What you're saying makes sense, and it's something I've read about in the past.
I guess what I'm wondering is, does Rondo play a role in that one way or another?
Would Rondo be running one of the best offenses in the league if you gave him more bigs and more outside shooters?
Given how, in the fall of 2010, when we had Shaq and Jermaine and Semih as our Center rotation, well, yeah!
That team, during that fall before all the injuries took the wheels off, had to be one of the most dominant starting lineups I have seen in years.
Also, when we have had a healthy Chris Wilcox, our offense is pretty [dang] efficient.
Is it that Rondo has grown up in the league playing in an offensive "system" favoring slow, half-court play with a heavy emphasis on mid-range jumpshots and he needs to get more used to pushing the tempo and getting it to guys cutting to the rim or spotting up outside?
Would our offense be equally as bad if you switched Rondo for another prolific passer with a somewhat different skillset (e.g. a healthy Rubio or Steve Nash, or even somebody like Jrue Holiday or Greivis Vasquez) or do Rondo's weaknesses exacerbate the difficulties that this roster has in terms of taking and making shots from deep and in the paint?
Its hard to say. I do know that there have been lots of studies that show pretty compellingly that assisted shots are much more efficient at generating points. Thus, if you swap out Rondo, whether the resulting team is more or less efficient (with no other changes) depends on what the overall team assisted shot rate ends up. Just because a given PG passes less, doesn't mean the team's passing rate declines, as he may now be a recipient of assists.
But the bigger effect is still going to be the distribution of shot locations. That's overwhelmingly the most important factor.
I don't think the flaws in our offense are due to Rondo at all. I think they are very simply an obvious shortcoming in our front court personnel.
Think about it: We are missing two big men that we were supposed to have when the season started: Darko and for the most part Wilcox. And we haven't replaced them.
Wilcox, in particular, affects our shot location profile because while he has his shortcomings, the one thing he does well is score close to the basket at a high rate of efficiency. If we could just get him back on the floor for 15-20 minutes a game, that would make a big difference.