Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge hasn’t been shy about batting down trade rumors surrounding Rajon Rondo, but the chatter won’t go away. The conflicting narratives might have root in Ainge’s own uncertainty about the future of his point guard, as he expressed in a public appearance Sunday, according to Bill Doyle of the Telegram & Gazette.
“The possibility of a trade is not out of the question,” Ainge said about Rondo. “Nobody is untradeable, but I don’t see that happening.”
Doyle rounds up more from Ainge’s Q&A with fans at a church in Worcester, Mass., and his entire piece is worth a read for Celtics diehards. We’ll round up a few of the highlights here:
- Ainge pointed to mutual interest in a continued relationship between the Celtics and Rondo when asked whether he would trade the All-Star, Doyle notes. “The truthful answer is I really don’t know,” Ainge said. “I have no intention. I’m not trying to trade Rondo, but because he’s a free agent this summer, he assured me that he wants to stay in Boston. We’d love to keep him in Boston.”
- Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck first made use of the word “fireworks” in reference to the team’s offseason plans, but Ainge picked up the torch and still isn’t ruling out a flashy move even as he expressed contentment with his pair of first-round picks from June, as Doyle chronicles. “It wasn’t the fireworks that we tried,” Ainge said, “and we continue to try to do, but we’re excited about Marcus [Smart] and his future and James Young and his future. We need to be more patient with James, especially out of the gate. I think Marcus is more physically ready to play at our level than James is today, but we hope for fast progress from James. I felt like we acquired some assets. We didn’t panic and do anything that was silly.”
- Ainge admits a championship is out of reach this season, and while he was reluctant to set goals, he doesn’t think the playoffs are out of the question, Doyle writes.
Gone, baby, gone.