CelticsStrong
Celtics Basketball => Celtics Talk => Topic started by: TheBigTicket23 on January 30, 2013, 01:12:07 PM
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Lee on twitter:
'Somebody Please tell me who Zach Lowe is??? If your going to report anything about me or go on shows talking about meINTERVIEW ME FIRST!!'
Makes sense, he is working his ass of and is showing really good motivation lately, he is the one new guy that is the closest to the tough celtic mentality
#Bleed Green
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Lee on twitter:
'Somebody Please tell me who Zach Lowe is??? If your going to report anything about me or go on shows talking about meINTERVIEW ME FIRST!!'
Makes sense, he is working his ass of and is showing really good motivation lately, he is the one new guy that is the closest to the tough celtic mentality
#Bleed Green
OMG. sounds like the MSM and how they make up stories to fit a narrative when they have no actual interest in reporting the truth or facts. sigh.
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What else is he supposed to say? Seriously, if guys didn't have gripes about one guy dribbling the ball all the time while playing in an offense ranked 28th in the league, I would worry that they had been lobotomized.
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He said she said i didnt say he didnt say. All a bunch of malarkey no matter which way you look at it.
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Personally, I never believed it anyway. These so called journalist always try to "one-up" the next guy by stating crap that they label a "scoop". 90% of it is just gibberish and individuals trying to make some sorta name for themselves. Anyone can make up a rumor and once it hits twitter....forget about it.
Here, I have one....Jeff Green says he wishes Pierce would just go ahead and get traded already so that he could finally shine. He said he's tired of waiting and wants to be the man NOW! ;D
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What else is he supposed to say? Seriously, if guys didn't have gripes about one guy dribbling the ball all the time while playing in an offense ranked 28th in the league, I would worry that they had been lobotomized.
So you'd rather believe the blogger who heard some whispers through "back channels", as opposed to the actual player? That seems logical.
How quickly we forget that Rondo played a large role in recruiting Lee here to begin with. I'm pretty sure he was familiar with Rondo's playing style before he signed here.
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These things always get blown out of proportion, even if there is truth to it, anyways. All it takes is one frustrating game, Lee, out of frustration, vents to someone about how he is being used. Then it goes through the grapevine, and suddenly he is miserable and there is a rift in the lockerroom.
Everyone gets frustrated at their job from time to time. It doesn't mean that your feelings in that moment carry over beyond that.
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
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What else is he supposed to say? Seriously, if guys didn't have gripes about one guy dribbling the ball all the time while playing in an offense ranked 28th in the league, I would worry that they had been lobotomized.
So you'd rather believe the blogger who heard some whispers through "back channels", as opposed to the actual player? That seems logical.
How quickly we forget that Rondo played a large role in recruiting Lee here to begin with. I'm pretty sure he was familiar with Rondo's playing style before he signed here.
I think he's assuming that giving the ball to Lee and Terry and Pierce more on offense will transform the Celts into a great offensive rebounding team, since that's the area we'd need to improve on the most to see the kind of improvements in our efficiency he's looking for.
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Whether the rumor is true or not, this was expected.
Lee doesn't want to mess with team chemistry, so of course he's going to deny it.
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I think he's assuming that giving the ball to Lee and Terry and Pierce more on offense will transform the Celts into a great offensive rebounding team, since that's the area we'd need to improve on the most to see the kind of improvements in our efficiency he's looking for.
Well, you know what they say... you can't get an offensive rebound unless you brick a bad shot first.
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What else is he supposed to say? Seriously, if guys didn't have gripes about one guy dribbling the ball all the time while playing in an offense ranked 28th in the league, I would worry that they had been lobotomized.
So you'd rather believe the blogger who heard some whispers through "back channels", as opposed to the actual player? That seems logical.
How quickly we forget that Rondo played a large role in recruiting Lee here to begin with. I'm pretty sure he was familiar with Rondo's playing style before he signed here.
Wasn't Rondo familiar with Terry's style of play too? Then why was Terry playing like Ray Allen, which is one of the moronic things I've seen. Terry has been one of the game's best shooters off the dribble for over a decade. When he signed here, Doc and Danny specifically talked about needing to bring in another guy who could create for himself and others off the dribble. What's happened instead is the complete opposite. Terry's taken a whooping 9 shots off the dribble after using a screen all season while playing with Rondo. 9 shots! And he's started and played with Rondo a lot. There was more than enough possessions in a game for Rondo to give up some ballhandling duties and let Terry play like himself but that never happened.
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Whether the rumor is true or not, this was expected.
Lee doesn't want to mess with team chemistry, so of course he's going to deny it.
Best part is that he didn't even deny it.
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Those type of rumors are meaningless without any context or even an actual quote. Bass also was clearly just responding out of frustration that he's not playing up to last seasons standards. None of this is news. Props to Courtney for being on top of responding regardless.
PS: anyone else thinking bass bounces back hard once his role off the bench is reestablished?
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Whether the rumor is true or not, this was expected.
Lee doesn't want to mess with team chemistry, so of course he's going to deny it.
Best part is that he didn't even deny it.
He asked Lowe that if he's going to report anything (or in this instance, quote) on him, make sure to interview him first.
Please explain to me how that is not denying it.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
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He asked Lowe that if he's going to report anything (or in this instance, quote) on him, make sure to interview him first.
Please explain to me how that is not denying it.
