If there was any doubt about Rajon Rondo’s future in Dallas, it ended Wednesday afternoon.
“No, I don’t,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said, responding to a question asking whether he thought Rondo — an unrestricted free agent this summer — would ever wear a Mavericks uniform again.
Those three words ended a marriage that seemed destined to be rocky from the get-go after the Mavericks gave up a first-round pick plus Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder and Brandan Wright to acquire Rondo from the Celtics in December.
Rondo — a deliberate, ball-dominant guard who can’t shoot — was a poor fit for the scheme Carlisle has developed in Dallas, which relies on pace, ball movement and shooting from at least four spots on the floor (along with a pick-and-roll big). As the season has progressed, the headstrong point guard and equally headstrong coach have butted heads multiple times, culminating with a truly odd performance from Rondo in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series in Houston.
After picking up an 8-second violation in the first half, Rondo was benched for the remainder of the game after picking up two fouls plus a technical foul in the opening 36 seconds of the third quarter. The announcement Wednesday that Rondo has a back injury that will sideline him indefinitely almost felt superfluous. He will never play for the franchise again.
So where will Rondo play? It seems like the only team willing to give him a contract this summer is the Lakers. It almost certainly would make Kobe Bryant happy: The two had breakfast together in Boston shortly before Rondo was traded, and Bryant has talked openly about how much he respects Rondo’s game. At least until they inevitably begin butting heads after a few weeks together.
The Knicks, often cited as another potential destination, don’t make sense for Rondo. Point guards in the triangle spend plenty of time off the ball — as Knicks coach Derek Fisher knows — and if anything has become clear about Rondo, it’s that he simply isn’t capable of playing off-guard.
If Rondo gets a contract offer from the Lakers, how much is he worth? He will try to get a max offer, but that seems impossible. He may even struggle to exceed $10 million to $12 million a year after the way he’s struggled the past season and a half.
Rondo hasn’t been the same player since tearing his right ACL in January 2013, and even beyond that is a player from another era of the NBA. While Rondo’s game — as well as his attitude — would have fit 30 years ago, it is becoming harder and harder for teams to find hiding places for guards who can’t shoot, due to improving defensive schemes and an increasing emphasis on 3-point shooting.
The player who helped lead the Celtics to a championship in 2008, a Finals appearance in 2010 and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2012 appears gone for good, and in his place we see a diminished version with the same quirks in his game and personality that made him a difficult player to deal with at his peak.
Combine that with the way the point guard position is stacked — seemingly every contender already has one — and it’s hard to find a proper landing place for Rondo besides the obvious one with the Lakers.
That’s something you never would have believed as recently as three years ago, when Rondo was still one of the league’s most dazzling players and earned the “Playoff Rondo” moniker. That reputation is part of the reason why the Mavericks chose to acquire him, hoping that he could lift a team that seemed destined to lose in the first round in the loaded Western Conference.
Instead, it’s led to a brief and dysfunctional marriage that leaves Rondo with a very unclear future, and with Dallas having given up a first-round pick for a four-month rental. It’s a costly transaction, but the Mavericks have no choice but to cut their losses and move on.
Coaching carousel: Brooks, Thibodeau, Raptors?
With the Thunder firing Scott Brooks, we have moved into the offseason. Several teams are in the market for coaches — and several more linger as a possibility to open up as the postseason moves forward.
Oklahoma City, Orlando and Denver are the three current openings, with the Thunder job obviously being the most intriguing because of Kevin Durant, who can become a free agent next summer. The odds-on favorite for the job is Florida coach Billy Donovan, who has a longstanding relationship with Thunder general manager Sam Presti. It wouldn’t have made sense for Presti to fire Brooks if he didn’t know whom he was going to replace him with — or at least have a very short list of candidates.
Brooks could easily be the top choice for the Magic. He would inherit a young roster, as he did seven years ago with the Thunder, and work alongside former Thunder executive Rob Hennigan, now the Magic’s general manager.
Denver is a bit of a wild card. Interim coach Melvin Hunt was well-liked during his shepherding of the team through the final six weeks of the season after Brian Shaw was fired. Both Mike D’Antoni and Alvin Gentry have been linked to the Nuggets job, as has Brooks, with the team expected to want to return to a fast-paced style.
So what other jobs could come open? Few around the NBA expect Tom Thibodeau to return to the Bulls next season, and Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg is seen by many as his likely successor. That would make Thibodeau the top candidate for many jobs on the market.
One obvious next spot for Thibodeau seemed to be New Orleans, where general manager Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams entered the season under serious pressure. They made the playoffs as an eight-seed in the Western Conference, but are one game away from going out in a first-round sweep to the Warriors. Is that enough for ownership to keep them both?
If not, Thibodeau has been linked to the Orlando job. It seems unlikely Thibodeau would take a job where he doesn’t have a superstar to build around (as he would in New Orleans with Anthony Davis), but it also seems unlikely a coaching junkie such as Thibodeau would spend a season away from the NBA.
Another potential opening could be in Toronto, with the Raptors trailing the Wizards 2-0 after dropping the first two games at home. The loser between Raptors coach Dwane Casey and Wizards coach Randy Wittman was bound to be in trouble — and no one expected a sweep. Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri could make sweeping changes on the bench and with the roster this offseason despite back-to-back Atlantic Division titles.
Hawks sale price may prompt Prokhorov delay
Two numbers floated as the possible sale price of the Hawks to a group led by billionaire Tony Ressler, fronted by former All-Star Grant Hill: $850 million and $730 million.
The actual sale price was $850 million, according to multiple league sources, with the discrepancy coming down to how to factor in the $120 million in debt the group is taking on.
Still, the $850 million sale price is lower than was projected when the Hawks sale process began, and that could have an impact on the future of the Nets.
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has been surveying the landscape in the wake of Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the Clippers last summer. If the Hawks — valued by Forbes at $825 million a few months back in the magazine’s annual appraisal of the 30 NBA teams — had gone for $1 billion or more, it would have been a positive indicator for Prokhorov securing the $2 billion-plus offer he seeks for the team and his share in Barclays Center.
But Prokhorov appears more likely to stick around for the immediate future now that the Hawks are off the market.