Rajon Rondo is still completely out of the Chicago Bulls' rotation, and on Wednesday the guard talked about his New Year's Eve meeting with executives Gar Forman and John Paxson for the first time. From ESPN's Nick Friedell:
"It went OK," Rondo told ESPN.com. "It really wasn't a clear-cut message [from Forman and Paxson]. We'll talk again."
Rondo said after a Dec. 31 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks that he would "absolutely" look to move on from the Bulls if he wasn't playing, but when asked Wednesday if Forman and Paxson were open to helping him find another team to play for, Rondo did not get into specifics.
"I'm leaving that talk for my agent [Bill Duffy] and for them guys [Forman and Paxson] to talk," Rondo said.
Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg has been noncommittal about using Rondo off the bench since Rondo's demotion, repeatedly saying "we'll see," when the possibility is discussed. Rondo used the same terminology when asked if he would be open to coming off the bench.
"We'll see," Rondo said. "We'll see. I just want to work on my game and continue to get better."
If you're a Bulls fan hoping for some clarity here, you're out of luck. Rondo is skilled at the art of talking without saying anything, and that is exactly what happened here.
Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg has repeatedly praised Rondo for how he has handled the benching, and guard Dwyane Wade said Wednesday that Rondo is "in a great place with his teammates." As for what kind of place he's in with the organization, it doesn't look so great.
Rondo signed a two-year, $27.4 million contract with the Bulls in July, but only $3 million of next season's salary is guaranteed. This was essentially an experiment, and Chicago's acquisition of Michael Carter-Williams in the preseason could be seen as insurance in case it failed. If it turns out that Rondo has played his last game for the Bulls, then it failed even more quickly than pessimists expected.
For Chicago, the Rondo problem is part of a bigger issue: Where is this team going? Jimmy Butler has been phenomenal and Wade has, by all accounts, helped him get to that level. There's not nearly enough shooting on this roster, though, and that was obvious in the offseason. At 17-18, the Bulls can make the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference, but it's not hard to imagine Paxson and Forman sitting at a podium at the end of the year and saying that they need to get younger and faster. Which is exactly what they said months ago, before signing Rondo and Wade.