You just did yourself. He wants Lowe to contact him first before he runs his mouth; that's not the same thing as denying what he said in the first place. It's a non-denial denial, Dwight Howard style.
He may in fact deny it, but he hasn't yet.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
He never really denied saying it, he just said that he should have been contacted, before it was put out there. Because what Lowe suggested could have been a major leap, even if Lee had said something.
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Lee played very poorly earlier in the year, and often looked a little lost out there. Not a surprise that he might gripe about how the offense is run. And not a surprise that if he did gripe, he'd be annoyed to hear about it through the media.
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What else is he supposed to say? Seriously, if guys didn't have gripes about one guy dribbling the ball all the time while playing in an offense ranked 28th in the league, I would worry that they had been lobotomized.
So you'd rather believe the blogger who heard some whispers through "back channels", as opposed to the actual player? That seems logical.
How quickly we forget that Rondo played a large role in recruiting Lee here to begin with. I'm pretty sure he was familiar with Rondo's playing style before he signed here.
Wasn't Rondo familiar with Terry's style of play too? Then why was Terry playing like Ray Allen, which is one of the moronic things I've seen. Terry has been one of the game's best shooters off the dribble for over a decade. When he signed here, Doc and Danny specifically talked about needing to bring in another guy who could create for himself and others off the dribble. What's happened instead is the complete opposite. Terry's taken a whooping 9 shots off the dribble after using a screen all season while playing with Rondo. 9 shots! And he's started and played with Rondo a lot. There was more than enough possessions in a game for Rondo to give up some ballhandling duties and let Terry play like himself but that never happened.
It never happened in the games Rondo missed due to injury or suspension either. They tried running the ball through Terry but your expected improvements to the offense failed to materialized. Maybe Rondo was somehow able to control the ball from his living room sofa?
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The unhappy courtney lee comment is much ado about nothing. I would be unhappy with my team's offense if I was a Boston Celtic. It has been bad and predictable for a while.
Rondo had been a little too ball dominating. It'll be interesting to see how creative Doc, Lee, Pierce, Terry etc will be without Rondo.
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He asked Lowe that if he's going to report anything (or in this instance, quote) on him, make sure to interview him first.
Please explain to me how that is not denying it.
You just did yourself. He wants Lowe to contact him first before he runs his mouth; that's not the same thing as denying what he said in the first place. It's a non-denial denial, Dwight Howard style.
He may in fact deny it, but he hasn't yet.
I wouldn't put this in Dwight Howard territory at all.
It could be an issue of interpretation. Lee could have expressed frustration once, after a particularly bad game (or play!), and then let it go. Or, this could be a deep, long-running issue. Or anywhere in between.
I view this as asking for an opportunity to place the remark in context.
In any event, we are clearly in full-blown silly season here as the trade deadline approaches.
Sometimes I wonder whether the internet has actually reduced what we know at any given point in time. There's so much hyperbole and over-reaction.
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Whether the rumor is true or not, this was expected.
Lee doesn't want to mess with team chemistry, so of course he's going to deny it.
Best part is that he didn't even deny it.
He asked Lowe that if he's going to report anything (or in this instance, quote) on him, make sure to interview him first.
Please explain to me how that is not denying it.
Character limits and implied meanings, bro.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
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Trade him!!
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He's not going to come out and say its true just for pr sake.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
I beg to differ.
My guess is he vented at someone about something and it got to a very credible reporter who reported it. The first thing Lee is going to do to keep things cool in the locker room is say he didn't say it.
If he really didn't, fine.
If he did, shut up, do your job and I hope Danny ships your butt out of town.
I still stand by my hypothesis that there is something about Lee that team's don't like and that's why he's always being shipped out of town. JJ Reddick is basically the same player. Never been traded.
Orlando kept Reddick over Lee. Lousi Williams another SG like Lee, one team for many years before going to Atlanta. Wes Matthews, Gordon Haywood, Danny Green. Young players that have spent most of their careers with one team.
There's a reason for that and there's a reason guys like Lee, Chris Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Jamal Crawford, Marco Belinelli, Willie Green and others bounce all over the place. I think it has to due with personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence.
Heck, look at Orlando. They had Lee and Reddick and decided to keep one and get rid of another in a trade. Why keep Reddick?
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
I beg to differ.
My guess is he vented at someone about something and it got to a very credible reporter who reported it. The first thing Lee is going to do to keep things cool in the locker room is say he didn't say it.
If he really didn't, fine.
If he did, shut up, do your job and I hope Danny ships your butt out of town.
I still stand by my hypothesis that there is something about Lee that team's don't like and that's why he's always being shipped out of town. JJ Reddick is basically the same player. Never been traded.
Orlando kept Reddick over Lee. Lousi Williams another SG like Lee, one team for many years before going to Atlanta. Wes Matthews, Gordon Haywood, Danny Green. Young players that have spent most of their careers with one team.
There's a reason for that and there's a reason guys like Lee, Chris Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Jamal Crawford, Marco Belinelli, Willie Green and others bounce all over the place. I think it has to due with personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence.
Heck, look at Orlando. They had Lee and Reddick and decided to keep one and get rid of another in a trade. Why keep Reddick?
Exactly, agree 100% with your assessment... no wonder Iverson stayed with Philly for 10 years.
Eddie House? Locker room cancer.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
Rondo isn't a ballhog hes only doing what doc asked him to do but this situation reminds me a little of the kobe situation. Kobes teammates stand around like zombies when kobe is ballhogging and shooting a bunch of shots.
