Celtics offer Rondo and Allen to Detroit

So, yeah. The Celtics apparently offered Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Stuckey, Prince and Rip. Needless to say, the Pistons rejected that deal with little thought. Allen is basically the Piston's version of Rip Hamilton, only with more wear and tear on his knees and a couple years older. Allen's statistics have fallen off well below what he reached in Seattle, and is basically good for 18 points a game, a great free throw percentage, and little else. He cannot create his own shot, provides little to no assists or rebounds, and is nothing to write home about defensively. Allen also has been plagued by inconsistency during his time in Boston. This postseason, in 14 playoff games, Allen had 5 games where he put up 10 points or less. He also had that one magical game where he turned back the clock against the Bulls and put up 51. Still, at this point in his career, his skills are clearly eroding, and I would expect his numbers to continue to fall off next season.

Rondo would be an interesting case. He is still in his entry level deal, has won an NBA title and took his game to the next level when he averaged a near triple double in the postseason. That statline of nearly 17 points, 10 boards and 10 dimes a game is sick. In my opinion, Rondo has the speed, and on court awareness to become a legit top 5 PG in the NBA. However, he's going to want an extension after this year and he is going to want to get paid. There have been questions about his maturity, and it has to raise a red flag that Boston is trying to shop him. All things considered, though, Rondo at least makes this deal somewhat believable.

But, let's be real. This was simply not a deal the Pistons could make. Ray Allen's salary of nearly $20 million is coming off the books at the end of this season. And, Rondo may be a top 5 PG in the game in the very near future. That is all enticing. But, if this deal went down, the Pistons would be left with Rondo and nothing else beyond 2010. There is no way they would have re-signed Allen. Bynum, Afflalo, Maxiell, Johnson and Kwame Brown are bench players. I don't see any of those guys being able to play 30-35 effective minutes a night. Thus, the Pistons would have no SG, SF, PF or C going forward into next season and they would essentially have given up and went to an all-out rebuild. And, I'm not sure Rondo is the guy you want to build your franchise around. If you make this deal, that is basically what you are doing. Dumars would be giving Rondo the keys to the franchise. You can do that with players like Kobe, LeBron and Wade. Not Rondo.

Finally, what it comes down to is Rip and Prince can fetch us a lot better deal than an expiring contract and an immature top 5-ish PG. I suspect Dumars is working the phones a lot these days. The draft should be interesting, to say the least. First of all, who will they draft? Mullens? Earl Clark? Maynor? Lawson? Blair? Daye? Second of all, who could be dealt? Rip or Prince? The first round pick? How many of our 3 second round picks will we actually use? Stay tuned.

Update: And, for an opposing viewpoint, check out this column. I obviously disagree with it, but it is always interesting to read what a somewhat neutral person has to say about any rumor involving the Pistons. More than anything, though, his criticism of our 2004 NBA title and how we lucked into it is a bit absurd. What NBA champion does not have a little luck? The Lakers were very lucky Memphis dealt Gasol to them for nobody. Boston was lucky that Ainge's buddy McHale decided to hand Garnett over to them. San Antonio was lucky it won the Tim Duncan sweepstakes. Miami was lucky Shaq and Kobe had a feud that led to Shaq being traded to the Heat. Disagree all you want with the trade. But, don't act like Dumars is just the luckiest GM around. Most of those deals were criticized at the time and they all paid off in 2004 and beyond. That is not a coincedence.