Rondo is unquestionably a top five PG. His contract is a bargain and there's no need to move him. Russell Westbrook would not fix our team woes this year, and he'd eat up too much cap space in the future. With CP3 now off the market and D-Rose locked up for years, only Deron Williams could be considered. He will command significantly more money and is not enough of an upgrade to justify it. Even if we had the opportunity today to trade Rondo and JO for D-Will, I'd probably be against it. With Pierce healthy, we'd probably be 2-1 or 3-0 right now. Rondo would be able to focus more on D rather than having to do it all at both ends. Yes, he at times looked apathetic and Jack got in the lane a ton. To some extent, Jack flicked up ugly floaters that happened to go in. Cole mostly knocked down jumpers. Where's the love for Rondo's improved jumper and FT's??

I think the 2nd "sell" was supposed to be a hold, or at least I hope so! Rondo is not our problem, nor is Brandon Bass. They are both being asked to do too much with PP and Wilcox out, and Garnett somewhat ineffective. Keyon is playing surprisingly well, as long as you don't count his passing deficiency. Ray has been borderline spectacular. I'm not sure what to do about JO. He can still give us some solid D for 15 min a game. Stiemsma can give us 20-25 and Wilcox/Garnett can fill in the balance of the minutes at the 5 spot.

From the fan perspective - if this is our biggest setback, we still have hope. It's not like we're the Raptcats. I hope Jeff gets the best care and fully recovers. I don't think we're going to find a replacement, but I'm not exactly longing for Perkins either. I hope the Bulls beat the Heat in the conference finals. Then again DWade is probably due for an injury, so we just might sneak in there.

For his own sake, I hope Jeff's OK. Seems highly likely we'll be moving on without him this season. Would we get cap exception to sign someone else?

I was just thinking about Tony. He is the one Danny really misses and semi-admits to making a mistake with. Loosely quoted: "3 years didn't fit with our 'flexibiity plan'... blah, blah, blah... ok, ok, we screwed up and totally disrespected TA, but at least he's a starter now." I am glad he's with Memphis. I realized in this year's playoff run they are clearly my favorite team in the West (not OKC). They are going to be really tough next year with Rudy back. Hopefully they either sign Marc Gasol or preferrably trade him to us!

I haven't seen anything from Miami or Chicago that indicates we don't belong in conference finals next year. Regardless of the lockout, we are one "active, intelligent, and solid rebounding big" and one "defensive stopper who can run the floor and score in the open court" away from success in next year's playoffs. If we bring Green and Delonte back, we have plenty of scoring threats. Late in the season, we were relying heavily on Baby for bench production. His slump was horribly timed as no one else was ready to step up and fill the roll. Green could very well be that guy next year, allowing us to part with Baby in favor of a more athletic and defensive minded PF/C. Goes without saying, we won't get far if there are any major late season injuries to the big 4. So yeah, finding a group that can play solid D and win games with Ray, PP, and KG playing 25-30 min a night will be key.

You would think they'd pick a different color since OKC crowd wears blue. Maybe green? Or silver stars... now that would be distracting. Durant's dunk was awesome. I had a feeling I'd see it here in the morning. Reminded me of Griffin vs. Mozgov: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJ4R6CxqEM When the replay came on at half I shouted and told my wife she had to look at the TV. She was unimpressed, but admittedly distracted by homework.

Thanks for those links John. Love me some fun stats. HAPPY B-day KG! That 1st game as a C... wowzaa. Bulls and Miami both looked terrible last night. Sad, but strengthens our hope for next year!!

Yes. Let's put together a 2nd unit of young capable players to take the regular season burden off the starters. Does it really matter if we finish 3rd or 6th in the East? I still like the idea of trading BOTH Green and Baby to get back a true solid PF and a capable SF. Green and Baby are both talented, but both exist somewhere in between the 3 and 4. Utah, Denver, and Memphis all have much potential as trade partners. We will need Delonte to play more minutes next year to take some burden off of Rondo as well. I think he's up to the challenge, but how about Sign&Trade BBD to Detroit for Will Bynum? Detroit has had interest in Baby b4 and I think Bynum would make an excellent backup PG, moving Delonte to his natural 2.

