Rajon Rondo was home for the All-Star break for the second straight year. Only this time, he was resting his surgically mended right knee, rather than recovering from said surgery less than a month after tearing his ACL.
It’s a good thing Rondo is more mobile now, because he soon could be on the move. Almost every player on the Boston Celtics’ roster is believed to be available for the right price with the NBA trade deadline looming on Feb. 20. Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries have all been involved in trade rumors of one sort or another, and Jordan Crawford and Courtney Lee already were sent packing earlier this season.
Still, it might be difficult for Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to swing the right kind of deal. Wallace and Humphries are expensive. Green has underperformed. Rondo and Bass are young enough (and affordable enough) to consider keeping them as parts of Ainge’s rebuilding effort. The Celtics’ activity or inactivity at the deadline will tell a lot.
We broke down the major players on the Celtics’ roster into three groups, based on the likelihood they will be traded at the deadline. While no one is sure to be dealt, a few are virtual locks not to be moved.
