Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck calls Rondo stubborn, questions how coachable he is
First things first,
That said, the title is completely accurate.
On last night's "Sports Final Overtime" on WBZ, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck was asked about Rajon Rondo as part of an interview which was meant to preview the upcoming season. While Grousbeck said some positive things -- calling Rondo a great player, a generous kid, and someone who loves Boston -- he also said some not-so-positive stuff as well (transcribed by Adam Kaufman).
“He’s super stubborn,” revealed Grousbeck
...
“I know if you ask [former, long-time head coach] Doc [Rivers], ‘Was he the most coachable guy, or in the top half, 50 percent,’ he’d say, ‘No, he’s in the bottom 50 percent of being coachable.’ It’s hard with him,” Grousbeck continued.
Yikes.
Now I'm sure some people will chime in and say that "some of the best athletes of all time were stubborn!", and "MJ hated to be coached". Both of these things are true.
But why on Earth would Wyc feel the need to say this right now? Why bring this kind of attention to yourself and your soon to be free agent star right before camp starts? (FYI, they just talked about it on PTI. So it's not something that is flying under the radar.)
It's pretty simple logic: These comments have a 0% chance of doing anything positive, and a greater than 0% chance of doing something negative (possibilities: Rondo formally demands a trade, his trade value takes a hit because the owner himself says he's un-coachable, ect). Whenever that is the case with anything, it's a bad decision to do it.
So not a great move by Wyc right here.
But despite all that, my gut feeling is that this is not a very big deal. The general tone of Wyc's comments towards Rondo was a positive one, and Rondo is already motivated to have a monster year as he enters his contract season. He's not going to sulk because his owner said he's tough to coach. And next summer, if the Celtics have a good young roster, a plan to land another max free agent, and they offer him the most money..Rondo ain't turning that down because Wyc said he can be stubborn sometimes. No shot.
However, Wyc should probably chill with these types of comments, no matter how honest they are, and no matter how good his intentions are.
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