Was Rondo deal the right move for Mavs?

[obnoxiousmime]

It will be interesting to see which team ponies up the dough for Rondo. It's no longer likely multiple teams will offer max dollars so that means someone is going to have a higher bid. We know Kobe loves Rondo, but how much stock does Lakers management put in his opinion? It will probably come down to which team misses out on other free agents and are forced to sign whomever is left. It's definitely looking unlikely that the Mavs will re-sign him now.

[Vermont Green]

These are the parameters that he could have signed an extension based on:

The team can tack on a three-year, $44.8 million extension to the final year of his current deal without a signing bonus, which would pay him the scheduled $12.9 million in 2014-15, $13.9 million in 2015-16; $14.9 million in 2016-17; and $16 million in 2017-18.

At various times, I have said that Rondo was taking a risk by not taking that extension (and I was always bashed for it); risk of injury and risk of decline being the big ones.  I guess you could add risk of never restoring to full health but I actually do not believe there is anything wrong with Rondo.

At this point, he will be lucky to beat that contract.  He has suffered injuries since (hand and face) but so far nothing contract-threatening.  Boy, I don't know if I would give Rondo 4 years at $12M even if I was the Knicks or Lakers but players always seem to get more than I think they should so who knows.

There is also the chance that Rondo will get hot or that the Mavs will figure out how to play with Rondo (or vise versa), make a deep playoff run and Rondo will be a hot commodity again but that doesn't seem very likely at this point.

[hwangjini_1]

These are the parameters that he could have signed an extension based on:

The team can tack on a three-year, $44.8 million extension to the final year of his current deal without a signing bonus, which would pay him the scheduled $12.9 million in 2014-15, $13.9 million in 2015-16; $14.9 million in 2016-17; and $16 million in 2017-18.

At various times, I have said that Rondo was taking a risk by not taking that extension (and I was always bashed for it); risk of injury and risk of decline being the big ones.  I guess you could add risk of never restoring to full health but I actually do not believe there is anything wrong with Rondo.

At this point, he will be lucky to beat that contract.  He has suffered injuries since (hand and face) but so far nothing contract-threatening.  Boy, I don't know if I would give Rondo 4 years at $12M even if I was the Knicks or Lakers but players always seem to get more than I think they should so who knows.

There is also the chance that Rondo will get hot or that the Mavs will figure out how to play with Rondo (or vise versa), make a deep playoff run and Rondo will be a hot commodity again but that doesn't seem very likely at this point.

good points. and a tp, retroactively, as reward for having been a voice in the woods.

[CoachBo]

The right move for the Mavs? Probably not, as they overpaid a bit for a player in clear decline.

Unavoidable decline? I doubt it. I don't think a lot of NBA superstars - as so many have contended Rondo was on this blog for so long - would willingly stop defending, or for that matter accept the historical level of foul line ineptitude that Rondo's rolling out there.

TP to Vermont as well, from someone who took a fair amount of abuse on this board myself for daring to suggest that Rondo wasn't the greatest point guard in Celtics history.

Sadly, Rondo's going to pay a steep price for the apathy he has shown his own game unless one of our posters here becomes the GM of the Knicks or the Lakers. I am glad the Celtics can finally move on past the fallacious notion that the franchise could be rebuilt around him, not to mention the absolute insanity of making him a max contract offer.

[CoachBo]

Rondo has looked pretty awful to me...I think Ainge made the right move....Rondo looks more like an $8 Mil per year player at best....Sad to see his decline happen so quickly....There are many Point Guards better than him now.

I think he's the same player he's always been.  It's more about the system.  WHen people called Rondo overrated over the years, they were referring to what you're seeing now.

Largely, but I'd add that he's allowed his own game to decay - willingly. Not the work ethic you want from someone on his current contract, let alone the madness of a max deal.

Just happy to be rid of him.

[LarBrd33]

You guys remember before he returned from his injury when I would constantly refer to him as "post-prime Rondo" despite the fact he was like 25 years old ?  I got a lot of grief for that.

Honestly though I think it's mostly a system thing.  He's never been as good as people thought he was.  He's the Antoine Walker of point guards.  If some team brings him in next year and lets him dominate the ball again, he should be right back to getting 10+ assists per night.  I'm not sure why Dallas thought it was a good idea to bring in one of the leagues worst offensive players to fit into their floor-spacing offense with a ball-dominant guard alongside him.

I said at the time of the trade that my favorite running subplot this season would be seeing the "rondo overrated debate" finally see a conclusive winner.   What he's doing on Dallas seems to firmly answer that question.  Let's see if the "playoff rondo" myth is dispelled as well. 

