Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo has turned out to be a better player than most fans expected. He came into the league seemingly a backup-level talent, yet developed enough to be worthy of starting on a team that wound up winning the championship. The Boston Globe (Marc J. Spears) reports:
Rajon Rondo is hopeful he can be a Celtic long after the Big Three are gone. General manager Danny Ainge said yesterday that the $2.09 million team option on Rondo for the 2009-10 season will be exercised before this season… Rondo will be eligible for a lucrative long-term deal next summer that would begin with the 2010-11 season. Signing him next summer as opposed to when he is a restricted free agent during the hot 2010 market will have salary cap implications for Boston. Duffy plans to push hard for a long-term deal; Danny Ainge does not comment on free agent issues.
It isn’t likely that Rondo will ever develop into a superstar — though, he’s proved doubters wrong in the past — but at the very least he should be a very solid starter for years to come.
The biggest surprise of the practice was that Nicolas Batum worked extensively with the starting unit. The 19-year-old rookie forward from France has been a standout during exhibition play, and coach Nate McMillan — who is searching for a replacement for the injured Martell Webster — said he wanted to experiment with Batum in the first unit. McMillan also plans to look at Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez as potential starters.
It has been more of the same from O’Neal at the free-throw line in the preseason, with eight misses in 12 tries. And it might be more of the same “Hack-a-Shaq” approach this season for the career 52.4 percent free-throw shooter. The NBA reviewed the rule allowing intentional fouls away from the ball without penalty until the final two minutes but did not alter the rule to protect a weakness. “I was fine with that,” O’Neal said. “It doesn’t work. It may work in a series, but it’s not going to get you to the championship. San Antonio tried it, but they went home a couple weeks after we went home. I just have to go to the line and make them pay. And I will. “The only thing I call cowardly is when you’re up by 10 and do it. That’s a cowardly move. I didn’t say nothing last year, but that’s a coward move. They should really do something about that. When you’re down, I can see using it as a strategy, but when you’re up 10 to 15 points, there’s really no need for that.”
The Salt Lake Tribune (Ross Siler) reports: There’s still 17 days to go until opening night for the Jazz, but the Andrei Kirilenko experiment at sixth man moved a step closer to reality in Sunday’s 93-80 preseason victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan opted to start C.J. Miles and bring Kirilenko off the bench again, even with Carlos Boozer returning from a sore hamstring, and Kirilenko followed through on his pledge to help bring the new role to life. Kirilenko hit a shot 14 seconds after checking in and factored into all five scoring possessions to end the first quarter. He went on to lead the Jazz with 15 points, five assists, three rebounds and two blocks in 25 minutes.
The Arizona Republic (Paul Coro) reports: Leandro Barbosa returned to Phoenix at 10 a.m. today without anyone knowing until he walked into the locker room. He has been in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with his ailing mother since the start of training camp two weeks ago but her condition has improved.