Danny Ainge weighs in about the Celtics-Pistons trade rumor.

Via Boston.com

“When asked about the rumor this morning during a press conference at the team’s facility in Waltham, Ainge did not offer a denial of the specific report, but strongly indicated he does not expect to deal Rondo, the remarkably talented but erratic 23-year-old point guard.

“We love Rajon and I’m not going to comment on which rumors are true or not true,” said Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations. “We love this kid and I don’t anticipate trading anyone from our core.”

“If you look at a trade rumor and if you think it makes us a better team and helps us to win a championship this year, that’s the first criteria that any trade rumor has to pass — that it has to help us win the championship this year,” he said.

As Wojnarowski noted in the Yahoo report, it is not unusual for a GM to have someone else in the front office float a trade on his behalf, just to provide some level of deniability if a rumor becomes public. To a degree, that’s the approach Ainge took today.

“We’re certainly not doing anything this year to get a draft pick that’s a developmental project that is going to prevent us winning a championship this year,” Ainge said. “I’ve had many conversations. But a rumor that said lower-level executives are talking about a trade rumor pretty much means it doesn’t really have any merit or any value, if it’s not being discussed at the top.“

An almost laughable deal was said to be offered to Detroit from Boston that would have sent Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey.

From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:

“The Boston Celtics appear willing to make major roster changes to balance a chance for a championship run and future financial flexibility.

The Celtics offered Ray Allen(notes) and Rajon Rondo(notes) to the Detroit Pistons for a package that included Richard Hamilton(notes), Tayshaun Prince(notes) and Rodney Stuckey(notes), league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Boston general manager Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars never spoke, but rather the Celtics had a lower-level executive make the pitch to a Pistons official over the past weekend, league sources said. Detroit immediately rejected the idea, and it never advanced to the two top executives speaking about particulars.”

This one makes absolutely no sense for Detroit, why would the Pistons trade away their best three players (and bargaining chips) for an again Allen (with an expiring contract) and Rajon Rondo. I can almost hear Dumars laughing now.

Update: PistonsNation points us toward Kelly Dwyer’s post over at Yahoo that maybe Dumars should reconsider.