August 8, 2007
He learned about the trade that changed his life the same way you did: on the news.
Rajon
Rondo was home shooting jump shots in Louisville, Ky., when word came
down that Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, and
Theo Ratliff were out of Boston, and Kevin Garnett was in.
While
the rest of the basketball world began handicapping the blockbuster
deal and wondering whether the skinny Celtics point guard with the
suspect jumper who just completed his rookie year could handle the
enormous responsibilities that suddenly had been thrust upon him, Rondo
was breaking down the trade in far simpler terms.
His two initial thoughts: A. I'm still here; B. My friends are gone.
"We
were a pretty close team, you know?" Rondo said. "Al Jefferson, Allan
Ray ... those were the guys I hung out with. Everybody was so young, so
we could all relate to each other. A bunch of us lived in the same
complex in Waltham at the beginning of the season. It's kind of tough to
watch them all go."
If he is feeling additional
pressure to perform now that the roster has been strip-mined for a
Garnett gem, Rondo certainly masks it well. He no longer will have
Delonte West, sent to Seattle on draft night, to mentor him. He no
longer will have Telfair behind him, pushing him for minutes. Already we
are wondering whether there will be enough shots to go around for
Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.
The job to distribute those shots falls in Rondo's lap.
No comments:
Post a Comment