by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
For many, the Boston Celtics’ championship window has all but effectively closed.
They’re old, breaking down physically, and there’s no telling what their bench support will look like once the NBA gets going again.
Rajon Rondo doesn’t share in that pessimistic outlook. According to the Celtics’ star point guard, Boston has just as good a chance as any other team to win the NBA title next season.
Rondo says the Celtics let the Kendrick Perkins trade affect them a little too much last season, but that he likes what the team’s future looks like.
From Yahoo! Sports:
If [Glen] Davis departs, Rondo, Pierce, Garnett and Allen would be the only Celtics left from the 2008 championship team. Boston already lost a significant piece of that team after trading [Kendrick] Perkins last season. The Celtics took a lot of heat for the Perkins deal which affected their chemistry and changed their starting lineup in the middle of the season.“It wasn’t like the man passed away or something,” Rondo said. “I think we put too much emphasis on it. It’s a business. He got traded. He’s very happy where he’s at. We still talk and I’m always going to have his back. It shouldn’t have affected us the way it affected us.”
“Doc [Rivers]’ proven with the players that we have that he will have a winning record,” Rondo said. “But most of all, he’s never going to settle. We always want to win a championship. That’s the only goal we have as a team and that’s his mindset. When you talk to him, he believes we have the talent and the ability to win a championship. That’s our standard. He holds us accountable … “They said we were done two years ago,” Rondo said. “We could care less about that. We could care less about people saying we are done.”
In addition to overall toughness, and a relentless commitment to defense, these Boston Celtics are built on a foundation of defiance.
They will ride this attitude out until the wheels fall off.
