The Boston Celtics may look at more trades now that Rajon Rondo has been traded, as names like Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger, Evan Turner, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, Marcus Thornton and Brandon Bass as well as Gerald Wallace could be shopped at the trade deadline for Danny Ainge, as teams like the Miami Heat, LA Clippers, Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers could be interested in making moves.
The Celtics are in rebuilding mode and while they have some strong young players, they are still a few years away from contending. Rondo was moved for Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson and draft picks and now the Celtics may look at flipping some of those players.
The Celtics had said for a while that they were not looking to trade Rondo, but the team had no choice since they felt he would leave as a free agent for nothing. Turner is a target after signing in the offseason, while many think Green will get traded since he can become a free agent next summer. Nelson is working out his future with the team and also could be a buyout or trade option.
The Celtics could have received a better overall package for Rondo, but at this point this deal was about the best they would have received. Teams were not willing to give up high value draft picks for Rondo since he is headed towards free agency and also because teams knew the Celtics were shopping him. The demand wasn't crazy for Rondo and it's likely Rondo likely would have been traded sooner had he not been injured at the deadline last year. Rondo had torn his ACL and was making his comeback during what many felt was the "sweet spot" for trading the point guard.
The injury put the Celtics in a tough position, as teams were not willing to give full value for Rondo at that time since they had no idea how he would recover. Now the Celtics are fully committed to the rebuild and they also have a point guard of the future in Marcus Smart to take over as the starter.
The Celtics are 10-15 this season and in the east that means they are still in the playoffs race, but Ainge and Brad Stevens realize this is a long term project. Rondo was the final piece left that connected back to the championship team with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and now Smart, Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley make up the new core. Sullinger also could be in that mix, but Marc Stein at ESPN.com speculated that they could move Sullinger at the deadline this season.
The team comes into things at sixth in the league in scoring after 25 games and that has been impressive under Stevens, but the defense ranks 28th in the league. Rondo leaves a major void on the Celtics, but he was the odd man out with what the team is looking to build and if he wasn't traded, it was likely that he would leave the Celtics in free agency for nothing. The team pulled off a deal to at least get some value for Rondo and since they already have multiple picks in the 2015 draft, they felt the Mavs picks were worth taking in the deal.
