Rajon Rondo’s sprained right wrist has kept him out of two straight games, subjecting Boston fans to Chinese water torture a combined 74 minutes of Avery Bradley playing point guard during the past two games. Fear not for the long term, though. Rondo hopes to play tonight against the Orlando Magic, and Doc Rivers says there are no long-term doubts that Rondo will return to good health. (Boston Herald)

Rajon Rondo missed his second straight game with a sprained right wrist suffered when he braced himself in a fall from a flagrant foul by Toronto’s Linas Kleiza last Wednesday. He hopes to play tonight against the Orlando Magic at the Garden.

“It’s really on me,” Rondo said. “Whenever I feel I can be productive, then I can come back.

“The important thing for me is when I can get the ground. Right now I don’t think I can do that without hurting it a lot worse. And with the way I play, I definitely hit the ground a lot. So when I’m good with that, I’ll be back.”

There is no definitive timetable for a return by Rondo.

“He could (miss more time), but I’m not concerned long term or anything,” Rivers said. “He’s close, but we’ve just got to get it right.”

Needless to say, the Celtics could use the do-everything guard who has easily been their best player this season.

It probably should not come as a surprise that Rajon Rondo — who either got cut from or left the USA men’s basketball team that participated in the 2010 World Championships after receiving a DNP under weird circumstances — failed to make the preliminary roster for the team that will compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

But Rondo and all his Celtics teammates were reportedly left off the list. (Sheridan Hoops)

Here it is, alphabetically, from my impeccable international basketball sources:

LaMarcus Aldridge

Carmelo Anthony

Chauncey Billups

Chris Bosh

Kobe Bryant

Tyson Chandler

Kevin Durant

Eric Gordon

Blake Griffin

Dwight Howard

Andre Iguodala

LeBron James

Kevin Love

Lamar Odom

Chris Paul

Derrick Rose

Dwyane Wade

Russell Westbrook

Deron Williams

Again, this isn’t a surprise. Rondo has never made Team USA a priority, and whatever happened prior to the 2010 World Championships — whether he was cut or simply withdrew — pointed to a relationship with the USA basketball program that simply wasn’t working.

Considering the wealth of point guards Team USA has preserved (Chris Paul, Derrick Rose and Deron Williams, all trying out for the same team), Rondo probably would have been a long shot to make the team even if he had been issued an invitation to try out.

I’m just surprised Team USA didn’t invite Greg Stiemsma.

Artistry.

(h/t @MrTrpleDouble10 and Red’s Army)

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe:

“Up and down, he’s getting beat up,’’ Rivers said when asked about Johnson’s progress in practice. “He’s excited when he actually gets the [scrimmage] refs to come on the floor, I’ll tell you that. But he did a couple of good things today. He’s starting to learn who he is. He knows he’s a jump shooter and he’s starting to become comfortable enough to take that shot.’’

“Today was the first day when he picked-and-popped, he caught it and shot it,’’ Rivers said. “The other two days he tried to make another play and got bumped off the spot, so I think he’s starting to simplify his game.’’

When asked if he expected Johnson to generate an interior game, Rivers said, “Nah. I mean, he’ll dunk because he’s athletic as heck, so we’re going to run stuff to get him rolling to the basket and throw it up in the air and he’ll go get it. But as far as post presence? Not really, but that’s fine. We don’t need that. We’ll try to get that somewhere else.’’ Read more »

Rajon Rondo is a complex person, a dream within a dream within a dream, consisting of layers of architecture that only make perfect sense to him.

We’ve heard rumors of Rondo’s stubbornness, the way he can occasionally be a thumb tack into the side of teammates and coaches. He entered the NBA and immediately wanted things done his way. He butts heads with Doc Rivers. He clashes periodically with the Big Three. He’s unafraid to speak his mind, may or may not have struggled last season while mourning the loss of his friend Kendrick Perkins, plays through injuries that would sideline Vince Carter for his entire career, unofficially leads the NBA in “utterly unselfish and sometimes stupidly unselfish” plays, became a leader among several Hall of Famers, and once in a while throws a water bottle (or an iced tea container, depending on who you trust) at a video screen while assistant coaches point out his flaws during a film session, then continues into a diatribe lacing into his teammates.

He’s about as simple as rocket science, as normal as a blue duck, and as volatile as a volcano. He’s Rajon Rondo, a player who has overcome a crushing flaw, yet a person still working to overcome temperamental issues that have scarred and sometimes threatened to fracture relationships with his closest co-workers.

In a wonderful piece in the Boston Herald, Steve Bulpett unearthed the anecdote I briefly mentioned earlier, the one where Rondo throws a water bottle and destroys a video screen during a film session. It’s a startling description of an event that would normally take place behind closed doors and remain behind closed doors, depicting Rondo as a hothead capable of losing his scruples, verbally attacking his teammates and destroying team property, all in one outburst.

But it was later in the story that I thought the most productive quote came.

