BOSTON — Rajon Rondo is gone to the Dallas Mavericks. Jeff Green walked out the door not long after, to the Memphis Grizzlies.
That’s two veteran Celtics players departed — to two of the best teams in the NBA — and rumors are swirling that Brandon Bass could be next.
One assumes the 29-year-old power forward is eager for a change. This is not what he signed up for, literally, when he re-upped with the Celtics for three years and $19 million in 2012, fresh off a run to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Any day, a simple phone call by Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge could send Bass to a different, possibly far better, situation.
Yet Bass isn’t begging out of Boston.
“Like I tell a lot of people who come to me and tell me how tough this situation is, I tell them it’s a blessing just to be a part of a situation like this,” Bass said Wednesday after the Celtics’ 105-91 loss to the Atlanta Hawks that dropped their record to 13-24. “Because that means you’ve been around a while, to see the highest point of an organization and to see the difficult times. I think it’s a blessing.
“It speaks to your longevity in the game. Any of the guys going through this, you’ve got to look at it as a blessing, because you can never assume the grass is always greener on the other side. It could be worse. We’re playing for one of the best organizations, playing for a great coach, and it’s an opportunity to be part of history. I don’t look at it as rebuilding or whatever the case may be. I just look at it as a blessing.”
As Ainge’s deal-making has made the team younger, the players’ admiration for Bass has gotten more obvious. Second-year players Phil Pressey and Kelly Olynyk have pointed to Bass as a model whose professionalism they follow. He’s not quite the team’s leader, but he’s more than the usual role player.
“I feel like day-in and day-out, I just try to take advantage of my opportunities to get better,” Bass said. “Guys gravitate to that. If they see some of the things I do and they can use some of those things for them to improve, cool. But I do think it’s about time for me to take responsibility and make sure I’m doing the right thing, because I know the young guys are watching.”
Still, it would be pretty nice to be magically transported to a championship contending team and be assured of playing deep into the playoffs, wouldn’t it? Green and Rondo sure haven’t complained, and parachuting into a winning situation has become an NBA cliche.
It’s not for Bass, though.
“I’m not hunting for a situation like that,” Bass said. “I’ve never been the type of player who hunts for a situation to go win a championship, hunt a situation to be in the playoffs. My thing is, work with what you’ve got. That’s my motto. I’m going to work with what I’ve got, so if it’s these guys in the locker room, cool.”
As Bass says this, almost an hour after the game’s final horn, the locker room was virtually empty. The reporters who once hung around long after games to chat with Kevin Garnett or Rajon Rondo are already typing up their stories in the TD Garden media room.
It’s a long way from the “podium game” Bass experienced in the 2012 conference semifinals, when his 27 points helped take down the Philadelphia 76ers. Bass wants to get back to those heights. But he’s not focused on a change of scenery to get him there.
“Just keep on working,” Bass said. “Every day, wake up in the morning with the mindset of getting better, helping your teammates in the best way you can and hopefully you get back in that situation. But some people go their whole career never being in that situation. You’ve got to take it for what it is.”
What it is for the Celtics, to put it lightly, is a challenge — one that Bass isn’t running from.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
