I’m not saying I agree with the points in this articles. In fact, there are a couple I definitely DON’T agree with. But there’s a whole lot of opinion going around about Rajon Rondo and you should probably read it. In the end, though, John from Red’s Army said it best: “In a month, none of this will matter.”

Bethlehem Shoals, NBA Fanhouse – I’m not saying that Rondo is looking to stir up trouble, or has an attitude problem. Nor is he the second coming of Craig Hodges. Most likely, he would be welcomed back for 2012 — or even 2011. However, he’s independent, strong-willed, stubborn, and has ideas of his own — not the kind of good soldier that USA Basketball would prefer to cultivate. It hands control over to the players when it has no choice, but the rest of the time, there are certain standards to uphold. Or at least aspire to. All of which is a long way of saying that, rather than fix the USA’s FIBA problem, the Redeem Team may have simply made it worse. We learned that 2006 was little better than 2004, and yet there still remains a question of who is running the show, who the program really belongs to. If Colangelo has the luxury of being able to play without Rondo, you had better believe he’ll take it. And if the decision wasn’t Colangelo’s, well, he’s still probably thankful for it.

Peter May, ESPN - For the Celtics, it’s another example of one of their players not exactly living the high life in international competition.Rondo was the fourth Celtic to play for a USA Basketball team in international competition. Two won gold, although Larry Bird was pretty much an afterthought on the one and only Dream Team in 1992. Dominique Wilkins — yes, it’s true — was still into his Norma Desmond incarnation when he played on the 1994 world championship team. And Paul Pierce, well, more on him later. Suffice it to say when the Pierce autobiography comes out, there won’t be a lot of pages devoted to Indianapolis 2002. He came back from that tournament with a smear that would take years to erase. But back to the news du jour. Rondo went back and forth before deciding to join Uncle Sam’s latest international entry. But he brought some winning experience to the group; he, Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom were the only players on the team to have won an NBA title. Rondo’s value to the Celtics is indisputable and has been since the team refused to put him into deals forRay Allen and Kevin Garnett — and got both guys anyway. But Rondo had no such cachet with the team that USA Basketball will send onto the floor in Turkey for the worlds.

Andrew Sharp, SBNation - Why he’s gone then? I see three possibilities 1) He didn’t get cut, as many have assumed, and “tending to family concerns” was a genuine excuse. If that’s the case, then it renders a lot of this discussion moot. But if that’s the case, why didn’t play against Spain, when he was in uniform and still a part of Team USA? If family concerns were serious enough for him to pull out now, then wouldn’t he have pulled out before this weekend? 2) He performed really poorly in practices, didn’t look good in scrimmages, and aside from a brief display against France where he looked great, Rondo was in a serious slump. It’s hard to believe that a player like Rondo could struggle like this, but if that’s what happened, then maybe Team USA had no choice but to part ways. Especially if the USA Basketball folks felt his slump was of the self-induced variety. Which brings us to… 3) Crappy attitude, work ethic, etc. This seems most likely. Even if Rondo performed poorly in practice, you’d think Team USA would roll the dice with him. But if he was acting like a spoiled brat, loafing in practice, and clashing with the coaching staff… Well, that’s a pretty solid recipe for a disastrous outcome with Coach K and company.

Jeff Clark, CelticsBlog - Excuse me if I don’t jump off the bandwagon of a guy that has quarterbacked a team to two Finals appearances in his 4 years in the NBA (with one ring).  He’s got his Achilles heel jumper but he’s managed to do pretty well despite that.  As he keeps growing, he’ll get better at it or find better ways of coping with it. Would it have been a nice thing for him to be on the team and get a little extra exposure and maybe have some fun with Team USA?  Sure.  It is never a bad thing to represent your country and spread some goodwill and all that.  But at the end of the day I’m just more interested in the Celtics than the non-Olympic games they are playing this summer.