It looks like Rajon Rondo will continue to be the point guard of the Boston Celtics for the foreseeable future, as Danny Ainge has been unable to work a deal with New Orleans for guard Chris Paul. The Hornets did agree to send Paul to the Lakers last night, but after the deal had been leaked out, NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped in and killed the deal.

While as a Celtics fan I’m certainly glad the deal was stopped (though it may eventually still go through) from an objective viewpoint it’s hard to agree with the decision. The NBA currently owns the Hornets, and that is part of the situation, but there was also objection to the deal from other NBA owners who felt that it was lopsided and went against competitive balance. The whole thing just shows again that the lockout was never really players vs. owners, it was owners vs. owners, and that situation remains unresolved by the new CBA.

The Celtics start training camp today, and will likely have several minor signings and moves to announce to get camp underway.

Here are the media links for today:

Media Roundup: Terry Francona Joins ESPN, Talks Red Sox Collapse – My SB Nation Boston media column has the former Red Sox manager talking about his new role at ESPN, and whether he’ll do any managing from the booth.

MLB shows ‘saber’ teeth – Chad Finn has the MLB network crunching the numbers on Albert Pujols new contract and whether it will be worth it for the Angels.

Friday’s Viewing Picks – Ken Fang has your sports on TV for tonight.

Monday Night Lights – I had tweeted this link earlier in the week, it’s a look from The New Yorker at Jon Gruden in his role on Monday Night Football, and the preparation he puts into it. Much of it deals with the week leading up to the Patriots/Chiefs Monday night game, so there is quite a bit of Patriots-related stuff in there.

I’d like to thank a certain small-paper Patriots columnist for his column earlier in the week that was clearly aimed directly at me. In the web world, the column would be called “link bait” – written for the sole purpose of getting linked and getting attention (and page views) brought to the writer. But there will be no link here.

Hopefully the writer and his boss are successful in their dream of organizing fellow Patriots writers to walk out of a Bill Belichick press conference the next time he’s insulting them by being “condescending and unresponsive.” It would be entertaining, and I don’t think Belichick would mind at all.

While the writer might be offended by the self-appointed media watchdogs, and “beaten down” by “Coach Three Rings,” the most offensive thing in the column might be referring to Kristine Leahy as simply the “newbie blonde.” Can you imagine if a player or coach did that? What does her hair color have to do with anything? What’s he saying by that? She’s just down there doing her job, and Belichick treated her as he would any other reporter, which it how it should be. Referring to her as the “blonde” seems more out-of-bounds than anything he accuses others of doing.

Check back later for more media musings and links as the day goes on.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

6 thoughts on “No Chris Paul For Celtics…and Media Links”

  1. Obviously, that idiot is an older, 50-ish white male media member who thinks female reporters are all eye candy and secretly wishes he could cover Sex Ryan every week. Belichick would thank each writer who walked about personally, if that happened. More time to do his actual job, which is prepare and coach football players.

    Like

  2. Funny that someone who claims to be "Fearless" was afraid to name you .. of course he also fearlessly doesn't allow comments on his blog or articles, and has a closed twitter feed.

    Fearless!

    Like

    1. Hey now, Fearless is a social media maven; he has a blog where he posts play by play of Pats games as they happen, cuz, y'know, all of us shut the tv, turn off Gil N Gino and breathlessly await the next post on the Fearless blog. Cuz, y'know, that's what bloggin's all about. These kids nowadays with their cellular devices…

      Like

  3. I don't think Rondo will be around for much longer. I have a strong feeling that the Celtics brass view him — IMHO, quite correctly — as a phantom superstar. As in someone who will inevitably demand and get superstar money, because he is an elite level player, but not someone who is a capital-S Superstar; someone who is an all-around indispensable part of a championship-caliber team. I think Ainge knows that now is the time to move him, while he's still young enough for teams to think "well, eventually he'll start shooting better or hitting more free throws". Can you build a team around Rondo if he's your superstar? Sure, it's possible. But on the list of Guys You'd Build Your Team Around, I think Rondo is pretty low.

    So I think he's gone. Maybe not for CP3, but for someone who can help the team win right now.

    Like

    1. Dave…I agree with you except looking over the landscape of the NBA, I don't see how the Celtics get value for Rondo (4 year contract at affordable dollars) other than the Paul deal. For all of his faults there aren't 5 guards in the league better than him. At the same time, the Celts do not have a serviceable PG on the bench. So any trade they make has to include getting a point guard back. If that is the case you can't trade Rondo for a Big because there will not be enough value when you have to include the PG back. You can't package him with Ray Allen because no team is going to trade for two starting guards and give up a Big in the process. I think you correctly identified that Ainge knows he needs to trade Rondo now…I just don't see how he does it.

      Like

Comments are closed.