End of an Era: Boston Embraces Rebuilding Phase

They're all gone. There is not a single player left on the Boston Celtics roster that was with the team for their championship run in 2008. The last man standing was Rajon Rondo, the multifaceted point guard who rewrote the record books in Boston throughout his eight year stint with the Celtics. As of last night, Rondo is now a member of the Dallas Mavericks, an organization who has enjoyed their own title run in recent years. Rondo will join future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki for what is now one of the best starting lineups in the league. The hype in Dallas is real and the Mavs look to prove that they can now be championship contenders, yet the city that Rondo left behind is now forced to accept the fact that it will be a while before the Celtics are ready to compete for a championship much less an Eastern Conference title.

Rondo leaves Boston as one of its greatest point guards

Boston is currently on the outside looking in as far as the Eastern Conference standings are concerned. With a 9-14 record, they sit in tenth place in the conference behind the Brooklyn Nets. However, the Celtics now have to embrace life without their only All-Star, their only player with any championship experience as a Celtic. With Rondo's departure comes the arrival of Branden Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, and two draft picks. Aside from Nelson and Gerald Wallace, the Celtics don't have anyone that is over the age of 30, and eight of their players are below the age of 25. While they do have guys like Wallace and Jeff Green who are veterans in the league and have careers of some longevity to their name, it's no secret that the Celtics' roster is young and still developing.

While the trade will certainly take away the Celtics' most skilled player, it also takes away the face of that organization. Don't get me wrong, Rondo was no Larry Bird or Paul Pierce in terms of leadership. He had his fair share of moments in which his attitude was questioned and many wondered if he could truly gel with Brad Stevens when he came to Boston. Yet, at the end of the day, Rondo was "the guy". He was the one with a ring. He was the one that will go down as one of the best point guards to ever put on that green uniform. You can't immediately replace a presence like that which now leaves the Celtics in search of a new face, a new leader.

With #9 gone, Jeff Green will need to lead

They have guys like Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, and Gerald Wallace who are the team's veterans, but whose team is it now? There was never any doubt that the Celtics followed the lead of great players like Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce. Sure those Hall of Famers all had tremendous teammates and they played alongside countless fellow Hall of Famers, but there was never any doubt that the team belonged to those three aforementioned stars. While Rondo is not on that same level of greatness, he was the leader of this current Celtics team. It was his leadership role to lose, no matter how often his legacy would be questioned. Yet he's no longer there to lead, there are no All-Stars left.

By no means are the Celtics now in shambles. They're not a last-place team nor is the season lost. They can still be a playoff team especially in the lowly Eastern Conference. And while the Celtics will certainly miss Rondo, Danny Ainge's decision to trade him is one that will benefit the organization in the long run. They have good pieces and, in time, they will have the potential to compete. But for now, Celtics fans will have to be patient. The makeover of the NBA's greatest ball club has begun, yet that doesn't mean Boston should be forgotten. They're a first-class organization with a championship pedigree; they'll be back.