Boston Celtics: Ranking Cs among top Ricky Rubio destinations

Several interesting destinations have entered the Ricky Rubio sweepstakes and–considering you’re reading Hardwood Houdini–you are correct in assuming the Boston Celtics, currently starting Marcus Smart at the 1, are indeed one of them.

Now, let’s not knock Smart too much. While he has been known to go rogue in postseason games trying to create offense (and hero-balling the Cs out of games on occasion), he is an adept playmaker.

He’s been his whole career, boasting a better than 2:1 assist/turnover ratio. His 5.7 assists per game (to just two turnovers) in 2020-21 should have fans confident about starting Smart at point guard being their current plan if nothing else goes down this offseason.

Given the fact that the draft is tonight and free agency has yet to start, you should consider that a backup plan.

Hell, Smart in Boston may not be the long-term play at all. He could be linked to these Rubio rumors for all we know.

If the competition is fierce, perhaps Smart is included and the deal expands. Either way, there’s competition for Rubio, and here’s where the Cs rank among the top destinations:

#3 best Ricky Rubio destination: Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers don’t exactly sport the most shooting, as was evidenced by a poor offensive performance in the 2021 postseason. Adding Ricky Rubio to a lineup that already includes a ball-dominant LeBron James could be asking for more of the poor synergy the “king” sported with Dennis Schroder.

While he’d most likely be a terrific match with James, he’d eat up too much cap space to make sense for LAL.