Rondo asks why Celtics plan to honor IT: 'You don't hang conference titles'
Paul Pierce doesn't want the Boston Celtics to show Isaiah Thomas' tribute video on the same day the team planned retire his jersey.
Rajon Rondo is taking it a step further, and he's making it clear he doesn't want the Celtics to give tribute to Thomas whatsoever.
Rondo, fresh off a win over his former club, asked difficult questions of his former franchise by wondering aloud why exactly Thomas was being honored.
"What has he done?" Rondo asked Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. When told that Thomas led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals, Rondo answered, "Oh, that's what we celebrate around here?"
"This is the Boston Celtics," Rondo added. "This isn't the Phoenix Suns, no disrespect to any other organization, but you don't hang conference titles. Do we hang going to the conference finals? What do we hang here?"
Thomas played three seasons in Boston and helped revive the franchise following the dissolution of the Big Three era. He finished fourth in scoring last season and played through both great injury and grief in order to push the Celtics to the third round of the playoffs.
But Rondo does have a point, however crass it may be. The Celtics have championship standards, and Thomas, for everything he achieved, did not deliver.
HEADLINES
- NBA urges players to be vigilant following home break-ins
- 5 role players making star-level impacts this season
- Here for the long haul? Selling high on Poeltl isn't Raptors' only option
- Raptors' Barnes returns in win vs. T-Wolves after 11-game absence
- President Biden welcomes 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics to White House