When kobe actually passes and makes the team feel like apart of the offense they put more energy in getting open on the offensive side of the ball and they put more energy on defense. You'd be surprised how much more you try when you feel like you're apart of the team.
Rondo does pass but he also dominates the ball too much. Guys don't really try to do much on offense besides shoot the open shot once or if they get it. When rondo isn't out there guys definitely look more ALIVE for better or worse they're more into it.
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Man, imagine the reaction if Tanguay or Washburn broke this "story"
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
I beg to differ.
My guess is he vented at someone about something and it got to a very credible reporter who reported it. The first thing Lee is going to do to keep things cool in the locker room is say he didn't say it.
If he really didn't, fine.
If he did, shut up, do your job and I hope Danny ships your butt out of town.
I still stand by my hypothesis that there is something about Lee that team's don't like and that's why he's always being shipped out of town. JJ Reddick is basically the same player. Never been traded.
Orlando kept Reddick over Lee. Lousi Williams another SG like Lee, one team for many years before going to Atlanta. Wes Matthews, Gordon Haywood, Danny Green. Young players that have spent most of their careers with one team.
There's a reason for that and there's a reason guys like Lee, Chris Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Jamal Crawford, Marco Belinelli, Willie Green and others bounce all over the place. I think it has to due with personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence.
Heck, look at Orlando. They had Lee and Reddick and decided to keep one and get rid of another in a trade. Why keep Reddick?
That is something that you nor I will ever know. Maybe Washington had no interest in Reddick? You can't always choose the guys you send out in a trade. You may say it was because Lee is not a good teammate, I would say its because the Magic needed to pacify Dwight and acquire a big name player in Vince Carter (and a fairly unknown at the time Ryan Anderson) and Washington wanted the lesser paid and higher potential Courtney Lee in return for him. It certainly wasn't Rafer Alston or Tony Battie that the Wizards were making the trade around. No idea who's right... We can only have our own opinions.
Why did NJ trade him away? This from nba.com: "Whichever way he decides to go, new general manager Billy King now has great flexibility going forward, and an opportunity to do next summer what New Jersey didn't get done this summer -- sign or trade for a superstar." This was before they acquired Deron Williams and were trying to do anything possible to get Carmelo to get over the immense failure that was the Summer of 2012.
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
I beg to differ.
My guess is he vented at someone about something and it got to a very credible reporter who reported it. The first thing Lee is going to do to keep things cool in the locker room is say he didn't say it.
If he really didn't, fine.
If he did, shut up, do your job and I hope Danny ships your butt out of town.
I still stand by my hypothesis that there is something about Lee that team's don't like and that's why he's always being shipped out of town. JJ Reddick is basically the same player. Never been traded.
Orlando kept Reddick over Lee. Lousi Williams another SG like Lee, one team for many years before going to Atlanta. Wes Matthews, Gordon Haywood, Danny Green. Young players that have spent most of their careers with one team.
There's a reason for that and there's a reason guys like Lee, Chris Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Jamal Crawford, Marco Belinelli, Willie Green and others bounce all over the place. I think it has to due with personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence.
Heck, look at Orlando. They had Lee and Reddick and decided to keep one and get rid of another in a trade. Why keep Reddick?
Maybe the team Lee was traded to valued him more highly than Reddick (Lee is the better defender)? There are many reasons a person could be traded and it doesn't have to do with personality, the teams who Lee was traded to probably thought he was just what they needed at the time, things change. This last trade (to us) doesn't even count b/c Lee could have gone to another team if he wanted but he chose to do a S&T. We got Lee b/c we needed his services, it wasn't b/c Houston was trying to get rid of him b/c he had a bad attitude, he was a free agent. We haven't heard one thing about him that would suggest he was a problem in any of the ways you mentioned (personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence). People with those problems would have surely been aired out by now... no way Lee has escaped being blasted in the media if he didn't have those problems.
I don't know if Lee said it or not but why does him being traded multiple times mean he is somehow a bad guy/someone who causes problems?
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This last trade (to us) doesn't even count b/c Lee could have gone to another team if he wanted but he chose to do a S&T.
The first trade doesn't count either because the Nets are morons.
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Courtney's game may be affected by Rondo's game, true
but that doesn't mean he doesn't like Rondo. I mean its true that Rondo holds the ball too much and too long and a lot of people's games are affected...people who usually create their own shots like Terry, KG, Pierce, Courtney etc
but Rondo did make a lot of people's life easier by his penetrating and passing ie: Jeff Green, Bass and others.
But I doubt Courtney Lee was really unhappy here with Rondo. We have seen him work his butt off day in and day out. His defense was there. His offense was struggling in the beginning of the season, but now its looking better now
As I said in my last thread...don't blow it up, this team can still do damage...
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
Ah, but a cast with a post game and a cast that rebounds the ball on the offensive end. It makes a huge difference.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
Ah, but a cast with a post game and a cast that rebounds the ball on the offensive end. It makes a huge difference.
I'm still trying to get past "weaker supporting cast". Take Rondo and Paul off of the rosters and I don't know that I'd go with the Celts as the stronger team, especially on offense.
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I could see how Rondo's style could grate on some people on this team - Pierce and Terry especially - but I don't see how Lee would be one of them. He has always been a low-usage player who gets his points on spot-up jumpshots and in transition. That's exactly how he's been used this year.
