NBA Rumors: Celtics may play Rajon Rondo with Marcus Smart

The NBA Draft has come and gone and it appears that there could still be some change ups on certain rosters moving forward. Specifically, the Boston Celtics have some questions to answer moving forward as the future of Rajon Rondo was immediately called into question.

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Rondo is nearing the end of his deal with the Celtics and has already been the subject of plenty of trade rumors leading up to the draft, and those rumors weren’t helped by the drafting of Marcus Smart.

According to Celtics head coach Brad Stevens though, who spoke with Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston, the idea of playing Rondo and Smart together in the same backcourt at the same time isn’t as crazy as it seems.

"“I don’t think there’s any doubt, I think they can play together,” Stevens said. “I think it will be great for Marcus to have a guy like Rondo to look up to, to learn from. Not many guys get that opportunity, especially early on in the draft like this. Marcus is another guy that I was thrilled that he was there at 6, because physically he’s ready to play and he competes every single minute of every single day. That will do nothing but help your team, regardless of what position he’s playing. I expect him to play some off the ball, I expect him to play some with the ball. But he’s a young guy. He’s going to be playing with a guy there that’s been in the league for a long time, that can really help him learn about it. I think it’s great. I think it’ll be great for both of them.”"

It’s a smart move to put Rondo on the same floor as the Celtics rookie as the chances Boston was going to take a guard were rather high and by mentoring Marcus Smart, Rondo is actually increasing his value to both the Celtics and any other team coveting him.

He doesn’t have to play nice but it’s in the best interest of all involved if he does.

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