1) No, having Cousins respect is absolutely critical.
No, I already disproved this idea already. Cousins would be upset if we let Rondo walk because he thinks Rondo gives him a good shot at winning. If Cousins is wrong and the team wins without Rondo, how would anyone in their right mind think Cousins wouldn't be on board and no longer have respect for the franchise.
Again, I'm not disagreeing that having Cousins respect is critical. There's probably only a select few who don't share that feeling, but having a winning team will earn more respect than a losing team. Sure, he might be upset at the beginning, but if it makes us better as a team, I can't see how anyone would argue against it.
If you're not able to make the team better without Rondo, then you obviously keep him, but you don't turn down an opportunity to get better because Cousins will be upset in the short term. If the team is better and wins, Cousins will have more respect than he's ever had for the franchise.
2) but having stature around the LEAGUE is even more critical. Again, people centered just in Sac might legitimately miss this. But Rondo is a league-wide phenomenon and personality. He has a ring, All Star appearances, a rep. Not always a good one. But he is a clear #2 on the "fame" scale to Cuz himself. You want people to come to Sac, whether it be coaches or players? You want TV to tune in? They will for Rondo. Not for DC or our newest scrub of the month candidate. Rondo matters.
Stature isn't as much about names as it is about wins. Players are most likely not coming here because Rondo is our PG. Players will come to play here if we have a good team, and if that good team has Collison as the starting PG so be it. Hell the Heat had Chalmers as their starting PG. Lakers had Fisher. One position doesn't make a team. A team makes a team.
3) Rondo is going to lead the league in assists. For a fourth time. People have apparently very quickly forgotten the half decade before this season when every single year we were down at the very bottom of the league in assists. No creativity at all.
Assists are great. I don't think anyone would knock Rondo on this one. He does a great job at setting up his teammates with easy looks. However, they aren't the end all be all. You just need to be able to score efficiently and play defense. Of the teams that are top 10 in assists this year, 5 of them are below 500. There are many different ways to build a great team.
4) Because Rondo leads the league in assists he buys you a certain amount of bad ballhandling teammates. You are looking for low skill 3 and D players? Well Rondo is a player who buys you those. He can create and find them.
Again, not doubting this logic, but one could also argue that Rondo's tendency to dominate the ball make it difficult to pair him with other players who need the ball in their hands to be effective.
5) Rondo is the experience. He's been to the mountain. Has almost as much playoff experience as the whole rest of the team combined. You want more and more and more of that.
Not doubting his experience. It obviously comes in handy down the stretch.
So again, it comes down to does resigning Rondo make us better next year (now that we have, once again, debunked the 'Cousins will be upset argument'). Again, I'm pretty neutral on Rondo. I can go either way on letting him walk or resigning him. If we are going to keep him, then Gay has to go. To optimize a Cousins/Rondo tandem, you need defenders and shooters in the starting lineup next to them. If you resign Rondo to around 16 mil in the first year, trade Belinelli for cap, trade Koufos/2016 1st for Ariza, trade Gay for T. Evans, & trade Collison/McLemore for Gibson/Snell, that leaves us with $18 mil in cap space. From there, you look to sign Crabbe or C. Lee with your cap space and use the MLE on Aldrich.
PG - Rondo (36 min)/Evans (12 min)/Curry
SG - Lee (26 min)/Evans (22 min)/Snell
SF - Ariza (32 min)/Casspi (16 min)/Anderson
PF - Cauley-Stein (16 min)/Gibson (26 min)/Casspi (6 min)Acy
C - Cousins (36 min)/Cauley-Stein (12 min)/Aldrich
Cousins - 36 min
Rondo - 36 min
Evans - 34 min
Ariza - 32 min
Cauley-Stein - 28 min
Lee - 26 min
Gibson - 26 min
Casspi - 22 min
I'd be excited to root for that team next year.