Not sure what there would have been to gripe about in his case. Unless Doc and Danny promised him a larger role in the offense to get him here, which would have been foolish on their part - he's most useful in the role he's played in the last couple of months.
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What else is he supposed to say? Seriously, if guys didn't have gripes about one guy dribbling the ball all the time while playing in an offense ranked 28th in the league, I would worry that they had been lobotomized.
So you'd rather believe the blogger who heard some whispers through "back channels", as opposed to the actual player? That seems logical.
How quickly we forget that Rondo played a large role in recruiting Lee here to begin with. I'm pretty sure he was familiar with Rondo's playing style before he signed here.
What if it was true?
If so, what would you expect him to say? Nobody wants to own up to looking like a little b-
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Via Scott Souza's twitter https://twitter.com/scott_souza
"#Celtics guard Courtney Lee denies 'report' that he was unhappy playing alongside Rajon Rondo in offense before Rondo's injury."
"#Celtics guard Courtney Lee pointed out he was backing up Rajon Rondo of late, so wasn't playing with him enough to have opinion on matter."
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
LAC has a much more versatile roster. All the offensive weapons they have, it'd be pretty tough for even Vinny Del Negro to screw up.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
Ah, but a cast with a post game and a cast that rebounds the ball on the offensive end. It makes a huge difference.
Yeah, the interior offensive game makes a HUGE difference. It is all about attacking the rim. Something we just don't do, given the big men we have been putting on the floor.
This discussion inspired me to look at some numbers comparing the Celtics' offense to the Clippers' offense:
First, on 'pounding the ball'. Here is the shot-clock usage of the two teams:
| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Secs | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| 0-10 | 37% | 51.6% | 58% | 30.7 | | 39% | 58.5% | 60% | 37.0 |
| 11-15 | 25% | 50.1% | 68% | 20.4 | | 23% | 50.9% | 65% | 18.7 |
| 16-20 | 24% | 46.6% | 68% | 17.9 | | 22% | 46.8% | 62% | 16.3 |
| 21+ | 14% | 44.1% | 59% | 9.8 | | 17% | 43.7% | 59% | 12.0 |
The 'Att%' is the percentage of shots made that deep into the clock. As you can see, both teams take shots with a nearly identical shot-clock usage profile. The big difference is that the Clippers have a huge advantage in eFG% (and thus points) on shots made in the first 10 seconds. These are probably due to more fast-break and alley-oop plays.
Now, we move on and look at shot-type:
| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Shot | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| Jump | 71% | 44.5% | 70% | 50.9 | | 68% | 46.7% | 65% | 51.9 |
| Close | 24% | 57.5% | 48% | 22.3 | | 24% | 57.6% | 55% | 22.7 |
| Dunk | 3% | 88.7% | 74% | 4.6 | | 5% | 92.1% | 72% | 8.1 |
| Tips | 1% | 40.0% | 0% | 0.9 | | 2% | 42.3% | 0% | 1.4 |
| All | 100% | 49.0% | 63% | 78.8 | | 100% | 51.7% | 62% | 84.1 |
And there it is,plain as day: The vast bulk of the difference between the two teams' scoring is coming almost entirely on dunks.
I've said it before: We miss having Wilcox in our offense soooo bad.
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
I beg to differ.
My guess is he vented at someone about something and it got to a very credible reporter who reported it. The first thing Lee is going to do to keep things cool in the locker room is say he didn't say it.
If he really didn't, fine.
If he did, shut up, do your job and I hope Danny ships your butt out of town.
I still stand by my hypothesis that there is something about Lee that team's don't like and that's why he's always being shipped out of town. JJ Reddick is basically the same player. Never been traded.
Orlando kept Reddick over Lee. Lousi Williams another SG like Lee, one team for many years before going to Atlanta. Wes Matthews, Gordon Haywood, Danny Green. Young players that have spent most of their careers with one team.
There's a reason for that and there's a reason guys like Lee, Chris Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Jamal Crawford, Marco Belinelli, Willie Green and others bounce all over the place. I think it has to due with personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence.
Heck, look at Orlando. They had Lee and Reddick and decided to keep one and get rid of another in a trade. Why keep Reddick?
That is something that you nor I will ever know. Maybe Washington had no interest in Reddick? You can't always choose the guys you send out in a trade. You may say it was because Lee is not a good teammate, I would say its because the Magic needed to pacify Dwight and acquire a big name player in Vince Carter (and a fairly unknown at the time Ryan Anderson) and Washington wanted the lesser paid and higher potential Courtney Lee in return for him. It certainly wasn't Rafer Alston or Tony Battie that the Wizards were making the trade around. No idea who's right... We can only have our own opinions.
Why did NJ trade him away? This from nba.com: "Whichever way he decides to go, new general manager Billy King now has great flexibility going forward, and an opportunity to do next summer what New Jersey didn't get done this summer -- sign or trade for a superstar." This was before they acquired Deron Williams and were trying to do anything possible to get Carmelo to get over the immense failure that was the Summer of 2012.
Agreed. I think it's reading WAY too much into supposed comments heard like 4th person. Lee could've been upset at what happened during a particular game we lost. As another poster said, Lee could've been upset at the results of a gameplan and not Rondo himself.
