I don’t always take trade rumors at face value. But if you take the latest “Danny Ainge wanted to swap Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins and Russell Westbrook after the 2011 playoffs” rumor as the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God, faith could be shaken and beliefs could be altered. (ESPN)

ESPN’s Chris Broussard dug up yet another interesting Celtics tidbit for us this evening, one that casts last season’s Kendrick Perkins-for-Jeff Green trade in an entirely new light.

After last season’s playoffs, the Celtics offered Rajon Rondo and Green to Oklahoma City for Russell Westbrook and Perkins, sources told Broussard. The Celtics, looking for another scorer who can create his own offense, thought Westbrook might be available after his erratic postseason play. But Oklahoma was not interested in the deal.

Let’s assume this rumor is true and take a look at the timeline:

1) The Celtics are favorites in the East, if not the entire NBA, and destroying everyone on the schedule.

2) Danny Ainge, at the last minute before the trade deadline, swaps Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson for Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green. We later hear the trade was made for financial reasons — the C’s did not believe they could afford to re-sign Perkins after the season.

3) The Celtics fall apart after acquiring Green. Green, despite all his obvious natural athleticism, fails to produce in any one aspect of the game. He does not score, rebound, or defend particularly well, and the Celtics collapse during the second half of the season, ultimately bowing to the Miami Heat in five games.

4) Fuck being frugal. Ainge offers to reacquire Perkins (and his new, $9 million per season contract), except this time he also proposes to (slightly) downgrade from Rajon Rondo to Russell Westbrook.

5) Sam Presti hangs up the phone, chuckling to himself.

6) A few months later, the trade offer resurfaces. My period of grieving goes something like this: I spend three hours crying about Perk (“I just miss his scowl, mom”), two hours trying to Google Ainge’s address so I can egg his house, two more hours trying to ponder the question: “wait, Rondo IS better than Westbrook, right?”, and then I return to crying about Perk until I fall asleep.

Unfortunately for Ainge, there is no reset button in real life.

Rajon Rondo will reportedly compete in The South Florida All-Star Classic, a charity game at Florida International University on Oct. 8 at 7:00 p.m. hosted by Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The F.I.U. basketball team is coached by none other than the greatest NBA executive of all-time, Isiah Thomas.

A number of NBA players are slated to join the Miami trio on the court, including fellow Heat teammate Mario Chalmers, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, the New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul, the Washington Wizards’ John Wall, the Atlanta Hawks’ Jamal Crawford, the Houston Rockets’ Jonny Flynn, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Bledsoe, the Dallas Mavericks’ Caron Butler, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay, the Boston Celtics’ Rajon Rondo, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Lou Williams, the Golden State Warriors’ Dorell Wright, and the Portland Trail Blazers’ Wesley Matthews and free agent Eddy Curry.

Cleveland Cavaliers first-round picks Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson also are possible participants in the game.

The squads will be headlined by Brand Jordan players (Wade, Anthony, Paul) vs. Nike (James, Bosh, Durant). Comedian Kevin Hart, who has appeared in Brand Jordan commercials with Wade, is expected to coach the Jordan team, while Miami-based rap star Rick Ross is expected to coach the Nike club.

If those players all compete like the game means something, this game has the chance to become legendary. Alas, players treat charity games like they are And1 Streetball games, so the game will probably be as watchable as Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star.

And please, don’t let Isiah Thomas meet Eddy Curry again. Looking at an overweight, excessively lazy center, Thomas may be struck by the desire to offer another $60 million contract. And that, my friends, would be against NCAA rules. Unless the recipient of the contract is Cam Newton.

Two days after reports that Kendrick Perkins routinely criticized teammate Russell Westbrook during the past season, reports from Oklahoma City described a mini training camp the Thunder held last week at the University of Texas. Two-thirds of the Thunder participated in the workouts, ten players. Nazr Mohammed called their games “the best pickup games in America,” and the Thunder used what could have been a wasted summer to step a little closer to an NBA championship.

All of which begs the question: should fans be concerned that the Boston Celtics haven’t met once this offseason?

Many teams have organized offseason workouts. Mike Conley brought the Grizzlies together. Amare Stoudemire rallied the Knicks. Durant rounded up the Thunder. But the Celtics have yet to gather in the same area.

