New York's Most Desired

By Scoop Fox

Winter has arrived in New England. Football starts to wind down, people are looking towards basketball to fill in. Yes, the 2013-2014 NBA has reached the one-fourth mark and now the infamous 'trade rumors' are starting to sprout. Right now all the buzz is about Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo and where he might land before season's end. Though some trade talks are just laughable (Rondo to Sacramento anyone), one team has thrown away whatever is left of their dignity in an attempt to gain #9's services.

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As we speak, the word on the street is that the New York Knicks are trying to make a trade with the Boston Celtics for the services of point guard Rajon Rondo. Any Knicks fan would salivate and pray that this trade will happen, even though Rondo is currently recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in last season. When healthy, Rondo is a top 5 point guard in the NBA and perhaps the best point guard in the Eastern Conference. He not only brings a competitive edge but is a defensive stalwart and a floor general for the offense, something that the Knicks definitely need.

If he were to come to the Knicks, he’d already be an upgrade over current point guards (Raymond Felton, Pablo Prigioni, and Ben Udrih). His career averages are 11.1 points per game, 8.3 assists per game and 4.5 rebounds per game in 7 years in the NBA. Rondo would also be the key piece needed to help the Knicks finally get into the Eastern Conference Finals as well as keep their superstar, small forward Carmelo Anthony, in New York.  Knick fans are salivating at the thought Rondo dishing the ball off to Carmelo for his amazing jumpshot, to big men Tyson Chandler for the big jam, or to Andrea Bargnani in the corner.

That’s all nice and everything but then reality comes into effect.

First off, if you are the Celtics why would you trade your best player away, especially to a divisional opponent? I know the talk for the 2013-14 NBA season for the Celtics is to ‘tank’ away the season to get a high lottery pick. But currently, they are sitting at 12-17, just 1 game back in the Atlantic Division behind Toronto. They are averaging 95.0 ppg while giving up only 96.9 ppg on defense, which puts them 5th overall in that category. This is all without a healthy Rajon Rondo. Once he comes back, you know the Celtics will start to pick up more wins and score more points. Not to mention that Rondo puts fans in the seats in the Boston Garden and that, regardless of what some Boston media people think and say, he is respected by his Celtic peers.

Second, what do the Knicks have to offer? If the Celtics are looking for 1st Round draft picks from the Knicks they might want to hold their breath. The Denver Nuggets currently hold the Knicks’ 2014 NBA 1st Round pick stemming back from the Carmelo Trade back in 2011 and have the ability to swap with the Toronto Raptors the Knicks’ 2016 1st Round pick amongst themselves. Also what Knick players/contracts do to the Celtics even want? Amar’e Stoudemire and the 2-years and $45.09 million left on his contract, J.R. Smith and his 3-year $17.94-million contract, or perhaps the 3 years and $11.38-million left on Raymon Felton’s deal. The only attractable things the Knicks have to offer are young guards Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. and it's hard to believe the Knicks would be stupid enough trade away their only young team assets.

All in all, it’s all just smoke and mirrors. Christmas has already past so Knicks fans should stop hoping that Santa Ainge will give them an elite point guard. Fact is that there are only two ways that this trade will happen. First is if Rondo decides that Boston is not a place he wants to be and forces his way out. The other is if Danny Ainge decides to finally trade Rondo (after talking about it for so long) and takes on a few bad contracts. Hell has a better chance of freezing over than any of those scenarios happening.