Please Don't Ever Say Again Rondo Doesn't Turn it On and Off

[myteamisbetterthanyours]

Scrubs dont put up 16/7/9... those are all star numbers, especially for a point guard.  You are out of line with that comment.  A scrub statline goes something like :

28 min. 3 pts. 2 rebs. 0 assists. 6 fouls.

^^^ Michael Pietrus' stat line last night... thats scrub like... 16/7/9 is not scrub like...

[Moranis]

I don't think the difference in the two games is necessarily effort, but there was a clear difference in Rondo's intention.  What I mean is, in game 1, it seemed like Rondo wanted to be a facilitator and shot or drove as a second or third thought on each possession.  Most of his drives and shots at the hoop were with the shot clock winding down.  He also clearly dribbled through a lot of open looks waiting for people to get open.  In game 2, he determined he was going to be the man and pushed out on breaks, took pull up jumpers, took the open shots, and aggressively drove to the hoop with plenty of time left on the shot clock.  

If Boston is going to win the series (or even a game in it), Rondo has to be the player from game 2.  He has to be that player next year as well.  Sure his shots won't always fall, but Rondo needs to be a 25/8 type player rather than 11/12 type player.  He absolutely needs to be more like Westbrook and Rose and less like Nash given the current makeup of the team.  Sure if Boston has two or three elite players in its prime (as it has in the past), then Rondo the facilitator is probably what is best for the team, but right now the team doesn't have those two or three elite players so it needs Rondo the scorer.  

[celtics2]

Rondo does have to defer to Allen Pierce and KG. If I were Rondo I'd say screw you guys you ain't getting it done lately. Thanks for the Memories, I'm taking over totally. We have no idea how gifted this guy is. Doc has a rope tied to his balls making sure he distributes the ball. This guy needs to be given the green lite to use the talent God gave him. No wonder he has had problems shooting. When you are the 4th option it's hard to get into any rythm. When the top 3 Jurassic Parkers can't get open Doc will Bark out, SHOOT, SHOOT IT, with a second on the clock.

[CelticsFanNC]

  The Rondo critics act as if there really is an ON/OFF switch.

  In basketball sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't.  When Rondo doesn't have his A game he is still one of the top 5 players at his position.  When he doesn't have his A game he still orchestrates an offense better then any PG in the NBA today.

 When Rondo has his A game he is capable of being the best player on the floor no matter whom is playing.  He also just happens to bring his A game in the biggest most important games more times then not.

  A game or B game his contract is a bargain by NBA standards and a nice building block for the future.  Those expecting him to be Magic Johnson night in and night out are asking too much.  That's your problem, not Rondo's problem.

  Rajon Rondo is a sometimes brilliant, other times extremely good pass first PG with an unusually high BBQ who also happens to be one of the toughest little guys you'll ever see play an NBA game.

  That is good enough for me.  It's also not too bad for a guy who has never once played with a supporting cast that best fits his sill set and that allows him to thrive.  He's pretty darn great for a guy who has spent his entire career as a square peg being forced into a round hole.

[thirstyboots18]

TP, CelticsFanNC

[Celtics18]

TP, CelticsFanNC

Ditto.

[CelticsFanNC]

  I just find it kind of sad that so many Celtic's fans will never allow themselves to appreciate Rajon Rondo for what he is because they spend so much time complaining about what he isn't.

  He's not Magic Johnson or Larry Bird on a night in and night out basis.  He can be every bit that player when he is on his game but he's not that player every night.  Exactly who has been throughout NBA history?  Not many. 

[CoachBo]

Bill Russell.

Sam Jones.

Tommy Heinsohn.

KC Jones.

Bob Cousy.

John Havlicek.

Dave Cowens.

JoJo White.

Robert Parish.

Kevin McHale.

Dennis Johnson.

Shall I go on?

I NEVER accept falling short of potential. EVER.

[Swoopz]

Here's what Tommy has to say about Rondo http://www.csnne.com/pages/celticsvideo?PID=uvXM2-4CIhqZPR3hQNi_LvhLhGZ298_lVVMwKx

[CelticsFanNC]

Bill Russell.

Sam Jones.

Tommy Heinsohn.

KC Jones.

Bob Cousy.

John Havlicek.

Dave Cowens.

JoJo White.

Robert Parish.

Kevin McHale.

Dennis Johnson.

Shall I go on?

