The Boston Celtics are coming off a win and are preparing for their next game as the news and rumors pick up.
Check out the latest buzz below.
Top Rondo Trade Scenarios
Rajon Rondo could easily be traded before the deadline, and there’s been lots of speculation and rumors about the point guard.
Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher and Howard Beck discussed potential scenarios.
Bucher noted that ideally, the Celtics would find a trade partner in the Western Conference. “You always like to do that so that you don’t have a player coming back to haunt you,” he said.
Bucher says, out of the teams that could give the Celtics some of the quality peices they’re seeking, the Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and Utah Jazz come to mind.
The Milwaukee Bucks is yet another potential destination, teaming Rondo with coach and former point guard Jason Kidd.
Beck agreed with all those destination, while adding the Dallas Mavericks. “It was very hard to make a one-to-one trade to a lot of these teams,” he noted about trying to envision a deal. “They didn’t have the right assets, in respect to the cap and what the Celtics need.”
But there are still possibilities for the Celtics getting something in return, while Rondo would be happy enough to re-sign with the team he’s getting dealt with. Beck says one trade that would work would be Rondo for Jrue Holiday and a first-round pick. “Holiday, reasonably priced for $10 million, he’s good but not great, but a nice piece there and could fit with what the Cletics have, and you get another first-round pick to add to Danny Ainge’s immense stash.”
And “Could you imagine Rondo and Anthony Davis?”
The other plausible trade would be Rondo to the Los Angeles Lakers for Steve Nash’s expiring contract, lottery pick Julius Randle, and a first-round pick for 2016. “Either of those two scenarios could work out, and they’re both places Rondo could be excited about going.”
Sullinger Trying to Rediscover Offensive Touch
Jared Sullinger is struggling offensively in recent games, prompting him to hit the gym to practice harder.
For instance, after the recent loss to the New York Knicks, he drove himself to the team’s practice facility and put up a bunch of shots.
“I’ve been [going to the gym after games] since high school. I have a bad game and I used to ask my dad, ‘Can we go to the gym?’ And I just get some shots and get back to what works for me,” he told the Boston Globe.
“You almost kind of replay the game in your head and think of all the opportunities you had to score and you visualize the game. It’s almost to the point where you’re playing a five-on-five game with yourself.”
Before the Celtics win over Philadelphia, Sullinger was averaging just 39.4 percent from field goal range in December, after 46.8 percent in November.
Chris Forsberg of ESPN said that the Celtics need Sullinger to bust out of his slump.
“There is really no argument: When Sullinger plays to his standards, Boston is a better team. Consider this: Over the first 17 games of the season, the Celtics owned a net differential of plus-1.3 points per 100 possessions when Sullinger was on the floor. When he was off, that differential dived to minus-9.8 as Boston’s offensive rating dipped by 7 points and its defensive rating climbed by 4½ points,” he noted.
“For the season, Boston’s offensive rating is 103.1 with Sullinger on the floor -- about a point higher than the season average. The defensive rating is 103.6, not a particularly great number, but still 1.1 points less than the team’s season average. Sullinger’s minus-0.4 differential overall is best on the team among regulars (only Marcus Smart and Gerald Wallace, who have played limited minutes, own positive marks for the team).”
Thornton Out for a While
Marcus Thornton, who has an calf injury, will be out for a couple of week. He and Marcus Smart (Achilles) missed the Philly game.
Thornton suffered the partially torn calf muscle during Sunday’s practice during a shooting drill.
“That’s unfortunate for [Thornton], unfortunate for us,” coach Brad Stevens said before the Celtics’ 105-87 win.
“I knew that when he hurt it, he was hurting. I’ve seen things a lot worse than that and I’m actually encouraged by [only missing a couple of weeks]. I didn’t think it was just a small strain that would be a day-to-day thing. I’m happy that it’s not longer than that. Obviously with the muscle, we'll be a lot more careful in making sure he’s right before he comes back.”
The Celtics are in a bind because rookie James Young was also injured, during a D-League game last week, leaving the team short in the swingman positions.
“He’s been playing well,” Stevens told the Globe of Thornton, who is averaging 8.2 points on 42.3 percent shooting from behind the 3-point line.
“That’s somebody we’re going to have to make up for. We have to find different ways of being effective offensively throughout our second unit.
Celtics Top 76ers with 30 From Olynyk
Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens might talk to Kelly Olynyk about playing hard before every game.
Olynyk scored a career-high 30 points after a pep talk from his coach, leading the Celtics to a 105-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
“I talked to coach a couple of days ago,” Olynyk said, “and he said, ‘We need you to be aggressive. You need to stay aggressive. That’s when you’re at your best. That’s when you’re helping us.’ That’s something I’m really focusing on and really been working on dialing in my shot and getting in a groove and it’s feeling good.”
Olynyk, a reserve, entered averaging 10.3 points per game but just 7.5 over his last 10 contests. But he came out with a scorer’s mentality against Philadelphia, tallying 18 points in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting before ending 12 for 17 from the field, including 3 of 5 from behind the arc.
“You need him to be aggressive every night,” Stevens said. “We need him to make shots. Our team depends on it. He’s a skill guy who can stretch the floor and we need him to do that.”
Stevens believes Olynyk can be a regular, big-time scorer.
“What I want him to do is believe in himself the way we believe in him,” he said. “I think he’s really good and think he could be a really good player. You want to (go from) being a player who’s very capable of doing it and does it on multiple nights to a player that does it every single night.”
Avery Bradley had 15 points, and Brandon Bass and Jeff Green added 14 apiece for Boston (8-14), which snapped a three-game skid.
Rookie Nerlens Noel had a career-high 19 points for the 76ers (2-22), who dropped to 0-13 at home this season. Philadelphia moved closer to the NBA mark for worst home start to a season, set in the 1993-94 season when the Mavericks began 0-19.
“It’s a fact that you do lay an egg from time to time in the NBA over 82 games, and tonight we laid an egg,” Sixers coach Bret Brown said. “It was the first time for me personally in a while where you’re trying to search for answers and I didn’t have any.”
The 76ers were coming off a late collapse in Saturday’s 120-115 overtime home loss to Memphis when they gave up an 18-point lead with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter.
“Maybe it was a letdown from the last game, I don’t know,” Brown said. “We can’t afford to have those types of letdowns.”
Tony Wroten, who entered leading Philadelphia in scoring at 17.5 points a game, went scoreless.
Boston rebounded after Friday’s 101-95 loss to the Knicks, a game in which New York snapped its 10-game skid. Rajon Rondo had two points in that defeat and Jared Sullinger was scoreless.
The duo improved slightly against Philadelphia, tallying five points apiece. But they weren’t needed much against the offensively challenged 76ers, who entered averaging a league-low 91.4 points. Philadelphia managed just 13 points in the second quarter and entered the break trailing 57-38.
Boston fell into an early hole by missing its first nine field goals before settling in. Olynyk’s 14 points helped Boston go in front 30-25 at the end of the first quarter.
Philadelphia never cut the margin under double-digits after halftime.
SUPER SUB
Olynyk’s 30 points came in 31 minutes off the bench, marking the first time a Celtics sub had 30 or more points in 31 or fewer minutes since Xavier McDaniel had 30 points in 29 minutes on Feb. 28, 1993 against Portland.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Boston improved to 2-0 against the Sixers this season, including its 101-90 victory in Philadelphia on Nov. 19. .Boston outscored Philadelphia 25-1 in fast-break points.
76ers: Philadelphia last won at home on April 14 of last season against Boston. Forward K.J. McDaniels returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s game due to an ankle injury.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