Darrell Arthur is another PF worth going after. S/T Green for Arthur and OJ Mayo. Memphis doesn't want Mayo and doesn't need Arthur with Z-Bo around. Maybe Battier gets involved to make this deal work. Main target is Arthur.

Sign/trade JG for Paul Millsap. Utah has abundance at PF and dirth at SF. Then S/T BBD for Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, or Arron Afflalo. Which ever one Denver is willing to do it for.

I'm willing to wait a year or even two in mediocrity for the benefit of the future. If we can get some pieces in place via trade before or during next season, great. If we have to wait, so be it. Some considerations for building around Rondo AND staying competitive now: Gallinari Howard Bogut Maggette B. Griffin Paul Millsap Marcus Camby Greg Oden JJ Hickson JaVale McGee Gallinari is available now and can play 3 positions to rest/insure Big3. Any possibility to get Howard would be worth trading anyone except Rondo. I don't know why the Bucks would part with Bogut, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. After Howard and maybe Bynum, I'd consider him the next best C out there. Marc Gasol also, but Memphis is probably not letting him go. Maybe at some point next year the Bucks are willing to part with an oft-injured Bogut to also get rid of Maggette and take back KG's expiring deal. Maggette would be a nice sub for Pierce or Allen, has the athleticism Rondo wants around him, and has size to match up with LeBron and Carmelo. The potential of Griffin coming to Boston is at least 2 years away. For some reason I still picture Pierce finishing his career with one year in LA as a Clipper. What better gift to give the franchise than Blake Griffin? Paul Millsap is still underappreciated. I have no theories about how or why he comes here, but I'd like someone to explore the option. Marcus Camby would help now, but I don't see how the numbers work without giving up one of the the big3. Not worth it for Camby. Maybe he has one more year left for vet min in 2012/13. Greg Oden is worth the risk for bi-annual if that's available. Looks like JJ Hickson and JaVale McGee are both free agents after next year. Hickson is a more realistic version of Blake Griffin. McGee is a nice option if we can't get a top-tier center. As Perry pointed out, DeAndre Jordan is a nice prospect at center as well, I just don't think the timing works well for us on him. He will get paid this summer (CBA pending) and we need to keep out options open for next summer.

I like the BBD for Landry trade. Beneficial and realistic. I don't think we can wait til camp on Jeff Green. He's worth risking a 2-year deal in the 6-7 mil range. D. Jordan is definitely coming up. However, I can't see committing to him without first exploring the Dwight Howard option.

I'll go along with that. I make a point every year to see Dirk play. I saw him twice this year (2nd time while on business in Utah). He rarely disappoints and always competes. If Butler comes back it would be a no-brainer for me.

One more thing... In 2003, a pick-up game friend of mine asked which player in that year's draft would turn out to be the best NBA player. I half-jokingly said Dwayne Wade. I guess I was right. For most of the game tonight, Wade dominated and LeBron choked. LeBron came up big at the end, and I do give him credit for that, but this is Wade's team and he is hombre numero uno in Miami.

Pierce foul was dumb. Travel call on Big Baby mid 4th quarter was AWFUL. I credit Miami for clutch performance, but that call on Baby was just terrible. Not even close to a travel. Should have been And-1. Rediculously clutch 3's by LeBron, but I have just about zero love for the guy. I have no team to root for now, but I definitely have a team to root against. Our bench was great. No complaints about starters or Doc. The guys gave it all and I am proud to love this team.

Yes, right on. It is homecourt against the lakers we really care about. I posted about this same exact thing a few days ago. True we might not get there, but the biggest seeding priority is us vs. LA. Not much else matters in the end.

really? I'm not watching the game, but a quick box score check seems to indicate Gasol and Bynum are faring pretty well. I know stats are not the whole story, but Perk has 2pts and 2rebs while Gasol and Bynum have 28pts on 70% shooting!