I'm seeing a lot of unnecessary bluster over virtually nothing. We don't know all the circumstances around his movement. Lee is a good player. He's not great, but he's very good and sometimes teams deal from a position of strength to upgrade their roster. It happens sometimes. Why keep Redick? How about "he's cheaper"? Staying with one team for your career doesn't mean anything about your personality, coachability or anything. Ask DeMarcus Cousins, Josh Smith, or Dwight Howard.
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The sound you're hearing right now is nickagneta's retreat. After being so quick to bury him under an avalanche of negative critique about how Lee doesn't have the right to say anything. As it turns out, maybe he never did.
I beg to differ.
My guess is he vented at someone about something and it got to a very credible reporter who reported it. The first thing Lee is going to do to keep things cool in the locker room is say he didn't say it.
If he really didn't, fine.
If he did, shut up, do your job and I hope Danny ships your butt out of town.
I still stand by my hypothesis that there is something about Lee that team's don't like and that's why he's always being shipped out of town. JJ Reddick is basically the same player. Never been traded.
Orlando kept Reddick over Lee. Lousi Williams another SG like Lee, one team for many years before going to Atlanta. Wes Matthews, Gordon Haywood, Danny Green. Young players that have spent most of their careers with one team.
There's a reason for that and there's a reason guys like Lee, Chris Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Jamal Crawford, Marco Belinelli, Willie Green and others bounce all over the place. I think it has to due with personality, coachability, intelligence, and locker room presence.
Heck, look at Orlando. They had Lee and Reddick and decided to keep one and get rid of another in a trade. Why keep Reddick?
That is something that you nor I will ever know. Maybe Washington had no interest in Reddick? You can't always choose the guys you send out in a trade. You may say it was because Lee is not a good teammate, I would say its because the Magic needed to pacify Dwight and acquire a big name player in Vince Carter (and a fairly unknown at the time Ryan Anderson) and Washington wanted the lesser paid and higher potential Courtney Lee in return for him. It certainly wasn't Rafer Alston or Tony Battie that the Wizards were making the trade around. No idea who's right... We can only have our own opinions.
Why did NJ trade him away? This from nba.com: "Whichever way he decides to go, new general manager Billy King now has great flexibility going forward, and an opportunity to do next summer what New Jersey didn't get done this summer -- sign or trade for a superstar." This was before they acquired Deron Williams and were trying to do anything possible to get Carmelo to get over the immense failure that was the Summer of 2012.
Agreed. I think it's reading WAY too much into supposed comments heard like 4th person. Lee could've been upset at what happened during a particular game we lost. As another poster said, Lee could've been upset at the results of a gameplan and not Rondo himself.
I'm seeing a lot of unnecessary bluster over virtually nothing. We don't know all the circumstances around his movement. Lee is a good player. He's not great, but he's very good and sometimes teams deal from a position of strength to upgrade their roster. It happens sometimes. Why keep Redick? How about "he's cheaper"? Staying with one team for your career doesn't mean anything about your personality, coachability or anything. Ask DeMarcus Cousins, Josh Smith, or Dwight Howard.
When you have gobs of talent or are a superstar, personality problems, locker room problems, coachability and such are overlooked when it comes time to decide to trade you or not. When you are a middle of the road, role playing talent, such things are not overlooked.
While I might not be right about Lee, let's not start acting that what I just said isn't true. Why is Nate and Baby gone? Personality, coachability and locker room headaches.
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| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Shot | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| Jump | 71% | 44.5% | 70% | 50.9 | | 68% | 46.7% | 65% | 51.9 |
| Close | 24% | 57.5% | 48% | 22.3 | | 24% | 57.6% | 55% | 22.7 |
| Dunk | 3% | 88.7% | 74% | 4.6 | | 5% | 92.1% | 72% | 8.1 |
| Tips | 1% | 40.0% | 0% | 0.9 | | 2% | 42.3% | 0% | 1.4 |
| All | 100% | 49.0% | 63% | 78.8 | | 100% | 51.7% | 62% | 84.1 |
And there it is,plain as day: The vast bulk of the difference between the two teams' scoring is coming almost entirely on dunks.
I've said it before: We miss having Wilcox in our offense soooo bad.
Another good post. I agree with you that the offense has missed Wilcox, and as tonight showed, he can have a serious impact on our offense.
However, I don't think it can be reduced to just that factor; it's not just that we lack Blake Griffin. It's also that Chris Paul has a much more dynamic game than Rondo. For one, his shooting is more respected than Rondo's. In some ways this is irrational because Rondo is actuallly a better shooter from the 10-20 range, but teams don't fear Rondo from that range like they do Paul, which tends to muck up the spacing and doesn't create those little slices of space that create openings at the hoop. Also, even though Rondo is Paul's equal in making quick decisions and pinpoint passes, he's worse at a perhaps better skill: using hesitations and patience to throw to freeze the defenders. All these things come together in the little elbow postup the Clippers run for Paul. He's so versatile as a shooter and passer, with patience and quickness, that he creates a half dozen or so possibilities for the offense. Rondo doesn't have that yet.
Another factor here, I think, is that Celtics sets often start too far out from the hoop. The Celtics just don't really have plays like Paul's elbow postup that start 15 feet from the basket; they are usually more like 22 feet away.
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Re: Lee alledgedly being a headache, poor lockerroom presence, and that's why he was moved:
I do think guys get moved because of lockerroom problems. An extreme case is Delonte West. We could use the crap out of 'head on straight' Delonte right now. But a few days ago, in a story on ESPN as a footnote, it said that the Cs had no interest in West because of the headache he was the last time around.
