After Timofey Mosgov deal, Rajon Rondo trade is even more confusing

Let me start out by saying I'm a big fan of Danny Ainge as both a player and GM. Having said that, after seeing what Cleveland received in the Timofey Mosgov trade I'm still confused about the Rajon Rondo deal:

Via Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst at ESPN:
The Cavs, who have been in discussions with the Nuggets for Mozgov for months, are paying a steep price by sending two protected first-round picks to get the deal done. The Cavs will send a future pick they own from the Memphis Grizzlies from a 2013 trade and a first-rounder they acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week in a deal involving Dion Waiters.

The Nuggets, who are 15-20 and likely going to miss the playoffs, will clear money from their books and also pick up a $4.6 million trade exception from the Cavs. The Thunder pick is top-18 protected this year and top-15 protected in each of the following years. The Grizzlies' pick will go to Denver if it falls between picks 6-14 in the next two years and is top-five protected for two years after that.

Now I get with the injury of Anderson Varejao the Cavs are desperate for a center and in general (I really didn't like the Dion Waiters deal).

Yet, that's a pretty steep price to pay for a guy averaging 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds in under 26 minutes for a 15-20 team (the Nuggets have been playing much better since their abysmal start).

In fact Mozgov's numbers are quite similar to Varejao's, who was averaging 9.8 points and 6.5 rebounds in 24.5 minutes before he was injured.

It just seems Boston was in a similar situation with both Houston and Dallas desperate for a game changing point guard and Danny could have gotten more if he'd waited a bit longer especially considering the trade deadline doesn't happen until February 19th.

@ClintCorey
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