206 Weekend Tracker: The rebuilding Boston Celtics, Isaiah Thomas trade rumors and Drake's approval

Merry Christmas Week everyone. Another weekend packed with NBA games and solid performances from Pacific Northwest players.

Let's get right into it.

FRIDAY

The trio of Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley and Jeff Green all had solid outings for the Celtics, and helped take down Zach LaVine (7 points on 3-7 shooting) and the Minnesota Timberwolves, 114-98.

Olnyk helped usher in life after Rajon Rondo for the Celtics, by scoring a team high 21 points (8-13 FG). He knocked down two of his four three point attempts, and also added eight rebounds. This last week was Olyknyk's strongest stretch of the season so far, as he scored over 15 points in three of the four games he played in, including a career high 30 points Monday against the 76ers. He also threw down an impressive dunk over two Orlando Magic defenders on Wednesday, set up by a brilliant pump fake drive from the three point line.

The second year big man from Gonzaga has mainly come off the bench this season, as second year coach Brad Stevens has seemed to prefer starting Tyler Zeller at the center position. That's probably due to the larger issue with Olynyk's consistency this season. He has failed to record a single point following a performance of scoring at least 18 points. It's probably unreasonable to expect Olynyk to score 15-20 points per game, but we can hope that he is able to build off of this solid week of production.

Jeff Green and Avery Bradley saw their long time point guard Rajon Rondo shipped to Dallas on Friday, signaling the rebuilding era for the Celtics. Both players had nice performances on Friday. Bradley chipped in 14 points (6-14 FG) and seven assists. Green scored 18 points on nearly an identical performance from the field (6-13 FG). He added two threes, and connected on all four of his attempts from the charity stripe.

There has long been speculation that the Celtics may trade Green this season,  and as A. Sharrod Bailey of Comcast Sportsnet points out, Green is in a similar situation to Rondo. He is 28 years old, and there are questions of whether or not the Celtics will be able to resign him in the off season, as he will likely opt out of his contract.

The Celtics may look to accumulate as many draft picks and shed as much money as possible to clear cap space, in the hopes of pursuing some big time free agents in the 2016 free agent class (headlined by Kevin Durant). However, if the Celtics want to stay semi-competitive in the next few years, and if they believe that Green, who will be a seasoned veteran wing by 2016, will be able to help attract a big free agent in either 2015 or 2016, they may choose to keep Green. It will be interesting to see what happens.

The Clippers and Nuggets game ended up providing a great Seattle-based match up. Nate Robinson stole the show, scoring 20 points in only 16 minutes, going 4-9 from three and 6-11 from the field.This was a classic Nate Robinson game, as he hit some ridiculous threes, and also had some amazing drives to the rim. (Highlights here)

I will never understand how he is able to finish over seven footers. Robinson has had a tough start to the season, he hasn't played over 25 minutes all year, and has scored double digit points a mere four times, so needless to say, it was nice to see Robinson put on a show and help propel the Nuggets to a 109-106 victory.

Jamal Crawford did his part Friday, scoring 20 points on 45% from the field. He connected on just one three point attempt, but knocked down all five of his free throw attempts. Robinson and Crawford are two of the most recognizable players from this area in the NBA today, so it was pretty fun to see both of them have big nights against one another.

SATURDAY

Saturday was a relatively quiet night for the Pacific Northwest, but Isaiah Thomas and Aron Baynes (?!!!) did their part to carry the load.

IT helped the uneven Suns dispatch the lowly Knicks 99-90. He scored 22 points on 7-12 from the field, and also knocked down three trey balls.

It's been a weird season so far for Thomas, after a hot start, it looked as though the Thomas and the Suns, who employ two other stellar point guards in Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, would jell well together. However, the Suns have cooled off and currently find themselves outside of the playoff picture at 15-14, and look to have taken a step back after their break out season last year.

The three point guards don't seem to look entirely comfortable playing together, and Thomas has been the odd man out, averaging just 24.4 minutes per game (Bledsoe and Dragic average 32.8 and 32.3 MPG, respectively). There have been rumblings that the Suns may trade Thomas, and this speculation was fueled when Thomas fired his agent last week. I still think that the Suns can turn it around, and that they have a good chance of wrestling the eighth seed away from the Pelicans, mainly because the Pelicans play in the cutthroat Southwest Division. However, if the Suns can't turn it around by the trade deadline, IT may be on his way out of Phoenix.

Coming off two straight triple overtime losses, the Spurs chose to rest Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, and Patty Mills were also out Saturday, so needless to say, there were quite a few opportunities for the bench players.

Aron Baynes took full advantage of said opportunity, as he notched a double-double. He scored 16 points and adding 10 rebounds. Baynes is known for setting hard screens, boxing out well, and scrapping with players who have superior talent, so it is awesome to see him record a double-double and shoot the ball well. Is Baynes taking 11 shots a game the answer for the Spurs, who have now lost three straight? No, of course not. Though it is awesome when a hard worker like Baynes is rewarded.

SUNDAY

Sunday was another quiet day for the Pacific Northwest, but Terrence Ross did have a nice game. He scored 18 points on 46% from the field, 12 of those points coming from behind the arc. Ross and the Raptors continue to win with the absence of their All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, as their record improved to 22-6 following their 118-108 victory over New York.

Of course, Drake approves.

That's it for me, see you all next time.