But there is another side too; sometimes players. Are extremely useful, but have a limited upside, so teams pass them around when they have an upgrade in their sights, or acquire them as stopgaps when they're in a pinch. They're like one of those manual lawnmowers, if you can get a riding mower, or even one of those self-propeled push mowers, that's great, but if you've only got a weedwacker and you gotta cut your lawn, they'll do in a pinch. That, to me, is what Courtney Lee is.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
Ah, but a cast with a post game and a cast that rebounds the ball on the offensive end. It makes a huge difference.
I'm still trying to get past "weaker supporting cast". Take Rondo and Paul off of the rosters and I don't know that I'd go with the Celts as the stronger team, especially on offense.
It's definitely a subjective argument Tim, but I would take the celtics supporting cast. And I did say "equal or weaker", not necessarily weaker which was an acknowledgment that I don't think the clippers supporting cast is definitively weaker, but think they are roughly equal and if I were to give either team the edge, I'd give it to the celitcs.
Nick, I agree with the sentiment of what your statement is saying. But not to the extent where Griffin + Jordan (a pretty limited offensive player) vs. Bass + KG is the sole difference between 4th and 26th in the NBA. And that's leaving out that the celtics are significantly more talented at the wing.
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I guarantee Lee will become MUCH happier with his time in Boston over the next few months. He's now found himself in a key starting role with some nice ball handling responsibility. Him, Jeff Green, Avery Bradley, and Jason Terry will now be allowed to do more than camp out for corner three's.
The Celtics transition game WITHOUT Rondo will allow the team's young players to flourish.
(http://binaryapi.ap.org/22d7cb9f69a94bccbf029a3798075c04/940x.jpg)
Tommy sounded like he was living in a dream last night... and i was right there with him.
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| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Shot | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| Jump | 71% | 44.5% | 70% | 50.9 | | 68% | 46.7% | 65% | 51.9 |
| Close | 24% | 57.5% | 48% | 22.3 | | 24% | 57.6% | 55% | 22.7 |
| Dunk | 3% | 88.7% | 74% | 4.6 | | 5% | 92.1% | 72% | 8.1 |
| Tips | 1% | 40.0% | 0% | 0.9 | | 2% | 42.3% | 0% | 1.4 |
| All | 100% | 49.0% | 63% | 78.8 | | 100% | 51.7% | 62% | 84.1 |
And there it is,plain as day: The vast bulk of the difference between the two teams' scoring is coming almost entirely on dunks.
I've said it before: We miss having Wilcox in our offense soooo bad.
Another good post. I agree with you that the offense has missed Wilcox, and as tonight showed, he can have a serious impact on our offense.
However, I don't think it can be reduced to just that factor; it's not just that we lack Blake Griffin. It's also that Chris Paul has a much more dynamic game than Rondo. For one, his shooting is more respected than Rondo's. In some ways this is irrational because Rondo is actuallly a better shooter from the 10-20 range, but teams don't fear Rondo from that range like they do Paul, which tends to muck up the spacing and doesn't create those little slices of space that create openings at the hoop. Also, even though Rondo is Paul's equal in making quick decisions and pinpoint passes, he's worse at a perhaps better skill: using hesitations and patience to throw to freeze the defenders. All these things come together in the little elbow postup the Clippers run for Paul. He's so versatile as a shooter and passer, with patience and quickness, that he creates a half dozen or so possibilities for the offense. Rondo doesn't have that yet.
Another factor here, I think, is that Celtics sets often start too far out from the hoop. The Celtics just don't really have plays like Paul's elbow postup that start 15 feet from the basket; they are usually more like 22 feet away.
Because defenders know that Paul is willing to shoot or pass at any moment, they feel that more than not RR will look to pass. So even though RR is shooting better... everyone knows he doesn't really WANT to shoot it... so if I'm the defender, I believe he is going to pass at all times, sure he will mostly get 10-14 or so pts a night but I take away more points by focusing on helping on other players he most likely wants to pass to (could also keep him from driving in/blow past people b/c of the clog inside).
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
Ah, but a cast with a post game and a cast that rebounds the ball on the offensive end. It makes a huge difference.
I'm still trying to get past "weaker supporting cast". Take Rondo and Paul off of the rosters and I don't know that I'd go with the Celts as the stronger team, especially on offense.
It's definitely a subjective argument Tim, but I would take the celtics supporting cast. And I did say "equal or weaker", not necessarily weaker which was an acknowledgment that I don't think the clippers supporting cast is definitively weaker, but think they are roughly equal and if I were to give either team the edge, I'd give it to the celitcs.
Nick, I agree with the sentiment of what your statement is saying. But not to the extent where Griffin + Jordan (a pretty limited offensive player) vs. Bass + KG is the sole difference between 4th and 26th in the NBA. And that's leaving out that the celtics are significantly more talented at the wing.
Jordan and Griffin combined, average 2 more offensive rebounds per game than does KG and Bass combined. KG and Bass' combined TS% is about 4% points less than Griffin and Jordan's combined TS%. I think that is going to effect a team's offensive efficiency by possibly as many as a couple points. A couple of points higher in team offensive efficiency could move the Celtics up to having a middle of the road offense.
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Love threads that virtually everyone makes a good comment.
