Rajon Rondo is barely 26 years old, a three-time All-Star and a veteran of 73 postseason games, several of which were decided by him on days when he was the best player on a floor that included Most Valuable Players and future Hall of Famers. His Game 4 against Cleveland in the 2010 playoffs -- 47 minutes, 29 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists -- remains his masterpiece. It was a stat line equaled by only two players: Oscar Roberston and Wilt Chamberlain.

Rondo is also leading an offense that can’t score consistently and ranks 25th in points scored per 100 possessions. To hear some of the Celtics tell it, their problems are all about turnovers, of which Rondo commits more than anyone else, and not just turnovers, but turnovers of the “home run” type of play, for which Rondo is both renowned and reviled.

Ah, but the Celtics are more than 10 points better offensively when Rondo is in the game as opposed to when he's not. Perhaps the problem is that Rondo has outgrown his veteran teammates. He was asked to take on a larger role in the offense while some of those same veteran teammates worked their way into shape, and he not only did that, he did it while remaining true to his pass-first instincts.

His scoring is up, and so are his field goal and free throw attempts -- but he’s still assisting on almost half the Celtics' made baskets when he’s on the court. He’s also recorded three triple-doubles this year, accounting for a third of those games in the league total this season, which just goes to show his unique all-around ability.

It hasn’t “worked” in the sense that the Celtics are 17-17 and listing along in the final playoff spot in the East. But is that Rondo’s fault or that of a roster that wasn’t built specifically to utilize his talents?

He’s also petulant. Or maybe he’s quirky. He’s difficult, which is another way of saying enigmatic. Is it fair to say that Rondo is "stubborn and high maintenance?"

“No, I don't think that’s fair,” team president Danny Ainge said on The Big Show on Thursday while vehemently denying a report that he was “aggressively” trying to trade Rondo. “I think he's stubborn and he's intelligent is a fair assessment of him. With that, there's higher maintenance, but I don't know a quality player that I've played with that wasn't higher maintenance than your average player." 

Rondo is the most eclectic mix of weird in a league that is full of singular talents, and that seems to be the crux of the issue right now. Obviously, he’s trade bait. Or he’s not.

"Rondo is our best player,” Ainge said. “He's our most important piece of our future. There's no way that we are actively trying to trade Rondo. That makes no sense. There's a difference between some great stuff that we can't refuse because somebody's desperately trying to acquire Rondo. That somebody calls me and says, 'Hey we want Rondo and we're going give you X.' But that's not happening. We're not looking to trade him. I've made zero calls to try to trade him, and I won't."

You can argue about the semantics of not trying to trade Rondo, which Ainge insists he isn’t, and listening to offers, which Ainge readily admits that he does. This is the question that has dogged the Celtics from the time last season ended until now. First, it was the opportunity to try to acquire Chris Paul, a legitimate attempt for a transcendent player that was too good to ignore. It’s also one that looks even more obvious after Paul turned the Clippers into a serious contender in half a season with no practices.

Now it’s the ever-nebulous but omnipresent “next step” that the franchise will make in the post-Big Three era. If this season has taught us anything, it’s that the Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen-Paul Pierce era is coming to a close.

The three, along with Rondo, can no longer carry a team by themselves with minimal help from the supporting cast. That, of course, is not a shock to anyone who’s been paying attention the last few years. It’s also not a surprise to Ainge, who timed the run to end at the stroke of midnight on July 1 when Allen and Garnett’s contracts expire, along with a half-dozen other veteran players brought in mainly for that purpose.

So, Rondo.

Is he part of the solution, a building block for the future based on his age, talent and reasonable contract? Or, is he the most valuable trade asset for all of the above reasons for a rebuilding process that won’t be quick and painless? Even deeper: Are the Celtics confident that they can build around a player like Rondo, considering all of his peculiar talents and personality traits?

“I hate that terminology that we all use: to build around,” Ainge said. “Nobody is that good to build around. You've got to have building blocks, you've got to have a 12-man team, you got to have a starting lineup, you've got to have pieces. No player can do it on their own. My job is to listen to everything. I'm listening to everything. I've got to be ready to react. We have a plan. We have an idea of what are the most likely scenarios to have happen and we've got to be ready to react to put ourselves in position to have things go our way.

“There is no one plan,” he continued. “Nobody has one plan in the NBA. It's too complex. It's too complicated.”

Sounds a lot like Ainge’s point guard. The trade deadline is in two weeks.