Doc Rivers isn’t buying that Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo have to step up and be better leaders because the Big Three are all battling health ailments. (WEEI)

An online columnist recently suggested that a key problem with the C’s is that Rajon Rondo and Kevin Perkins need to step up and be leaders because the Big Three have been distracted by health problems. “That’s ludicrous,” Rivers said. “It’s ridiculous, it really is. Kevin Garnett and Paul [Pierce] and Ray [Allen] are the leaders, but so is Rondo and Perk. I think the starting five leads our team and they always have this year. So I don’t know how all of a sudden you assume a different leadership role. That sounds so great in print, or saying it, but it’s not realistic. I think that our team’s leadership has been intact all year. I think all five of those guys lead when they need to. The bottom line is our starting five … all five of them have to set the table for his entire team.”

I agree with Doc.  Pierce, Garnett, and Allen are battle-tested champions who have proven their leadership over long, storied careers.  Rondo and Perk are rising stars (okay, it may be a stretch to call Perk a star) who have yet to fully come into their own as professionals.

Just because the Big Three haven’t played great lately (though they’re all coming around) doesn’t mean they’ve lost their positions as leaders.

Show us the way, Paul, Kevin and Ray.  Take us to the promised land.