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| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Shot | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| Jump | 71% | 44.5% | 70% | 50.9 | | 68% | 46.7% | 65% | 51.9 |
| Close | 24% | 57.5% | 48% | 22.3 | | 24% | 57.6% | 55% | 22.7 |
| Dunk | 3% | 88.7% | 74% | 4.6 | | 5% | 92.1% | 72% | 8.1 |
| Tips | 1% | 40.0% | 0% | 0.9 | | 2% | 42.3% | 0% | 1.4 |
| All | 100% | 49.0% | 63% | 78.8 | | 100% | 51.7% | 62% | 84.1 |
And there it is,plain as day: The vast bulk of the difference between the two teams' scoring is coming almost entirely on dunks.
I've said it before: We miss having Wilcox in our offense soooo bad.
Another good post. I agree with you that the offense has missed Wilcox, and as tonight showed, he can have a serious impact on our offense.
However, I don't think it can be reduced to just that factor; it's not just that we lack Blake Griffin. It's also that Chris Paul has a much more dynamic game than Rondo. For one, his shooting is more respected than Rondo's. In some ways this is irrational because Rondo is actuallly a better shooter from the 10-20 range, but teams don't fear Rondo from that range like they do Paul, which tends to muck up the spacing and doesn't create those little slices of space that create openings at the hoop. Also, even though Rondo is Paul's equal in making quick decisions and pinpoint passes, he's worse at a perhaps better skill: using hesitations and patience to throw to freeze the defenders. All these things come together in the little elbow postup the Clippers run for Paul. He's so versatile as a shooter and passer, with patience and quickness, that he creates a half dozen or so possibilities for the offense. Rondo doesn't have that yet.
Another factor here, I think, is that Celtics sets often start too far out from the hoop. The Celtics just don't really have plays like Paul's elbow postup that start 15 feet from the basket; they are usually more like 22 feet away.
Because defenders know that Paul is willing to shoot or pass at any moment, they feel that more than not RR will look to pass. So even though RR is shooting better... everyone knows he doesn't really WANT to shoot it... so if I'm the defender, I believe he is going to pass at all times, sure he will mostly get 10-14 or so pts a night but I take away more points by focusing on helping on other players he most likely wants to pass to (could also keep him from driving in/blow past people b/c of the clog inside).
Chris Paul and Rondo take the same number of shots a game.
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| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Shot | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| Jump | 71% | 44.5% | 70% | 50.9 | | 68% | 46.7% | 65% | 51.9 |
| Close | 24% | 57.5% | 48% | 22.3 | | 24% | 57.6% | 55% | 22.7 |
| Dunk | 3% | 88.7% | 74% | 4.6 | | 5% | 92.1% | 72% | 8.1 |
| Tips | 1% | 40.0% | 0% | 0.9 | | 2% | 42.3% | 0% | 1.4 |
| All | 100% | 49.0% | 63% | 78.8 | | 100% | 51.7% | 62% | 84.1 |
And there it is,plain as day: The vast bulk of the difference between the two teams' scoring is coming almost entirely on dunks.
I've said it before: We miss having Wilcox in our offense soooo bad.
Another good post. I agree with you that the offense has missed Wilcox, and as tonight showed, he can have a serious impact on our offense.
However, I don't think it can be reduced to just that factor; it's not just that we lack Blake Griffin. It's also that Chris Paul has a much more dynamic game than Rondo. For one, his shooting is more respected than Rondo's. In some ways this is irrational because Rondo is actuallly a better shooter from the 10-20 range, but teams don't fear Rondo from that range like they do Paul, which tends to muck up the spacing and doesn't create those little slices of space that create openings at the hoop. Also, even though Rondo is Paul's equal in making quick decisions and pinpoint passes, he's worse at a perhaps better skill: using hesitations and patience to throw to freeze the defenders. All these things come together in the little elbow postup the Clippers run for Paul. He's so versatile as a shooter and passer, with patience and quickness, that he creates a half dozen or so possibilities for the offense. Rondo doesn't have that yet.
Another factor here, I think, is that Celtics sets often start too far out from the hoop. The Celtics just don't really have plays like Paul's elbow postup that start 15 feet from the basket; they are usually more like 22 feet away.
Because defenders know that Paul is willing to shoot or pass at any moment, they feel that more than not RR will look to pass. So even though RR is shooting better... everyone knows he doesn't really WANT to shoot it... so if I'm the defender, I believe he is going to pass at all times, sure he will mostly get 10-14 or so pts a night but I take away more points by focusing on helping on other players he most likely wants to pass to (could also keep him from driving in/blow past people b/c of the clog inside).
Chris Paul and Rondo take the same number of shots a game.
In 4 less minutes, and going to the line more than Rondo.
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Guys deny saying things even when their comments are on tape. It's standard protocol when it's something controversial. Maybe Lee didn't say it but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I would be most surprised if guys weren't upset with Rondo's ball hogging. It's never fun playing with a ball hog.
The guy leading the league in assists a ball hog...right! Because Chris Paul doesn't pound the ball...actually wait, he holds the ball the duration of the shot clock before either passing off or shooting. The infallible Chris Paul!
LAC - 4th in the NBA at 1.07ppp
BOS - 26th in the NBA at 0.996ppp
I personally don't care if the ball is pounded, spun on fingers, whatever, all I care about is results and wins. If I don't like the results, then I look to what's happening during the games for causes. I personally don't think Rondo's pounding is leading to effective offensive possessions. If Chris Paul really is pounding like Rondo, somehow he's still making a lot better of it (with what I'd argue is an equal or weaker supporting cast).
