The Boston Celtics are heading into 2014 with numerous questions and once again a Rajon Rondo trade will be part of the chatter surrounding the team and rumors have the Houston Rockets interested, while the Celtics may look at trading Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk or Brandon Bass if they want to get back in on the Kevin Love trade talks again over the Cleveland Cavaliers, but that is very unlikely.
According to ESPN.com, Marc Stein writes that the Houston Rockets are considering a deal for Rondo this summer after missing out on Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh in free agency this year. The Celtics have not been shopping Rondo this summer, but there is a chance they will trade him if he is not signed to a long term deal and the Rockets appear to be the team most interested. Daryl Morey wanted to make a splash this summer and he missed out and now he may have to use some draft picks to get a deal done.
Stein writes that last season the Celtics and Rockets were talking about a deal for Rondo and the teams nearly pulled it off, but after the Celtics wanted Chandler Parsons with Omer Asik, the Rockets relented. Houston obviously thought it had a nice playoff run in them last season, but looking back now after Parsons signed an offer sheet with the Mavericks, Morey probably should have pulled off the deal.
The Celtics don't want to deal Rondo, but they have Marcus Smart now from the draft and while Danny Ainge said he envisioned the two playing together on the court, it gives the team a backup option if they deal Rondo. Smart played point guard and SG in college and has shown that he can be a playmaker and that could be enough for Ainge. Last season Rondo came back rom a serious injury and averaged 11.7 points and nearly 10 assists in 30 games and he showed that he was back healthy after being out for a while.
Last season the Celtics won just 25 games and while they are looking to improve this year, no one thinks they will be contenders and that is one reason why Rondo could get traded. The team signed Evan Turner and they could use him as trade bait this year if he does what Jordan Crawford did last year and if Rondo is traded, the team likely will get more first round picks. Kevin Love is the main trade target and Rondo is likely second on that list and the Rockets would love nothing more than to get him to replace Jeremy Lin.
Bosh said that he nearly signed with the Rockets, but he opted to come back to Miami to get the max deal he felt he deserved with a five-year, $118 million contract. The Rockets pushed at Bosh hard and he said that while he was close to leaving, he ultimately felt it was best to stay with the Heat. While LeBron left, Bosh said he thought Miami could still be very good and they showed that by signing Luol Deng.