The jury is still out on whether or not Rajon Rondo will be in a Celtics uniform beyond this season. One thing that won’t factor negatively against Boston in Rondo’s eyes is the team’s head coach, Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald writes. Rondo has nothing but good things to say about second-year coach Brad Stevens, notes Murphy. “He’s very positive — the most positive coach I’ve been around in my career, and it’s hard not to play for a guy like that,” Rondo said of Stevens. “That’s every day — not just in the locker room. He’s that way off the court, with his family. He’s a role model. He has all of the characteristics of a great leader. He’s great at what he does. He’s all about the team.”
Here’s more from the east:
- The Cavs view veteran center Brendan Haywood as a part-time player who can help out when Cleveland faces teams with taller centers, Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer writes. Haywood is well ahead of schedule in returning from injury, and the Cavs didn’t expect him to return to the court until January, notes Pluto.
- After Brook Lopez‘s latest injury scare involving his troubled feet, the Nets are ready to move on, with or without the seven-footer, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. “I think you have to look at it from the standpoint that the glass is always half-full. I never looked at anything when he did have other injuries that the sky was falling,” GM Billy King said. “That’s why you have a team sport. If it was golf and I was his caddie, I’d be a little more upset because you don’t have a chance to make money. But it’s a team sport.”
- In his season preview for the Pacers, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio writes that it will be a trying season in Indiana without Paul George and Lance Stephenson. If the Pacers are to have any shot at the playoffs, this is the season that Roy Hibbert will need to elevate his game to an elite level, Amico opines.