...and they had the best bench scorer in the league, who scored like a starter. More importantly though, they had a guy that could defend Lebron in the Finals in Marion. We would be trading our guy like that away if we gave up Batum.
You are severely over rating Boston. When was their last championship before this most recent one? That team was TERRIBLE forever, and they would have stayed terrible if they didn't pull off those hail mary's on KG and Allen. Now Allen and KG will be gone and all they've got is an aging Pierce and a headcase in Rondo. Why would that be appealing to Howard or Williams?
To me, we gain nothing by losing Batum and adding Rondo. The whole idea of getting better as a team is just that- improve your overall talent level. I think Rondo is a good PG, but not elite. It's like taking a $5 bill out of your wallet and replacing it with another $5 bill. All you have is still $5. Now that he is starting, Batum is showing why he can be a starter on many teams. Therefore, if we can't obtain Rondo and upgrade our overall talent level, look for a different PG. A Brooks or Augustine may not be as good as Rondo, but for what we can probably get them for (nothing as they are free agents) means they upgrade our talent level.
I hear what you're sayin BP, but I think the 5 dollar bill analogy is off. Maybe the talent level is comparable, but some five dollar bills are harder to come by than other 5 dollar bills. Wins are easy to find, point guards are not. If they were easy to find, we wouldn't STILL be looking for an elite point guard since Strickland. Miller was the closest thing, but he's in the twilight of his career. I would take Rondo over Batum because PGs like Rondo are much harder to come by.
OK, I agree with what you are saying, but cannot that same point be made about Batum? Matthews as a starter is a C- or D+. Batum as a starter is a B. If we trade Batum we now have to upgrade our talent level at SG (where he currently starts) back to a B in order to improve as a team. Rondo will not turn Matthews into a B player. We've seen the best Matthews has to offer. My whole point boils down to this- to be a true contender a team has to have a good coach with a good system, and either a few great players or enough good players with great role players if they want to contend. For us to trade away a player like Batum for Rondo really doesn't improve our overall talent level, it merely switches the same talent level from SG to PG. Granted, PG is probably a more important role on most teams than SG, but we're not any closer talent wise to being a contender. So for those reasons I don't like the trade idea. I'd rather make go after a free agent we might get without losing a talent like Batum. A Brooks or Agustine may only upgrade PG from a D- to a C, but it's still an overall talent team upgrade.
EWill could be a B shooting guard, or we could target a shooting guard in the lottery. I guess my point is, there are a lot of ways to acquire a scoring wing. There are very few ways to acquire a point guard that can do as many things as Rondo. Sure, he's not as good as a Deron Williams or Chris Paul, but he's in the next tier down. I'd sacrifice Batum for that.
I'd rather add Augustine and keep Batum than trade Batum for a head-case poor-shooting Rondo. I definitely want Nash, but I disagree that trading our second best player and backups for him and taking back their crap makes us a contender. That's crazy. A Nash/Batum/LaMarcus lineup gets me pretty excited to watch Blazers basketball though -- if our coach can stay out of the way, of which I'm highly skeptical.
Well, regardless of what we do, I just don't want to put our eggs in the current basket. I don't see this team going anywhere. We need to strip it down to a single wall and build from there.
I've got a feeling about Deron Williams. If we keep our cap space and make a good pitch, I think we have a shot at getting him. I'm not saying we're a front runner or that it's a sure thing, but I think we could get in the running.
Ainge took over in 03. He promptly traded Antoine Walker, tanked, drafted Al Jeff, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes over the next three years then flipped most of them and his lotto pick for KG/Allen. He re-signed Allen a year or two ago so that his contract and KG's ended at the same time. All this isn't just a coincidence. He knew they were getting old and he could make a big play in this year's free agency if he set it up this way. I believe that part of the premise of his pitch to Howard is that he believes he can still retain KG (where is KG going to go? they can still pay him fairly decently and hes a notoriously loyal guy who wants to win). Tell him Rondo/Pierce/KG/Dwight is the core for the next few years, once they leave they'll have a lot of cap space to look for another third banana. As far as media markets is he any better off in Dallas than Boston? Playing with Dirk and Kidd and a whole host of other older players? New Jersey/Brooklyn has appeal but can they retain Deron and if they do is that enough talent to beat the Heat/OKC? They've got a pretty decent pitch IMO. Back to the topic though, they're not moving Rondo for anything but a blue chip prospect or another star. Nash could be a nice target in free agency, the chances of signing him are infinitely higher than signing Deron. Unfortunately your only chance of adding a real star in their prime is trading Batum (this is the minimum, as you have little else of value as far as trades for stars go). You could sign Nash and hope Batum does blossom into an all-star. Or maybe you could trade Batum + something for Rondo and still have some money left to burn on a good third core piece.
My predictions: Dwight will end up in LA. Deron will end up in Dallas. Boston will completely suck and end up trading Pierce and/or Rondo.