I NEVER accept falling short of potential. EVER.

  Is a players potential based on his best game or his median game?

  What is the potential of the 21st pick in the NBA draft?  Obviously you saw something that no one else saw.

  Dennis Johnson was at different times during his career described as a cancer a malcontent and an underachiever.  All of that criticism happened when he was older then Rajon Rondo is now.

   Those guys are all Celtic immortals.  If you're going to criticize every player who comes along with great talent that doesn't reach the lofty heights those guys reached  there aren't going to be many players you're happy with.

  I don't think Rondo is anything other then what he is.  I have never said he  is the best player in the NBA or even the NBA's best PG.   He is a very, very good player who many times, in the most important games is the best player on the floor no matter who else happens to be playing.

  People seem to expect him to be Magic Johnson night in and night out.  A BIG part of the reason Magic Johnson was who he was is because his team was built in a way that best complimented his abilities.  Rondo has never had that.  The closet he came was the second half of this season when Doc was forced to incorporate young legs into the line up.  The result was a far more consistent Rondo then we had ever seen before.

 

[EJPLAYA]

I don't think the difference in the two games is necessarily effort, but there was a clear difference in Rondo's intention.  What I mean is, in game 1, it seemed like Rondo wanted to be a facilitator and shot or drove as a second or third thought on each possession.  Most of his drives and shots at the hoop were with the shot clock winding down.  He also clearly dribbled through a lot of open looks waiting for people to get open.  In game 2, he determined he was going to be the man and pushed out on breaks, took pull up jumpers, took the open shots, and aggressively drove to the hoop with plenty of time left on the shot clock.  

If Boston is going to win the series (or even a game in it), Rondo has to be the player from game 2.  He has to be that player next year as well.  Sure his shots won't always fall, but Rondo needs to be a 25/8 type player rather than 11/12 type player.  He absolutely needs to be more like Westbrook and Rose and less like Nash given the current makeup of the team.  Sure if Boston has two or three elite players in its prime (as it has in the past), then Rondo the facilitator is probably what is best for the team, but right now the team doesn't have those two or three elite players so it needs Rondo the scorer.  

TP. THIS is what I am basically meaning by my comments. He makes a decision as to which player he is going to be from the opening tip. Yes it takes a lot of effort to decide to be the second, but that is exactly what we need. It is what I expect since he is capable of being the man. He is clearly our best player when he does this and I don't understand mentally how he would shy away from that.

[Fafnir]

I don't think the difference in the two games is necessarily effort, but there was a clear difference in Rondo's intention.  What I mean is, in game 1, it seemed like Rondo wanted to be a facilitator and shot or drove as a second or third thought on each possession.  Most of his drives and shots at the hoop were with the shot clock winding down.  He also clearly dribbled through a lot of open looks waiting for people to get open.  In game 2, he determined he was going to be the man and pushed out on breaks, took pull up jumpers, took the open shots, and aggressively drove to the hoop with plenty of time left on the shot clock.  

If Boston is going to win the series (or even a game in it), Rondo has to be the player from game 2.  He has to be that player next year as well.  Sure his shots won't always fall, but Rondo needs to be a 25/8 type player rather than 11/12 type player.  He absolutely needs to be more like Westbrook and Rose and less like Nash given the current makeup of the team.  Sure if Boston has two or three elite players in its prime (as it has in the past), then Rondo the facilitator is probably what is best for the team, but right now the team doesn't have those two or three elite players so it needs Rondo the scorer.  

TP. THIS is what I am basically meaning by my comments. He makes a decision as to which player he is going to be from the opening tip. Yes it takes a lot of effort to decide to be the second, but that is exactly what we need. It is what I expect since he is capable of being the man. He is clearly our best player when he does this and I don't understand mentally how he would shy away from that.

He attacked the rim a lot game 1, but didn't get to the line for it.

If anything last night showed that he'll be inconsistent with how many jump shots he takes. Effort = made jumpers apparently.

[CelticsFanNC]

I don't think the difference in the two games is necessarily effort, but there was a clear difference in Rondo's intention.  What I mean is, in game 1, it seemed like Rondo wanted to be a facilitator and shot or drove as a second or third thought on each possession.  Most of his drives and shots at the hoop were with the shot clock winding down.  He also clearly dribbled through a lot of open looks waiting for people to get open.  In game 2, he determined he was going to be the man and pushed out on breaks, took pull up jumpers, took the open shots, and aggressively drove to the hoop with plenty of time left on the shot clock.  

