NBA Trade Rumors: Why the Celtics Need Chris Paul

The NBA lockout ended only a few days ago. Despite this, Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has already rekindled the trade Rajon Rondo discussion.

Ainge shouldn't have spoke of his openness to trading Rondo, not because Rondo should be untouchable, but because it decreases his value. If the 29 other teams in the league know that Ainge is considering trading the star point guard then they will try to offer Boston a deal that is less than fair.

Although I disagree with Ainge's approach to putting Rondo on the trade market, I do agree with the thought.

The conventional wisdom around the NBA is that Rondo is the Celtics best player. There are some fans who believe that Paul Pierce or even Kevin Garnett are still better, but it's pretty clear that Rondo has surpassed these two as the top dog in Boston. Pierce may be the go to scorer and Garnett may be the shut down defender, but both of them are over 34 years old and past their prime, while Rondo is in the midst of his and rapidly improving into one of the league's best guards.

Rondo is an extremely gifted basketball player. His speed and athleticism make him a huge threat and allow him to get by any defender. His long arms make him a terror on the defensive end, and his passing ability makes him one of the leagues best floor generals.

However, the fact that Rondo is the Celtics best player is scary. There is no way that Rondo is good enough to be the best player on a championship team.

Despite all his strengths, Rondo's horrendous shooting ability is a major liability. It allows teams to completely ignore him in the Celtics half court offense. At times, it appears the Celtics are a man down on offense due to Rondo's shooting deficiencies.

His free throw shooting has also become a major flaw. Last year Rondo shot at a Shaq-like 56.8 percent from the charity stripe. This means that he basically missed one out of every two free throws he attempted. How can you keep a guy on the floor late in a close game if he shoots just over 50 percent from the free throw line?

One of Rondo's strengths is his ability to get to the hole. He has elite speed and quickness that allows him to routinely blow by his defender. Last year especially however, Rondo seemed very hesitant on driving to the hole and at times, would pass up a wide open lane to the basket.

I don't believe the Celtics can win a championship with Rondo as their best player. Besides the '04 Pistons, who were unbelievable defensively and faced an imploding Lakers team in the finals, what championship team has had a worse best player than Rondo? I can't name one either.

This leads us to Chris Paul. Paul does all the things Rondo does well, but has a very good jump shot and has shot 85 percent from the free throw line for his career.

The Celtics desperately need someone to take some of the scoring load off Paul Pierce. The team has no one else who can create their own shot on a consistent basis.

Pierce will still be the teams crunch time scorer and first option, but Paul can contribute as a scorer and he is just as good, if not a better, distributor than Rondo.

If the Celtics want to win another NBA championship with the big three, they are going to need to make some changes. Rajon Rondo is a very good player, but can not be the best player on a championship team. Chris Paul does all the things Rondo does well but more importantly, does all the things he dosen't do.