Rondo's return pushed back

Though a source told the Herald last week that Rajon Rondo was expected to meet with his knee surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, at some point between Dec. 7 and 10 for clearance to practice, Rondo pushed the date back to an equally vague date. “I might see him during my holidays,” he said last night before the Celtics beat the Denver Nuggets, 106-98.

This is as much good news as it is bad news for Celtics fans. Good news in the sense that Rondo is going to take his time and every precaution necessary before returning to the line-up in an attempt to avoid further injury. Bad news in the sense that we will have to wait longer to see what these new look Celtics look like with Rondo at the helm of the ship.

Having won five of their last seven games, the Boston Celtics are playing solid basketball on both sides of the court. With strong contributions from the starters and bench alike, the Celtics are the leading the Atlantic Division; a sentence I did not anticipated writing this season.

With the emergence of Jordan Crawford as point guard for the Celtics, there is no immediate rush to bring Rondo back before he is 100% ready to play at the NBA level. His in-practice activities are still limited to non-contact and his pre-game workouts now include one-on-one with assistant coaches, but that is hardly return-to-the-line-up material.

Given the hot streak that the C’s are on and the mess that the NBA Eastern Conference is in, not having Rondo isn’t the detriment to the Celtics fans and pundits assumed it would be at the start of the season.

With an extended holiday break folloewing the December 22nd match-up against Indiana, one can expect a more detailed update on Rondo’s return when the team resumes practice on December 26th or 27th.

Follow Padraic O'Connor on Twitter @padraic_oconnor

Source: Mark Murphy; Boston Herald