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The Boston Celtics will open the 2015 campaign minus star point guard Rajon Rondo, who underwent surgery to repair his broken left hand, the team announced last Friday.
Accidental slip
In an official statement, Celtics’ officials said that the 28-year old guard “underwent a surgical fixation of a left metacarpal fracture on Friday morning at New England Baptist Hospital” after accidentally injuring himself during a slip at his home last Thursday.
Rondo is expected to miss 6-8 weeks, leaving rookie Marcus Smart and sophomore Phil Pressey as the Celtics’ point guards in Rondo’s absence. Pressey started 11 games for the Celtics during his rookie season last year and averaged 8.2 points 3.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists as a starter. Smart was selected by the Celtics as the 6th overall pick in last June’s draft after a stellar college career at Oklahoma State.
The injury to Rondo is yet another off-season issue regarding the Celtics’ team captain.
Part of the future
Rondo is the last link to the Celtics 2008 title team with the other catalysts Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen all gone to other teams. Rondo is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2014-15 season and has been the subject of multiple trade rumors. However, the Celtics have repeatedly said that Rondo “is a part of their long term future” and that they have no intention of trading him.
Last week, it was the turn of Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck to douse the trade rumors. Grousbeck said that it was “his goal to keep Rondo in Boston.” He added that he believes that Rondo “is proud to be a Celtic and wants to stay as a Celtic.”
Best season ever
The All-Star guard has missed a total of 95 games in the last two seasons, mostly because of an ACL injury which he suffered in 2013. Despite that, team doctors and officials had high hopes for Rondo’s successful return after the former Kentucky Wildcat showed up in tremendous physical shape in the off-season. Team officials were even anticipating “the best season ever for Rajon Rondo” before this latest injury sidelined him again.
Rondo averaged 11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game in 30 games last season. But more than his numbers, the Celtics missed his leadership and championship experience last season where they finished 25-57.
