Jeff Green inspired by Red Sox, calls Rajon Rondo 'our David Ortiz.' Banner 18 in 2017?

“Because we have a young team, young coach, fresh faces. Like the Red Sox for the past couple years … they are my inspiration. I’ve been watching them the last couple years, nobody would think they would be at the point they’re at right now with guys who just came out of nowhere and played together, were all on the same page and they’re getting the job done. Now they have a great chance of winning the World Series. I think we’re in a similar position where we have guys that not a lot of people know. (Rajon) Rondo would be our (David) Ortiz, and we just follow his lead. We just have to go out there and play hard, give it our all.” 

“That’s just something that I’ve been thinking about for the past couple months because everybody’s counting us out, and they did the same thing with the Red Sox. Look at where they’re at and how hard they had to battle to get to that point, and we have to do the same thing.”

Even the most optimistic of Boston fans would be hard pressed to imagine the Celtics are in any position to duplicate the Red Sox success this year.  But, if you compare the current state of the C's to where the Sox were back in April, there are definite similarities.  The Red Sox have had 177 games since then to get to the point they're at now.  Could the Celtics be a contender in that time (by the end of next season)?  Doubtful, but stranger things have happened.  More likely the process would have to take at least 3-4 years, so if you accept that as the premise I think it's a reasonable and encouraging analogy for Green to make.

This is Big Papi's 11th season in Boston; for Rondo that could be 2016-2017.  The Sox won it all in Ortiz's second year here (2004), as did the Celts with Rondo (2008).  Hmm...


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