If Boston is going to win the series (or even a game in it), Rondo has to be the player from game 2.  He has to be that player next year as well.  Sure his shots won't always fall, but Rondo needs to be a 25/8 type player rather than 11/12 type player.  He absolutely needs to be more like Westbrook and Rose and less like Nash given the current makeup of the team.  Sure if Boston has two or three elite players in its prime (as it has in the past), then Rondo the facilitator is probably what is best for the team, but right now the team doesn't have those two or three elite players so it needs Rondo the scorer.  

TP. THIS is what I am basically meaning by my comments. He makes a decision as to which player he is going to be from the opening tip. Yes it takes a lot of effort to decide to be the second, but that is exactly what we need. It is what I expect since he is capable of being the man. He is clearly our best player when he does this and I don't understand mentally how he would shy away from that.

  I kind of agree.  He does come into different games with different ideas on how to best help his team win games


I also think Doc plays a hand in which Rondo we get.  He has said in interviews that Rondo's job is to get everyone involved.  Rondo's mentality is that of a  pass first PG so him trying to be "the man" is probably just as foreign to him as it is to KG. People have been demanding that of KG his entire career.  That's just not KG's base mentality.  It's not Rondo's either.

[Vermont Green]

I don't think Rondo's problem is effort, I think it is talent.  The overwhelmingly significant difference between the two games for Rondo was that in game 2 he was hitting the wide open mid range shots.  That forced Miami to adjust how they were defending.  Everything else flowed from there.  Rondo played the game of his life in a big moment.

Think of this as compared to golf.  A golfer can go out and nail all the putts in a day and shoot the round of his life.  The difference between the scratch golfer and the average golfer is that the average golfer does not have the ability to nail the putts the next round where as the scratch golfer will.

To date, Rondo has not shown the ability to make the shots consistently.  He made them last night and he was awesome.  I feel there is the opportunity for Rondo to have the talent, like the scratch golfer, but so far he has not shown it.  It is still just potential at this point.

Even though I am critical of Rondo and feel he is often over-rated on this blog and in general, I actually do believe that he will get over the hump and actually be the player we saw last night but with consistency from game to game, week to week, etc.

Congrats Rondo on a great game.

[BballTim]

I don't think the difference in the two games is necessarily effort, but there was a clear difference in Rondo's intention.  What I mean is, in game 1, it seemed like Rondo wanted to be a facilitator and shot or drove as a second or third thought on each possession.  Most of his drives and shots at the hoop were with the shot clock winding down.  He also clearly dribbled through a lot of open looks waiting for people to get open.  In game 2, he determined he was going to be the man and pushed out on breaks, took pull up jumpers, took the open shots, and aggressively drove to the hoop with plenty of time left on the shot clock.  

If Boston is going to win the series (or even a game in it), Rondo has to be the player from game 2.  He has to be that player next year as well.  Sure his shots won't always fall, but Rondo needs to be a 25/8 type player rather than 11/12 type player.  He absolutely needs to be more like Westbrook and Rose and less like Nash given the current makeup of the team.  Sure if Boston has two or three elite players in its prime (as it has in the past), then Rondo the facilitator is probably what is best for the team, but right now the team doesn't have those two or three elite players so it needs Rondo the scorer.  

TP. THIS is what I am basically meaning by my comments. He makes a decision as to which player he is going to be from the opening tip. Yes it takes a lot of effort to decide to be the second, but that is exactly what we need. It is what I expect since he is capable of being the man. He is clearly our best player when he does this and I don't understand mentally how he would shy away from that.

  I don't agree with this at all. I think that the reason that Rondo's seen as inconsistent is that he generally has to figure out his role for a game during that game. He needs to see which players are playing well, which plays are working and what the team needs from him and adjust to that if necessary.

  Sometimes he has big games during the season and Doc will say that before the game he told Rondo that he wanted him to do X or Y and he does it throughout the game, like that 30 point game vs the Bulls. More often than not he doesn't know what his role will be. Do they need him to take 20 shots? Get a dozen rebounds? Take 5 shots and get 20 assists? The fact that he can dominate a game in so many different ways is fairly unique. The question of what he'll accomplish when he's not trying to wring whatever he can from a group of aging stars is pretty interesting.