Ah, but a cast with a post game and a cast that rebounds the ball on the offensive end. It makes a huge difference.
I'm still trying to get past "weaker supporting cast". Take Rondo and Paul off of the rosters and I don't know that I'd go with the Celts as the stronger team, especially on offense.
It's definitely a subjective argument Tim, but I would take the celtics supporting cast. And I did say "equal or weaker", not necessarily weaker which was an acknowledgment that I don't think the clippers supporting cast is definitively weaker, but think they are roughly equal and if I were to give either team the edge, I'd give it to the celitcs.
Nick, I agree with the sentiment of what your statement is saying. But not to the extent where Griffin + Jordan (a pretty limited offensive player) vs. Bass + KG is the sole difference between 4th and 26th in the NBA. And that's leaving out that the celtics are significantly more talented at the wing.
Jordan and Griffin combined, average 2 more offensive rebounds per game than does KG and Bass combined. KG and Bass' combined TS% is about 4% points less than Griffin and Jordan's combined TS%. I think that is going to effect a team's offensive efficiency by possibly as many as a couple points. A couple of points higher in team offensive efficiency could move the Celtics up to having a middle of the road offense.
If you compare Boston's offense to the Clippers you see 2 main differences. The first is offensive rebounding. The Clips get 28%, the Celts get 21%. If the Celts got 28% that would be about 3.3 more "possessions" a game.
The other area is shot selection. The Clippers take both more inside shots and more 3 pointers than the Celts. The difference in shot selection is also probably worth 3+ points per game. The Clippers also get to the line more than the Celts but this advantage is less significant because the Clips are poor free throw shooters.
As for Griffin/Jordan vs KG/Bass, Griffin and Jordan combine for about 10 shots at the rim and 9 fta per game, KG and Bass combine for about 4 shots at the rim and 4 fta per game. That's a fairly significant difference.
You'd really have to tie most (or all) of what I've described to roster makeup, not to any shortcoming on Rondo's part. If you look at the difference in inside shots it's easy to see that younger, more athletic players like Griffin and Jordan would excel over KG and Bass. If you look at our main 3 point shooters PP and Terry take more per minute than their career averages, Green's the same and Lee's a little less.
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| Celtics | | | | | Clippers | | | |
| Shot | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts | | Att% | eFG% | Ast% | Pts |
| Jump | 71% | 44.5% | 70% | 50.9 | | 68% | 46.7% | 65% | 51.9 |
| Close | 24% | 57.5% | 48% | 22.3 | | 24% | 57.6% | 55% | 22.7 |
| Dunk | 3% | 88.7% | 74% | 4.6 | | 5% | 92.1% | 72% | 8.1 |
| Tips | 1% | 40.0% | 0% | 0.9 | | 2% | 42.3% | 0% | 1.4 |
| All | 100% | 49.0% | 63% | 78.8 | | 100% | 51.7% | 62% | 84.1 |
And there it is,plain as day: The vast bulk of the difference between the two teams' scoring is coming almost entirely on dunks.
I've said it before: We miss having Wilcox in our offense soooo bad.
Another good post. I agree with you that the offense has missed Wilcox, and as tonight showed, he can have a serious impact on our offense.
However, I don't think it can be reduced to just that factor; it's not just that we lack Blake Griffin. It's also that Chris Paul has a much more dynamic game than Rondo. For one, his shooting is more respected than Rondo's. In some ways this is irrational because Rondo is actuallly a better shooter from the 10-20 range, but teams don't fear Rondo from that range like they do Paul, which tends to muck up the spacing and doesn't create those little slices of space that create openings at the hoop. Also, even though Rondo is Paul's equal in making quick decisions and pinpoint passes, he's worse at a perhaps better skill: using hesitations and patience to throw to freeze the defenders. All these things come together in the little elbow postup the Clippers run for Paul. He's so versatile as a shooter and passer, with patience and quickness, that he creates a half dozen or so possibilities for the offense. Rondo doesn't have that yet.
Another factor here, I think, is that Celtics sets often start too far out from the hoop. The Celtics just don't really have plays like Paul's elbow postup that start 15 feet from the basket; they are usually more like 22 feet away.
Because defenders know that Paul is willing to shoot or pass at any moment, they feel that more than not RR will look to pass. So even though RR is shooting better... everyone knows he doesn't really WANT to shoot it... so if I'm the defender, I believe he is going to pass at all times, sure he will mostly get 10-14 or so pts a night but I take away more points by focusing on helping on other players he most likely wants to pass to (could also keep him from driving in/blow past people b/c of the clog inside).
Chris Paul and Rondo take the same number of shots a game.
In 4 less minutes, and going to the line more than Rondo.
For this discussion the 4 less minutes is meaningless. I don't think a defender would ever think "Paul takes 12.2 shots per36 minutes compared to 11.8 for Rondo, therefore Paul's much more likely to shoot the ball". Also, while Paul takes more free throws than Rondo, he actually gets fouled on less of his shot attempts than Rondo, probably because he rarely takes the ball to the rim. The bulk of the foul shots would most likely be techs or intentional fouls late in games. Not that those points don't count, but it's not something that will lead a defender to think CP is more likely to shoot in a given situation.