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The Boston Celtics' owner openly wonders 'how coachable [Rajon Rondo] really is'

The Boston Celtics' owner openly wonders 'how coachable [Rajon Rondo] really is'

NBA executives have gotten themselves in quite a bit of trouble recently by attempting to parse objectionable comments with a “and I don’t mean that in a bad way!”-caveat, but this instance isn’t nearly as bad.

Still, Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck may come to regret the things he said in a television interview about star C’s guard Rajon Rondo. Then again, Rondo’s unique outlook on life and basketball might lead to the 2015 free agent treating these sorts of words as the highest of compliments.

Via Boston.com’s Adam Kauffman, here is what Grousbeck had to say about his franchise player in an interview with WBZ-TV:

“He’s super stubborn,” revealed Grousbeck, adding Rondo is a good, generous kid who loves being in Boston. “I don’t know how coachable he really is.

“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.

Rondo is super stubborn, and he has clashed with Rivers at times during the pair’s 2006-2013 run as player and coach. The Celtics reportedly aren’t actively shopping Rondo, who is years older than the team’s current and eventual (some of these guys have yet to be drafted) cast of young prospects, but the team would and has listened to reasonable offers for the 28-year old as he enters the last year of his contract.

Because Rajon is unique, though, the rest of the league has had a hard time gauging the appropriate amount to give up in return for his talents, even forgetting the looming free agent deadline that is growing closer and closer.

Remember, Rondo is on record pointing out that he “doesn’t like change much,” not exactly news to the ears of potential trading partner. There were the reported fights with Rivers, 2013’s ACL tear, the fact that he remains a dodgy shooter from the perimeter, and the idea that Rondo might be playing selfish basketball even as the assists pile up.

Add that to the team’s bleedin’ owner telling the press that he doesn’t “know how coachable [Rondo] really is,” and that noise you just heard was Celtics general manager Danny Ainge groaning from the golf course.

Wyc Grousbeck may have torn Rondo’s remaining trade value to bits. Did he do anything to irreparably harm his relationship with his team’s lone remaining star?

Nah. Probably not.

Rajon Rondo is the guy that took Kobe Bryant’s admiring declaration of him as a bit of a nasty word as a compliment of the highest order. He likes a little scuff on his sneakers, and probably thinks he’s doing something right if his boss is calling him “stubborn” and borderline uncoachable.

It should also be noted that Grousbeck’s compliments didn’t end there. From Kauffman’s transcription:

Grousbeck was asked by anchor Dan Roche about the captain’s future, and the owner said he’d “absolutely” like Rondo to remain for the long-term.

Pressed as to why, “It’s intangible,” Grousbeck said of the man he called a great Celtic. “You just watch him. He played through sort of a broken elbow, a ripped knee. He’s a gamer, he’s a competitor, and he’s got world-class talent.”

You want to go into a competition with someone like Rajon Rondo on your side. You may not be correct in that sort of estimation, there is the chance that in the end Rondo does more harm than good, but he does give off an intangible sense of menace that at times borders on the irresistible.

Grousbeck, Rondo, Ainge, head coach Brad Stevens and the rebuilding Boston Celtics are about to enter into another strange turnaround season in 2014-15. You get the feeling that Rajon Rondo kind of likes it this way.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!