WALTHAM – Here’s how the scenario usually unfolds: A player hears his name in high-profile trade rumors. He stays silent, away from the media glare while the 24/7 news cycle descends with all of its brute force and white noise.

The trade is dissected, chopped up and analyzed. The player’s worth is debated and all of his traits both good and bad are held up for public scrutiny. Then it either happens or it doesn’t and that’s when the collateral damage begins.

Will the player handle it graciously and with tact, with the cold-world understanding that it’s a business and life goes on, or will he be angry and bitter and fuel another round of breaking news flashes and hot-button story arcs?

This is not the first time Rajon Rondo has heard his name in trade talks. It’s not even the second. This one was different, however, because it involved Chris Paul and came crashing down in a fiasco that was well beyond either player’s control.

Rondo is different too. Weird, quirky and enigmatic he’s no one’s idea of a media darling despite a razor-sharp mind and the ability to deliver sarcasm as well, if not better, than any hardened press box vulture. Some find this amusing. More find it wearisome.

So, there was great interest in what Rondo had to say after the Celtics conducted something that resembled a practice on the first day of training camp Friday night.

With only nine players available and some of them literally coming on the floor after their paperwork and physical had been completed, it was a surreal enough atmosphere, but Rondo played it cool. He was engaging and he deftly handled all the reporters’ inquiries with just enough of the old Rondo touch.

Someone gingerly approached the circus Thursday night. “What are you talking about?”

The failed Paul trade to the Lakers, he was told. “Oh, I don't know. The thing that happened with him was unfortunate but other than that I'm playing basketball wherever. I'm excited to be here. I'm familiar with this organization and I just want to get better and win a championship.”

Rondo said that he kept an open dialogue with team president Danny Ainge the last week when the executive was allowed to talk with him and pronounced himself satisfied with what took place and especially Ainge’s honesty.

“I don't think they were trying to intentionally ship me but obviously you've got to entertain the calls,” he said. “I'm still here and I'm still here so far.”

He added later, “It bothered me a little but at the end of the day I felt more comfortable because I heard it from [Ainge]. He's a pretty straight-forward guy and he's been honest with me from day one.” 

Did it give him fuel? “No fuel. Fuel is to win a championship.”

Did he feel honored to be included in talks with a great player? “That's what Danny told me. Not a lot of players are in this position, obviously the last two years for me, but this is part of the process. I'm trying to grow as a player and become a better player each day and sometimes my name will be brought up in trade talks. Obviously it was a lot this summer.”

Rondo said he tried to stay out of it. He didn’t watch TV, he claimed, and he stayed off Twitter. But he added that his support system was solid.

“I've had a great summer, one of the best summers of my life,” Rondo said. “You know, nothing happened. Trade talk, there was rumors a lot of things happened but I've been here every day. I've talked to Danny two or three times. You guys may have heard different rumors and they might have been true, he might have been shopping me, but I felt comfortable.” 

There were other things to discuss, as well, like his play at the end of the last season and whether he allowed the Kendrick Perkins trade to rattle him. “No excuses,” he said. “I just didn't play as well as I did in the beginning. Simple as that.”

His elbow is fine. His health is good and his mind is clear. “I may be sensitive,” Rondo said. “I'm human but I don't think that's hurt my game.”

He likes the team too, especially some of the new additions. “The guys we lost we'll miss but it's a business. I could have been one of those guys easily and I still may be but right now we have a good team. I like our starting five. I like the guys we've brought in. Chris Wilcox. I especially like Keyon Dooling.”

Rondo even supplied some – wait for it – humility in the face of a who’s the best point guard in the NBA question.

“Besides myself? Nah, I'm just playing man. I have to feel that way honestly, being in my position,” he said. “I have to feel I'm one of the best. There's a lot of great guys that go out and challenge every night. It's not an easy position to play. I think it's the hardest position to play. You just take your pick. If you want a scoring point guard, right now I'm not the scoring point guard but a guy that's going to run the show, get everyone involved and keep everyone happy.”

Afterward, the reviews from his interrogators were all raves. There will probably be lots of words written about Rondo’s maturity and grace and engaging charisma in the face of such a withering couple of weeks. All that is true, but that supposes any of that was lacking in the first place. 

Rondo opened up a little on Friday. He handled his press duty as well as it could have been handled. He even promised to be a little more accommodating with the media. None of that will matter when the games start for real, but in the court of public opinion, this was a 20-point blowout and Rajon Rondo was the clear winner on Friday.