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6 hours ago

5 Questions With Kemba Walker

I had a chance to talk with Bobcats rookie Kemba Walker prior to the Celtics game against Charlotte on Tuesday night.  Here is what the UConn star, who is averaging 12.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game had to say. 1. How much communication have you had with Michael Jordan this year? Walker: [...]

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1 day ago

I Am Awesome!

Yes. This is a “pat myself on the back” post because a) I’m a jackass and b) I predicted something correctly. Back on January 8th, I predicted that the next ten games will tell us everything we need to know about this Celtics’ team. If they struggled, it was time to blow it up. If [...]

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1 day ago

Pierce Wins Eastern Conference Player Of Week

One day before he’s scheduled to pass Larry Bird for second on the Celtics’ all-time scoring list, Paul Pierce won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award. Pierce averaged 22 points, 6.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds in four Boston wins, playing point forward in Rajon Rondo’s absence. Pierce is only 9 points behind Bird [...]

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2 days ago

Garnett’s Wondrous 3-point Rant

Via ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg, who knows a great, playful rant when he hears one, here’s Kevin Garnett discussing his not-so-newfound aptitude for three-point shooting after the C’s took down the Grizzlies. “When I walk around the streets, y’all stop acting like y’all shocked that I can shoot 3’s. Everybody in Boston, everybody in the [...]

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3 days ago

5 Questions With O.J. Mayo

I talked with Memphis guard O.J. Mayo prior to the Celtics-Grizzlies, Super Bowl Sunday game at the Garden.  Here is what the 4th year man out of USC, who is averaging 12.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2 assists per game had to say. 1. You started every game your first two years in the league, [...]

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4 days ago

5 Questions With Landry Fields

I talked with New York starting guard Landry Fields prior to the Celtics-Knicks game at the TD Garden.  Here is what the 2nd year man out of Stanford, who is averaging 10 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists had to say. 1.  I’m sure you guys are frustrated with your record to this point of [...]

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Rondo Withdraws From Team USA

The news comes from USABasketball.com, that Rondo is withdrawing from the team in order to deal with some family issues before next year’s NBA season: Here’s Jerry Colangelo on Rondo coming to the team with his decision:

“Rajon came to us and said he was going to withdraw from the team, that he had some family matters to attend to and some things to take care of before the NBA season. He did an outstanding job during our training, we appreciate the effort and commitment he made to our program and he completely has our support,” said Colangelo.

Obviously, we wish Rondo well here at CelticsHub and hope everything is fine with his family. The 12 man roster for Team USA has been finalized for Worlds with Rajon’s withdrawal.

With the international game not the best platform for his skills anyway, you wonder if Rondo just saw the writing on the wall here and decided to head home early, avoiding getting truly cut by the team. Adrian Wojnarowski even tweeted initially Rondo had been cut, before USA Basketball announced his withdrawal. Makes you wonder what the real story is.

Rondo’s delay in agreeing to participate in the training camp this summer shows you he had his doubts about whether playing would be a smart idea anyway. His heart may have not have been in it all along, especially once in Europe if there were some family issues that arose back home.

In the meantime, you just Rondo hope takes some time to recharge the batteries and take care of everything on the home front. The guy played far and away the most minutes out of anyone in the league last year. Eventually that will catch up with you. He’s banged up and likely needs some rest. He’s certainly earned it.

I’m sure more on the situation will come to light in the upcoming days, but for now it looks as if Rajon made a smart decision for himself, and headed home without burning any bridges with Jerry Colangelo and company.

I have to give credit where credit is due here though. Rich Keefe, frequent CelticsHub podcast contributor predicted weeks back that Rondo would be cut from his squad. Check out the 15 minute mark for his spot on prediction in our last podcast.

CelticsHub.com USA World Championship Team Podcast 8-12-10 by BRobb8

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