Rajon Rondo has two new best friends, and only one is Brad Stevens

Can Brad Stevens connect with NBA players?

That was one of the biggest questions facing Stevens when the Celtics hired him from Butler, the only other place he’d coached, including as an assistant. It’s much different running a team of unpaid students (and that’s closer to the truth at Butler than, say, Kentucky) than running a team of millionaires.

Plus, Boston’s top player and new alpha dog is Rajon Rondo, who admits he can be tough on coaches. Unless the Celtics trade Rondo – certainly possible – his relationship with Stevens could determine whether the coach sticks.

So far, so good.

Gary Dzen of Boston.com:

Rondo said he was impressed when Stevens showed up at Rondo’s basketball camp in Kentucky earlier this summer. The two have had lunch, text nightly, and regularly share books and YouTube videos over email."Me and Brad have become best friends,” said Rondo. “We talk every day, we laugh and joke. We just had dinner the other night. I’m going to help him, he’s going to help me."He has my full support. I told him from Day 1 when he came to my camp that I’m behind him 100 percent. Whatever he wants to do, whatever he wants to change, I have an open mind. I’m ready to listen and to be accountable for what he wants to do.”

That sounds great, but maybe Rondo just throws around the “best friend” tag a little too easily. Dzen:

Rondo has been riding the stationary bike (he called the bike, along with Stevens, his “best friend”).

Sorry, Brad. That’s gotta sting.

But I really can see Rondo and Stevens, connected by their high intelligence, becoming BFFs. Like all coaches and star players, they will surely have their spats. But as long as Rondo doesn’t go running back to the bike at the first disagreement, he and Stevens can last.