Yahoo: C’s Offered Rondo, Ray for Rip, Tay, Stuckey

Posted by Zach Lowe on Jun 23, 2009 252313 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F06%2F23%2Fyahoo-ainge-offered-rondo-ray-for-rip-tay-stuckey%2FYahoo%3A+C%27s+Offered+Rondo%2C+Ray+for+Rip%2C+Tay%2C+Stuckey2009-06-23+12%3A51%3A22Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D2523

Here’s Mr. Woj:

The Celtics offered Ray Allen(notes) and Rajon Rondo(notes) to theDetroit Pistons for a package that included Richard Hamilton(notes),Tayshaun Prince(notes) and Rodney Stuckey(notes), league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Boston general manager Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars never spoke, but rather the Celtics had a lower-level executive make the pitch to a Pistons official over the past weekend, league sources said. Detroit immediately rejected the idea, and it never advanced to the two top executives speaking about particulars.

This isn’t an uncommon occurrence for a GM like Ainge to dispatch an underling to make that kind of a call, if for no other reason to give the top executive some level of deniability that he’s shopping his stars.

Wow. Look, this is Woj here. This isn’t some radio station in Phoenix we’ve never heard of before.

This would set the Celtics up like this over the next two seasons:

Starters

KG

Pierce

Stuckey

Hamilton

Perkins

Bench:

Prince

The Rest

Well, that solves the team’s need for a back-up small forward, right? 

On the other hand, Hamilton is owed something like $49 million through 2013, and Prince is owed $21 million through 2011, so you could kiss goodbye any scenario (mentioned by the owner, not me) in which the C’s could take on a max deal after next season. The C’s also lose a ton of three-point shooting in this deal with Allen’s departure. 

To me, the deal boils down to two questions:

1) Are you willing to take on Rip’s salary? 

2) Do you think Stuckey has anywhere near the same potential has Rondo?

My gut reaction to both is “no,” but then again, my role here seems to be to be overly cautious about any trade that breaks up the core of this team.

This is an interesting one, though, no?

UPDATE: Ainge shoots down the rumor in the Globe, saying it has “no merit” if the trade talks never got to him, that he “loves” Rondo, and that he doesn’t expect to trade anyone from the team’s core.