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| Rondo tore his ACL last January and hasn't played since |
No one expected the Boston Celtics, with a new coach — in Brad Stevens — and a host of new players after an active offseason, to be very good this season. Outside of isolated four-game and three-game winning streaks, the Celtics have followed that prediction to a tee, and have even lost nine of their last ten games to boot.
Sitting at 14-26, in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, Boston is struggling through a rebuilding season, and even made a trade a few days ago to earn more cap space and draft picks at the expense of win-now talent.
However dire the Celtics' situation looks, though, they get a big break tonight as star point guard Rajon Rondo will make his 2013-14 debut in the next itineration of the storied Celtics-Lakers rivalry, which continues this evening at TD Garden in Boston.
The last time Rondo appeared in a game for Boston, Doc Rivers was still the coach, and Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry were still on the team. It was on January 25th of 2013, in a game against the Atlanta Hawks, when Rondo took a bad step and tore his ACL, causing him to miss nearly a full 365 days.
It cannot really be accurately stated just how important Rondo is to this team, so his much-anticipated return is expected to greatly improve Brad Stevens' squad in terms of its record.
But for its draft position? Rondo coming back probably is not great for that.