Last week Kevin Garnett suggested he would plan a Celtics get-together soon, but his details were vague and the plan hardly seemed like one of his priorities. He said, “I’m going actually to the East Coast sometime soon and I am actually going to try to get everybody together just to be in the same area.” But when and where were not mentioned, and Garnett even admitted the workout likely would not consist of more than four or five players.

The problems are in geography and numbers. Garnett and Pierce live in California, and Pierce spent time barnstorming in China. Jermaine O’Neal and Avery Bradley work out in Las Vegas. Ray Allen was most recently spotted in Connecticut. E’Twaun Moore is playing professionally in Italy. JaJuan Johnson, based on his tweets, spends most of his time in Indiana. Rajon Rondo is working out at the University of Kentucky, sometimes with Lebron James. Glen Davis, Delonte West and Jeff Green aren’t officially Celtics. Neither are Nenad Krstic, Carlos Arroyo, Von Wafer, Sasha Pavlovic or Troy Murphy — Krstic left to Russia, Carlos Arrroyo competed with the Puerto Rican National Team this summer, and Wafer, Pavlovic and Murphy presumably are still picking splinters from their rumps and having nightmares of the end of Boston’s bench.

With only seven players under contract (eight if you include E’Twaun Moore, a second-round pick who does not have a guaranteed contract), the Celtics could not possibly host a ten-man mini training camp like the Thunder did. But meeting at least a few times, if only so JaJuan Johnson could have heard Kevin Garnett’s advice or Avery Bradley could have asked Rajon Rondo some questions about running a team, would have been beneficial. Instead, the Celtics — led by so many veterans, who we assumed would remain unfazed by the lockout, if only because the main Celtics already experienced one in 1998 and should have learned from it — have allowed the summer to disconnect them and leave them scattered across the country, working out (or not working out, you never know) mostly on their own.

It’s nothing to worry about, at least not yet, as the Celtics still have plentiful experience together and don’t necessarily need extra reps like the young Thunder or Grizzlies do. But you have to admit — you would have preferred that the Celtics spend at least a portion of this summer together as a team, working out, bonding, and pulling a successful season just a little bit closer to their embrace.

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If you’re lucky, you don’t remember how the Celtics began yesterday’s game. I knew, after only two possessions, the Celtics hadn’t “brought it.”

The first possession resulted in a lob pass from Paul Pierce, intended to hit Kevin Garnett. Instead, the play ended in a turnover and a Nate Robinson-sized lump on the back of Garnett’s head. Not exactly a perfect start, but I promise: things got worse.

The next possession was undoubtedly the worst in the history of Western Civilization. I, of course, say the previous sentence in the voice of Bill Walton. It started with Rajon Rondo dribbling at the top of the key. Rondo pounded the ball into the floor, and kept pounding, and kept pounding. He almost put a hole in the damn court.

But it wasn’t his fault. His teammates weren’t moving. Actually, that’s not fair — they were moving. There just wasn’t much of a purpose to any of the movement. Ray Allen looked dazed as he ran around screens. Actually, I can’t really call them screens, because the C’s who were standing still never once came into contact with Allen’s defender. Eighteen seconds after Rondo started creating a crater in the court, he realized the play was destined to fail. With no other options to speak of, Rondo launched a 25-foot bomb. As you could probably guess, it missed.

“Tonight, we disrespected the basketball gods,” Shaq, the only Celtic who gave a damn from the opening tipoff, told ESPN Boston.

“The basketball gods punished us today,” repeated Glen Davis.

“The basketball gods were not going to let you win with the way you approached the game,” echoed Doc Rivers. He later added, “The basketball gods — you play like crap, you play with that energy, and they’ll give you a couple bad 3s. I think [the Celtics] had one, maybe two of them. They deserved it.”

Okay, Celtics, we get it. The basketball gods weren’t happy with the way you approached last night’s game. We know.

But it almost seems like the C’s have a point. There was one play especially when I thought, “Yuck. It’s just not the Celtics’ night.”

You know what play I’m talking about. Rondo had finally ratcheted up his defense on Russell Westbrook, and poked the ball away from him two separate times. The second time, the ball squirted out. Right into the hands of Royal Ivey, who banked home a 25-footer. Yes, Royal Ivey — he of the 3.6 career scoring average.