[MBunge]

You guys remember before he returned from his injury when I would constantly refer to him as "post-prime Rondo" despite the fact he was like 25 years old ?  I got a lot of grief for that.

Honestly though I think it's mostly a system thing.  He's never been as good as people thought he was.  He's the Antoine Walker of point guards.  If some team brings him in next year and lets him dominate the ball again, he should be right back to getting 10+ assists per night.  I'm not sure why Dallas thought it was a good idea to bring in one of the leagues worst offensive players to fit into their floor-spacing offense with a ball-dominant guard alongside him.

I said at the time of the trade that my favorite running subplot this season would be seeing the "rondo overrated debate" finally see a conclusive winner.   What he's doing on Dallas seems to firmly answer that question.  Let's see if the "playoff rondo" myth is dispelled as well.

In his last playoff run, 19 games in 2012, Rondo averaged 17.3 points, 11.9 assists, 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals on 47% shooting.  That's pretty darn good, even if he was playing in a system that maximized his talents.

To put it in perspective, those are better assist, rebound and shooting percentage stats than Russell Westbrook has ever put up in the playoffs, and only once has Westbrook averaged more steals in the playoffs.

I don't think you can deny that however good Rondo was in the past, he's declined from there.

Mike

[Celtics18]

You guys remember before he returned from his injury when I would constantly refer to him as "post-prime Rondo" despite the fact he was like 25 years old ?  I got a lot of grief for that.

Honestly though I think it's mostly a system thing.  He's never been as good as people thought he was.  He's the Antoine Walker of point guards.  If some team brings him in next year and lets him dominate the ball again, he should be right back to getting 10+ assists per night.  I'm not sure why Dallas thought it was a good idea to bring in one of the leagues worst offensive players to fit into their floor-spacing offense with a ball-dominant guard alongside him.

I said at the time of the trade that my favorite running subplot this season would be seeing the "rondo overrated debate" finally see a conclusive winner.   What he's doing on Dallas seems to firmly answer that question.  Let's see if the "playoff rondo" myth is dispelled as well.

Does Derrick Rose's play since returning from the same injury suffered by Rondo prove that he was never all that good to begin with?

[Rhyso]

You guys remember before he returned from his injury when I would constantly refer to him as "post-prime Rondo" despite the fact he was like 25 years old ?  I got a lot of grief for that.

Honestly though I think it's mostly a system thing.  He's never been as good as people thought he was.  He's the Antoine Walker of point guards.  If some team brings him in next year and lets him dominate the ball again, he should be right back to getting 10+ assists per night.  I'm not sure why Dallas thought it was a good idea to bring in one of the leagues worst offensive players to fit into their floor-spacing offense with a ball-dominant guard alongside him.

I said at the time of the trade that my favorite running subplot this season would be seeing the "rondo overrated debate" finally see a conclusive winner.   What he's doing on Dallas seems to firmly answer that question.  Let's see if the "playoff rondo" myth is dispelled as well.

You know, after watching some highlights of his past big games, I think you are on the money about Rondo being a 'system player' in a sense. Rondo is a regarded as a high IQ player with bad shooting, so having sets run where he knows exactly where to pass, drive, and where he will be taking shoots would allow him to excel as they are tailored to his skill set. This would be far more beneficial to Rondo than more offensively gifted point guards, as he can't just pull up from anywhere and knock a shot down consitently.

I think his game has suffered post injury more so to different coaches  (hence different play style which isn't suited to him), and not restablishing a core unit of players to develop chemistry, like how he was succesfull with the big 3. However I don't think he is over-rated or under-rated in the NBA community, overall he is a talented, yet flawed player. It's that simple IMO.

Anyway, TP for opening my eyes to that!

[GratefulCs]

You guys remember before he returned from his injury when I would constantly refer to him as "post-prime Rondo" despite the fact he was like 25 years old ?  I got a lot of grief for that.

Honestly though I think it's mostly a system thing.  He's never been as good as people thought he was.  He's the Antoine Walker of point guards.  If some team brings him in next year and lets him dominate the ball again, he should be right back to getting 10+ assists per night.  I'm not sure why Dallas thought it was a good idea to bring in one of the leagues worst offensive players to fit into their floor-spacing offense with a ball-dominant guard alongside him.

I said at the time of the trade that my favorite running subplot this season would be seeing the "rondo overrated debate" finally see a conclusive winner.   What he's doing on Dallas seems to firmly answer that question.  Let's see if the "playoff rondo" myth is dispelled as well.

TP


Truth as always from larbrd33