“I’m not going to point the fingers on anybody,” Rondo said. “Any relationship problems I have with anybody on the team or anybody on the coaching staff, I have to do better as a player and as a leader. You know, I didn’t ask for this role, but it’s part of it — for one, being a point guard, for two, the way I play. So I just have to embrace it better. Each year I think I’m getting better. I may have my incidents, but each year I think I’ve handled criticism a lot better, I’ve been a lot more patient, and I think I’ve grown. KG actually came up to me and told me he was proud of me at how mature I’ve seemed in the first few days. But it’s not just two days; it’s going to have to be consistent throughout the season. That’s what P (captain Paul Pierce) told me the other day: You can’t pick and choose when you’re going to be a leader. You have to do it every day. That’s the biggest thing for me. It’s not just in the games, it’s in practice and in shootarounds in the morning. . . . I’m the first guy out there that people are looking at. You know, I’ve got the ball, so if I’m going to lollygag, then it’s like, OK, well, we’ve got the day off. That can’t be.

“There can’t be any inconsistency about that as far as in my game this year. And there won’t be, because I’ve embraced that role. All eyes are on me, and I’m OK with that.”

The symmetry of Paul Pierce telling Rondo he needs to be a consistent leader is perfect. In his younger days, Pierce was a lot like Rondo, a volatile, head-strong young buck not yet willing or able to coalesce with his teammates at all times. He had spats with Doc Rivers. He took bad shots. He almost requested a trade. He wore mocking head bandages to press conferences. He was Boston’s leader and normally well-behaved, but he was also capable of mind-boggling lapses just when it seemed like he had turned the proverbial corner.

Rondo was put in a different situation career-wise than Pierce, but their evolution is eerily similar. Several small steps toward maturation, one giant leap backward, a self-destructive path that simultaneously leaves fans in love and disappointed. Pierce eventually attained the point of complete maturation, but it took years of petty outbursts and occasionally selfish play before he fully committed himself to the team culture.

In the book Shaq wrote this summer, which talked crap about anybody and everybody, the Big Diesel called Pierce Boston’s unquestioned leader, even in a locker room that includes Kevin Garnett. The next step for Rondo is to become the leader Pierce has developed into, to eliminate the occasional mental lapses and temper tantrums and put aside all the bullshit that clouds his relationships with teammates and coaches.

Rondo is a uniquely talented individual, a point guard who can create assists out of dust, an unselfish passing demigod who should be a dream to play with, and now he must follow Pierce’s lead. He must continue his development into a full-time leader, because really, that’s the only true kind of leader there is.

The Boston Celtics have reportedly “relentlessly pursued” Chris Paul, exploring eight different scenarios that would bring Paul to Boston, including several possibilities that include a third team to sweeten the package.

Considering that Stephen Curry and Eric Gordon, two New Orleans Hornets favorites, are expected to be off limits, Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski is now saying what I’ve thought all along: The Celtics current offer “could be the most attractive to the Hornets.”

ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chris Broussard also believe the Celtics are at or near the lead for Paul:

It has been evident since Monday that the Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers are New Orleans’ preferred trade partners, but one source close to the process told ESPN.com that talks between Golden State and New Orleans have gone “dormant” because of the Warriors’ refusal to make Curry part of the deal without an assurance from Paul that he will stay beyond this season as opposed to bolting as a free agent in July 2012. Clippers guard Eric Gordon is the other player New Orleans covets in a Paul deal on par with Curry, but L.A. has likewise insisted all week that Gordon is a “deal breaker,” as one source put it.

Various executives believe that the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are thus the two most likely landing spots for Paul, but sources with knowledge of New Orleans’ thinking said late Wednesday that the Hornets are prepared to wait for offers to improve, convinced that they they’re getting low-ball proposals at this early stage of the process based on the external belief that they’re so motivated to move Paul they will rush into a deal.

The Celtics, sources say, are currently presenting the strongest offer, which featuresRajon Rondo, Jeff Green and two first-round picks. As the Paul pursuer most willing to trade for the All-Star point guard with zero assurance that Paul will stay beyond this season, Boston is also trying to concoct multi-team scenarios that would help the Hornets come away with the package they desire for Paul, featuring at least one established veteran to help them stay relevant, one up-and-coming talent and draft picks.

The Hornets’ interest in Rondo is lukewarm at best, but one scenario in circulation would involve the Indiana Pacers and route former Hornets point guard Darren Collison back to New Orleans and land Rondo with the Pacers and Paul with the Celtics. Yet several other players would have to be involved to make such a deal work — with more established talent going to New Orleans — and there was no indication Wednesday that such a deal was close to completion.

Although sources say Paul continues to express no interest in a long-term stay in Boston, Celtics GM Danny Ainge is apparently convinced that trading for Paul now to try to make one more title run with the aging star trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett andRay Allen is a no-brainer gamble. With the contracts of Garnett and Allen expiring at season’s end, Boston would have sufficient salary-cap space to not only try to retain Paul but also pursue a second young superstar to play with him.

In case you’re scoring at home: The Hornets are now believed to want Stephen Curry, Eric Gordon and/or Darren Collison in return for Paul, but they are “lukewarm” about the prospect of adding a 25-year old, two-time All-Star who has made the NBA’s All-Defensive First-Team each of the past two seasons, already won one championship, has been the Celtics’ best player in each of the past three postseasons, and tends to raise his play during big games.

At this point, I think it’s entirely possible the Hornets are leaking false rumors to entice Danny Ainge to sweeten Boston’s offer. At the very least, the Hornets’ reported lack of respect for Rondo is curious.