There were two lingering questions for the Celtics coming into this, a season where they are widely expected to contend for a championship. The first was the status of Kevin Garnett's knee which appears to be just fine. You can notice a very slight hobble by Garnett after an ill-advised dunk, but that could just be reverberations from the accompanying unnecessary screaming. The other was the contract status of Rajon Rondo, who was working on an extension to avoid entering restricted free agency by remaining with the Celtics. Talks had slowed, and Rondo was making comments to the effect that it was possible he wouldn't end up in Boston.
Bad news for the rest of the league: he will end up in Boston. Early Monday after a fortunate extension from the league for all teams in negotiations, the Celtics and Rondo reached an agreement on a 5-year, $55 million extension, according to ESPN.
The news comes as a terrific sign of future success for Celtics fans. Rondo is rarely going to end up in highlight packages with Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce next to him, but he's proven himself as a playmaker as well as one of the premier point guards. Having Rondo around for the post-Big-3 era, be it a rebuilding timeline or a continued era of success is huge. Finding top point guards is incredibly difficult in this league, and not only does Rondo provide efficient offense (a 20.6 2009-2010 PER), but his defense is phenomenal and he's proven he can guard any other point in the league.
For Rondo, the decision is a bit odd. There's sure to be a downturn in success for the Celtics as the Big 3 get older and the Celtics' win-now-whatever-the-cap-cost approach starts to breed its natural consequences. Rondo was in line to be an available star point guard in a summer where most teams are going to have oodles of dough, looming cap drop or not. Instead, he's now locked into a long-term situation with a team that will likely suffer a downturn in 2-3 years and with a front office that he's repeatedly bristled with. You have to wonder if the best thing for his pocket book and win total would have been to keep his options open.
But that would then ignore something that's pretty obvious, even if it does have a slightly cliche feel to it. Rondo has a relationship with the Big 3, with the organization, with the team. He's thankful for the commitment they've made to him and wants to remain with them. So now Rondo gets to not only stay in the system that's groomed him, but take over as a leader for the Celtics, taking with him the lessons he's learned from this pretty amazing run with three of the best players in the league. The future's pretty bright for the kid with long fingers.
And more scary for the Celtics' competitors, with the Rondo situation resolved along with KG's health, Boston can set its eyes on the only thing it cares about: banner number 70 billion, or whatever it is.
