Q&A with Mike Fratello: Integrating Rajon Rondo

Red's Army was lucky enough to get a question in with former coach and TNT analyst Mike Fratello in a little Q&A with a bunch of NBA blogs. 

How difficult is it for a coach to mix an up-and-coming young star
like Rajon Rando into a group of established veterans like the Celtics
Big 3 and keep everyone happy?

I'm not sure if it's more
difficult for the coach or if its' more difficult for the players who
have to accept that player in. Its makes it much easier for the coach if
the veteran guys are accepting or, I think it's a two way street- not
only do they have to be willing to trust, or accept, the new player, the
young player, but at the same time he has to be willing to understand
who's he's playing with. That's the coaches job, to go sit down and say
to him, "Here's what you have:

You have a Hall of Famer here, you have
another Hall of Famer here, you have the leading three point shooter in
history."You have to lay it out for him so that he understands
whom he's dealing with. And then you hope you have a mature young man,
that's stepping into that spot. Obviously his talents take a lot of
that. If he can play and the veterans know he can play, they'll be much
more accepting of him. They want to win, veteran guys, that's what they
want: somebody on the floor that can get it done for them, they're all
part of it together.

To me, that's one of the most interesting dynamics on this Celtics team.  How Rajon Rondo, a young point guard who is still growing into his role not only this team, but in the NBA as a whole… can co-exist with 3 Hall of Fame players.  How do you give a team full of superstar veterans a young kid and tell them "he'll be driving this bus." 

I think it's all a testament, as Mike said, to both coaching and the mindset of the veterans.  I'm sure it hasn't been easy.  I'm sure there have been behind the scenes issues that we never heard about.  But I think the results speak for themselves.

Check out that link.  There are a lot of great questions from some really top-notch blogs.  Thanks to the NBA for letting us in on it.

Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images