How many realistic NBA title contenders are there right now?
Rajon Rondo thinks there are five, and he plays on one of them. Here is what he told Marc Spears of Yahoo in an interesting interview.“We won a championship and that’s great, but I don’t want to settle,” Rondo said. “I have a lot of NBA time left on my clock and I got the talent around me. Everyone can’t say they can compete for a championship each year. With the talent around me now with the Celtics, it’s time to obtain that goal.
“There are only five teams right now that can say they can compete for a title realistically. And we’re one of them.”
Who are the five? Miami and Oklahoma City, obviously. The Lakers moved into most people’s contenders list with the Steve Nash and Dwight Howard acquisitions. The Celtics would make it four. Who is No. 5? The Spurs or maybe Clippers out West? Who else in the East fits the bill, the Pacers or Knicks or Sixers?
My two cents, there are only three — Lakers, Thunder and Heat. Boston needs a little slip from Miami to catch up, they are half a step behind. In the West the Clippers, Spurs and maybe Nuggets are in the same boat of “darn good but not quite good enough without some help.”
But we will see, there is a long season to prove those theories right or wrong.
Rondo talked about a few other things of interest, including being a leader and getting Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jeff Green and the rest of the Celtics core together in Los Angeles to workout, eat and play together for a week. To bond.“I wanted J.T. to play with Kevin. I wanted Courtney to see how Paul likes to play. I wanted Paul and Jeff Green to go at each other,” Rondo told Yahoo! Sports. “I wanted to play with those guys. It was getting guys away from our actual training facility to get a new view.
“I wanted the guys to have fun. When you’re with me I want you to say, ‘Man, I had a good time with Rondo.’ And I think that’s what they did.”It’s going to be a while, but we’ll see if that time spent in the enemy territory of Los Angeles helps the Celtics be better prepared.