Rajon Rondo's Agent Responds to Ainge

Rajon Rondo's name has been appearing in some trade rumors recently, which, on the surface, seems somewhat odd. After all, he had somewhat of a coming out party in this year's playoffs, especially during the Celtics' epic series with the Bulls when he averaged close to a triple-double for the entire series.

Danny Ainge has gone back and forth on Rondo -- first denying the rumors completely, then letting some details about Rondo's attitude and behavior slip out, while suggesting that right now, his starting point guard isn't worthy of receiving a max contract.

Rondo's agent, as you might imagine, was not pleased with Ainge's comments, and he gave a response to The Boston Globe that was critical of the way Ainge has handled the entire situation.

"I am just surprised that Danny is speaking, even if he considers it constructively, in a public setting [about Rondo],'' agent Bill Duffy said in a phone interview. "I don't think that it's appropriate to say that about one of your top players. Even if it's spoken constructively, I don't think it should be done in public. I don't think [Ainge] would like it if [Celtics managing partner] Wyc [Grousbeck] was talking about him in public.

"What they're saying about him critically is actually an asset to him. He is feisty. He is competitive, yes. Last time I checked they won a world championship with him at point guard. If the team wasn't hurting they might have done it again this year. Rondo's tough love from Danny isn't necessary. He's self-motivated and a self-starter.''

Now of course, this is clearly the case of an agent sticking up for his client, and there's nothing wrong with that. But Duffy has a point here that I think most Celtics supporters would agree with, and that's the fact that nothing good is going to come out of publicly criticizing the behavior of one of your players through the media.

Ainge may have been trying to justify to his team's fans why he felt the need to shop Rondo, and explain why the player's name has been mentioned in multiple trade rumors. But it's not necessary, especially while Rondo is still a member of the Celtics.

The proper way to handle trade rumors if you're a GM is to say something along the lines of, "We are in constant discussions with other teams to try to improve our ball club, and many names are talked about as part of that process." What you DON'T do is say, "Hey, the guy is moody sometimes, and, you know, he was late to a playoff game once, so, um, can you blame me for shopping him?"

By the way, all this does is ensure that Rondo will still be a Celtic next season. Because when you go public with your desire to trade someone, that player's value on the open market gets immediately spun down to zero.