team if they offer him the type of money that he is looking to receive.

There is no denying that the Celtics are moving forward in their rebuilding process, and they are not going to be a pushover in the Eastern Conference this season. Rondo has been having a career season despite not putting up huge offensive numbers, and the Celtics would be wise to consider re-signing him to a new contract. If they give in to Rondo’s demands, they will be giving him a new max deal.

Is it possible that the Celtics and Rondo could decide to hammer out the details on a long-term deal?

Absolutely. While the Celtics drafted guard Marcus Smart this past offseason, it wasn’t necessarily to replace Rondo at the point guard position. Smart has the type of game that would fit the shooting guard spot very well, and that could be where he ends up as long as Rondo is in town.

Both Rondo and the Celtics love the fit that they have, and Rondo is the perfect point guard to run second-year head coach Brad Stevens’ system. If they did decide to trade him, that would be putting an awful lot of pressure on Smart to change his game to fit into what Stevens is looking for from his starting point guard, and it simply might not end up working out. That being said, there is also a chance that Boston could risk losing Rondo in free agency this coming offseason without getting any type of return for him.

Boston has allowed themselves to be put into a very difficult situation with the way that they have handled this situation. They should have either locked Rondo up this past offseason or decided to move him, and it will be a very intriguing trade deadline for Rondo rumors this year.

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When everything is said and done, the Celtics are going to be playing a dangerous game. If they go to free agency and hope to beat other teams out to re-sign him, they might end up losing him for nothing. On the other hand, they could trade him and end up getting a bad deal while the team that they move him to would be receiving a brand new franchise point guard.

Expect plenty of rumors surrounding Rondo to be tossed around all season long, but it doesn’t appear that Boston has made up their minds as to the that they want with Rondo.

Next: NBA Power Rankings: Do the Celtics Belong Higher Than 26?