4:50pm: During a press conference today, Carlisle was asked if he expected Rondo to wear a Mavericks uniform again, to which the coach responded, “No, I don’t,” Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets. The coach was also asked if he believed that he could coexist with Rondo in the future, to which Carlisle responded, “Absolutely. I like Rondo. My relationship with him was professional.”
8:59am: Rajon Rondo hasn’t given up on the Mavericks, but there’s strong momentum toward an “inevitable” departure for the Lakers in free agency this summer, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rondo won’t return to Dallas as long as Rick Carlisle is the coach, sources told Wojnarowski, who suggests that the Mavs might not want the point guard back, anyway. In any case, no team is planning a maximum-salary offer for Rondo, whose value has been in decline since he suffered a torn ACL in January 2013, according to Wojnarowski.
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com also uses the word “inevitable” to describe Rondo’s parting from the Mavericks. MacMahon reported earlier this month that the Bill Duffy client was expected to ask for more than the Mavs were willing to pay him, adding that the Mavs’ stance on the matter was subject to change if Rondo played well in the postseason. That hasn’t happened, as the Rockets outscored Dallas by 25 points with Rondo on the floor in Game 1, and Carlisle saw fit to have Rondo on the floor for fewer than 10 minutes in Game 2, as MacMahon points out. The Mavs played 11 men during the fourth quarter, but Rondo wasn’t one of them, notes Ben Golliver of SI.com (Twitter link). Chandler Parsons wasn’t one of them either, as he sat out with a knee injury from which he won’t return during the Rockets series, sources told Wojnarowski.
Reports indicated that the Rockets pushed to trade for Rondo almost until the Celtics sent him to the Mavs instead, but Duffy never wanted Rondo in Houston, since his presence would hinder fellow Duffy client Patrick Beverley‘s value, as Wojnarowski details. Still, the Rockets went after Rondo in an attempt to drive up the price for the Mavs, according to Wojnarowski. Rondo planned to sign a max deal with the Lakers prior to the trade, but afterward he became open to re-signing with Dallas, Wojnarowski writes. However, it now appears as though there’s little chance the point guard will re-sign with the Mavs. Kobe Bryant has made no secret of his desire to recruit Rondo to the Lakers, who’ve reportedly been likely to make a summer pursuit of the point guard since at least the beginning of the season.
I’m trying to think of any team that Rondo is a fit with in today’s NBA, and I’m having a really tough time. He is a ball stopping PG that can’t shoot, so he doesn’t space the floor. He isn’t as good defensively as he once was either, and then he is a big liability as someone that teams can put on the free throw line, and he doesn’t finish at the rim the way he used to either…he should probably be surrounded by shooters. Look at what him being in Dallas has done to Monte Ellis as well. Monte doesn’t shoot the ball well from 3, but was having a great year before the trade, and it was assumed he would cash out in free agency. Now the narrative is that he is an issue in the locker room, and some guys aren’t so sure it’s too smart for him to turn down his option. Just a bad trade, and as I said before it happened, you could see it coming
So you blame Mavs poor shooting on Rondo? Lol you’re a fucktard
There is a reason why the Mavs were an exponentially better offense before they traded for him
rather have mudiay or russell playing pg for the lakers next yr
Yeah, I would settle for Russell or Mudiay and pry Mo Williams to Lakers or re-sign Jeremy Lin as veteran max.
Lakers should go for Center – Gasol, Jordan ( in the FA or even PF/C (Aldridge or Monroe) and used the 2 picks for back up C (Upshaw/Dakari Johnson) and SF/PF (Jarrell Martin)
In FA there are also possible SF available like Carroll, Middleton and Harris
Although only Carroll is listed as UFA
The NBA draft is the selling point if we get higher than 4th spot then the rebuild will be so good. Say 1 or 2, definitely we can land either KAT or Okafor.
After main target in FA is Monroe or Aldridge as starting PF/C.