Ainge Bashes Rondo

Well I guess all these rumors are true....

Speaking this morning on WEEI's "Dennis and Callahan" program, Ainge said Rondo needed to take more of a leadership role and revealed the 23-year-old was fined for showing up late to a game.

"We expect him to play by the rules and be a leader as a point guard. We need him to be more of a leader," Ainge said. "There were just a couple situations where he was late this year, I don't know if he was sitting in his car, but showed up late and the rest of the team was there. We have team rules and you have to be on time. He was fined for being late, he said he was stuck in traffic, and it's just unacceptable."

Ainge was also critical of Rondo's play during the Celtics' second-round loss to the Magic.

"As we saw in the Orlando series, they left him wide open," Ainge said. "His presence hurt us in winning right now because his man went and doubled onto Ray [Allen] and Paul [Pierce] and made it difficult for us." Ainge said Rondo wasn't "that disruptive of a player," but that he still hasn't fully matured (Boston.com)."


I have to admit I am shocked Ainge would come out and say these things. In what way does this help the Celtics? Ok, let's just say for a second that the team really doesn't like him. Why would you let the rest of the league know that Rondo has an attitude problem? Doesn't seems like it would help his trade value. Anyways, the story goes that Rondo showed up late to a couple of the playoff games and the players/coaches had a serious problem with that. There are also rumors saying Rondo doesn't practice as hard as he should, and the only way they would could him to practice his jump shot what when Garnett challenged him. This is all getting very interesting, and if Ainge is willing to come out and speak against him, then you have to think they are going to deal him soon.....but we will see.