Both Isaiah Thomas and Rajon Rondo are unrestricted free agents and have the option to play wherever they want next season. Could the Celtics be an option for them and Is Danny willing to make offers to both players?
The Boston Celtics are coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in recent years. With the team going through a roller-coaster of events that had started from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. It wasn’t fun to watch at all. With everything that had happened throughout the year, I had a few thoughts running through my mind on why the season was such a big disappointment. One of the thoughts that came to mind was the lack of leadership.
As fans, we all enjoy having our own opinions to why a season for a solid team on paper was so mediocre. We start pointing fingers and playing the blame game. We blame coaches, players, the front office and the list goes on. With the turmoil the Lakers are going through right now you can see everyone blames everyone, no matter if they’re fans or if they work together.
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With that being said. I’ll put the blame on a guy that was supposed to be the reason the Celtics would have possibly made it to the finals. Irving lacked a lot of leadership traits during the season and in the playoffs as well.
There are many people who possibly agree with me and there are maybe even more people who definitely disagree with that notion I have on the awful season the Celtics had. With the lack of leadership coming from our best player, it made me reminisce and go back into times when Rondo and Isaiah Thomas used to play for the Celtics.
Rondo, a young guy who was the facilitator during the big 3 era in Boston played more like a leader as he got older. You saw it in every team he played for. It also made me reminisce on the times that Isaiah Thomas carried the team on his back numerous times no matter what. Whether it was him being in the starting lineup or if it was him coming off the bench.
He never cared about what the score was he just went out there and did his job and led his team in whatever way he could. These guys had a different type of passion for the game when they put on that Celtics jersey though. It was like they actually cared about the history of the team and were willing to sacrifice a lot and were also willing to do whatever it took to get them to the NBA Finals.
Irving lacks all those traits and if he leaves, the Celtics could possibly explore these options as both Rondo and Thomas are unrestricted free agents who both made very little money last year. Rondo made $9,000,000 as Isaiah Thomas made the veterans minimum with a little over $2,000,000.
If Irving does end up leaving, and the Celtics somehow get Terry Rozier back they can go back to Rondo and Thomas and make an offer to have them come back and lead these young guys on the team and show them what Celtics pride is all about. Hopefully Ainge makes a few calls and gets one of these guys to come back for cheap.