Rajon Rondo Returns to Practice, but Don’t Get Too Excited

Those who drafted Rondo in the late second round of fantasy drafts this season have been in fora rude awakening, and though Rajon Rondo has put in a practice, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence when you hear him say his wrist is at "45 percent health," nor does it sound too promising that he is unable to shoot or dribble a basketball due to his right wrist sprain.

He gave a spirited effort to practice Wednesday, but did not find his wrist was able to cooperate with his drive to return.

Doc Rivers realizes the gravity of the injury and is not rushing Rondo back. After thorougly embarassing the Magic twice in a row, that may be OK for the Celtics. Rivers commented, "If he could play, he'd play. His hand just won't let him. It's not broken or anything…just extremely sore. He tried to shoot and do things and you could just see it's no way…no way he could have been effective.

Rivers' patience is refreshing, because often in the NBA players feel compelled to rush back from injuries. In a condensed schedule like this year's that could prove even more disastrous, as the increased work load allows little time for injuries to recover between games. We'll see even more ice packs wrapped around players this year than usual, and unfortunately Rondo is one such player.

It's a pity, too, because he began the season by scoring 31 points against the Knicks and then followed that up with a 22 point game against the Heat. The Celtics lost both those games, and Rondo began to fall off from that point and never really regained form, save a couple good games against the Mavericks and his last game against the Raptors. The Celtics had dropped 5 of 6 before Rondo went out with his injury, but appear to be righting the ship behind the play of Avery Bradley and Keyon Dooling.

For all that Bradley and Dooling are, and as well as they have played, they are not Rajon Rondo, and Rondo is the key to the Celtics being anything at all this year, in terms of making one last push for a title before Celtics GM Danny Ainge begins the rebuilding process. Because Rondo is a huge chip in that process, it only makes sense to allow his wrist to properly heal to avoid long term damage.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.