He's a point, but plays very well off the ball too. He reminds me of Chris Paul and can obviously score abundantly. Surprisingly good vision, passing, and pretty good D. I've watched fairly closely and he's come a long way in three years. At first he was just raw uncontrolled speed! If he indeed goes to Sacto at #5 like I've seen some predictions, he and Evans should make a very intriguing duo.

interesting. Kemba is a really fun player and I do think he'll do well in NBA. I don't think I'd go that route though. You know we'll be going after Austin with that Clippers pick in 2012!

wow. extreme talk out there. Miami and Chicago now have nice confidence boosters. Good for them. Maybe Rondo is effectively lulling them to sleep. Could be!! There are many years ahead for those teams and for us. Rondo could team up with Dwight Howard in a couple years. After next season, all we'll have on the books are Pierce and Rondo plus whoever we sign this offseason. Howard is not happy in Orlando and he is the best center in NBA by far. If we have even a chance at getting him, it's wise to clear the path. Ainge is planning well for the future AND now. If we didn't have Green, Pierce would be overworked. Maybe we'd have won a couple more games, but at what cost come playoffs? Pierce has his blank stares, but you can also see a knowing grin on his face from time to time. I don't think he's worried. Some guys are probably disappointed, but not worried. Yeah, so Jeff Green is a little lost. The dude has a long way to go, but plenty of talent to take a chance on. If Marquis hadn't gone down, we wouldn't even have the opportunity to try Green out and we still would've let Perk walk or had to work a sign and trade of some sort. We sorely missed Shaq today, but he's going to be around in the playoffs. Doc is noticeably frustrated and he very well might be gone after this year. For him to stay, we'll at least need to make the confernce finals and put up a healthy fight. If we lose 2nd round, he's gone for sure. By his choice, not the team's. The C's really do look awful some games, then brilliant the next. Unfortunately the brillance lately has been against the Pacers and the Wiz. I'm not confident in this team, but I'm not throwing the towel either. I am cautiously hopeful of the future with Rondo. I imagine he is stuggling with the reality that D-Rose is the superstar and he is "just" a star. He still is a star no doubt about it.

J.O. has looked good almost every minute he's been on the floor since coming back. And we need him now almost as much as in the playoffs. Here's something we can talk about to pass the morning work hours: The Lakers losing to G.S. last night was pretty huge. We're now tied in loss column. If we end up with same records and meet up in the finals, LA would get homecourt advantage due to better record against the East (21-9) than our record against the West (19-11). I think best case for us we're looking at a 4-1 finish in last 5 games. There will be no losing to Washington, but even if we can beat both Chicago and Miami, that brings us to the Knicks next Wed after having playing 2 back2backs from Thurs-Monday. LA faces Portland, OKC, SA, and Sacto. Hopefully they'll go 2-2. In general, there's been a lot of talk about seeding. I don't really think it matters too much for C's when you're talking about flying to Florida or Chicago. Yes home crowd and being on your own floor is great, but for us I think it's more about fatigue than environment. I think it's a much bigger deal when you're talking about flying back and forth across the country. So, my question: If you could only choose one and not both, would you rather have home court against the Heat in the conference semifinals, or home court against the Lakers in the finals? Granted the Heat might lose to the Knicks or we might end up facing someone else in the finals, but who amongst us really thinks either of those will happen? As for our chances against the Bulls in playoffs - tonight should be a pretty good indicator!

The young guys are so eager to play. It'll be great during back2backs to see Jeff Green out there for 25 minutes and Paul or KG resting. Krstic is gonna need some relief soon though. Hopefully Shaq can come in and give at least 10-15 soon. Murphy can also spell both Nenad and KG. Von certainly isn't going to mind extra minutes, not that Ray needs rest. Any thoughts about Carlos Arroyo? He's far from ideal, but we could use some Delonte insurance.

Someone please kick this guy off the blog. I'm all for free speech, but c'mon, can't we go facist just this once?

I like that idea