While discussing title banners, Rondo indirectly takes shot at Suns

Amid the controversy surrounding Boston's Isaiah Thomas tribute and the team's retiring of Paul Pierce’s jersey, a former Celtic spoke out against Thomas.

BY KYNAN MARLIN

Jan 17, 2018, 6:10 PM Updated: Jan 18, 2018, 11:28 am

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New Orleans Pelicans guard Rajon Rondo (9) drives around Utah Jazz guard Ricky Rubio (3) in the first half during an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Amid the Celtics controversy surrounding Boston’s Isaiah Thomas tribute and Paul Pierce’s jersey retirement, a former teammate of Pierce’s spoke out against Thomas.

And in trying to state the importance of championships, indirectly took a shot at the Phoenix Suns.

“What has (Thomas) done?” Rajon Rondo, the former point guard alongside Pierce in the “Big Three” era, asked.

“This is the Boston Celtics,” he said. “This isn’t the Phoenix Suns, no disrespect to any other organization, but you don’t hang conference titles. Do we hang going to the conference finals? What do we hang here?”

As Rondo waited for a reporter to respond “title banners,” he finished his argument with an emphatic “OK, cool.”

More Rondo on IT: “This is the Boston Celtics. This isn’t the Phoenix Suns, no disrespect to any other organization, but you don’t hang conference titles. Do we hang going to the conference finals? What do we hang here?”
Title banners, Rondo was told.
“OK, cool,” Rondo said.

— Bill Doyle (@BillDoyle15) January 17, 2018

Thomas, who the Suns traded in 2015, took the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals last season before losing in a five-game series to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On that season-long ride, Thomas averaged the third-most points per game (28.9) and was considered by some as an MVP candidate.

According to Rondo, those accomplishments shouldn’t matter if you can’t hang a championship banner in the end.

The Suns, of course, don’t have any of those championship banners. They did win the Western Conference Finals twice, once in 1976 and again in 1993.