Oh, and in case you forgot, the basketball gods didn’t want the Celtics to win that game.

“Seemed like the whole game we were seaching for a challenge,” Delonte West told WEEI. “It was almost like in the third quarter we were like, ‘Ok, down 10. Let’s go.’ Basketball gods don’t reward you like that.”

No, they don’t. But enough about the basketball gods. The only basketball god I saw last night was named Russell Westbrook.

The first three quarters were simply this:

And this:

The C’s finally picked up their defense in tonight’s fourth quarter. There were only two problems: the defense was a few quarters too late, and the offense didn’t come along for the ride. The result was an ugly 89-84 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a loss that never should have happened. Not with Kevin Durant injured.

Westbrook and his scorching hot hand finally ran into the law of averages in the fourth quarter, but his run of bricks was matched by an equally brick-tacious Celtics squad. The Thunder missed their final thirteen field goal attempts, but the C’s missed nine straight of their own. The final miss was a Delonte West three-pointer from the corner that would have tied the game. The Celtics amped-up defense was electric, but they didn’t deserve this win. Not after three quarters of listless play.

Say what you want about the Thunder’s 6-9 three-point shooting clinic being an aberration (they came into the game last in the league in three-point %), but any guard in the NBA can make wide open jumpers. Okay, there are a few who can’t. One Celtic comes to mind. But almost every guard can make wide open jumpers, and that’s what the Thunder were getting. In the fourth quarter the Celtics finally started actively contesting shots, and guess what happened? Bad shooters missed tough shots. That’s kind of what happens, folks. As the defense improves, shooting percentages go down. There were a few Thunder shots that were lucky (I KNOW Royal Ivey didn’t call glass), but for the most part they made the easy shots and missed the difficult ones. It wasn’t rocket science.

Now comes where I break down individual performances. Do you want the good news or bad news first? Okay, we’ll start with the good. Shaq continued to play like a perfect fit. He positioned himself for easy shots, and the Celtics found him. It’s that simple. The Ray-to-Shaq alley was beautiful in the eye of any beholder. Paul Pierce’s dunk was also spectacular. My neighbors are still pissed off after my reaction. Luke Harangody played 21 seconds. That was a blast. Glen Davis drew a few more charges. To be expected. Rondo’s putback slam made him look like Shawn Kemp. Ridiculous. And Delonte West played great defense on Westbrook down the stretch. Good stuff.

Which brings us to the bad news. Why was West in the game down the stretch? Because Rondo hurt his hamstring and couldn’t finish out the game. Plus, Westbrook was abusing him so thoroughly that Bill Simmons tweeted, “Do any other Celts fans think Westbrook drove Rondo to pull Al Czervik’s ‘oooh, my arm, I think its broken!’ routine or am I too cynical?” Simmons is being too cynical. Firstly, Rondo’s as competitive as NBA players come. He’s no Vince Carter. Being torched made Rondo play harder, and he had already picked up the intensity before being forced to the bench. But Westbrook still treated him like a child for most of the night.

The C’s also couldn’t rebound worth a damn. Garnett only mustered two boards, and the C’s were out-rebounded by six caroms. The Thunder are frail inside. That should never happen. One more major flaw: It’s getting to the point where backup point guards eyes light up when they play the Celtics. Eric Maynor (13 minutes, 9 points, 4-6 shooting) is just the latest decent player Nate Robinson allowed to look like an All-Star. But hey, look on the bright side: at least it wasn’t Jose Juan Barea this time! And oh yeah, Glen Davis shot two fer ten. And two fer six from the line.

The Celtics dug in late, but failed to take advantage of opportunities. They enraged me pretty much throughout the entire 48 minutes, and at one point during the fourth quarter (I think it was when Shaq was called for a bogus flagrant foul), I’m pretty sure I was homicidal. Those are the times when I repeatedly whisper “Woo-sah” and remind myself, “Hey, at least it’s only one game.”

To beat an NBA team, even if Kevin Durant misses a game, you have to try for more than one quarter. Or at least, if you only try for one quarter, you can’t make only two field goals in said quarter.

Remember, folks: It’s only one night. Thank God.

(Images via @jose3030)