Rondo Running 2nd Unit

[clover]

Same number of points on the same number of shots--but more likely to have the misses scooped up by the opposition than when shooting twos.  Can't make a straight %-to-%, points-to-points comparison.

[twinbree]

http://www.csnne.com/pages/landing/?blockID=94720&feedID=3346

There was one new wrinkle in the Celtics' rotation during Sunday afternoon's win; one that saw Rondo start the second quarter as the point guard for the second unit, which allowed both Eddie House and Marquis Daniels to play off the ball.

The five-man unit of Rondo, House, Daniels,Rasheed Wallace and Shelden Williams was on the floor for the first 4:06 of the second, during which the Celtics and Knicks played to an 8-8 tie.

Rivers likes having Rondo out there with that team, altough the only issue is that in order to have Rondo rested for the start of the second, the coach is forced to have House play more minutes in the first.

"Going into the game, we wanted to go with that rotation," Rivers said. "The tough part with Eddie, is that if you bring him in too early, that means he's going up against their best point guard, and that can be difficult. But when we get to that rotation, it's great."

I've been on the fence about the back-up PG issue but now I'm beginning to re-think my indifference. I'd really hate to see  another season of Paul and Ray playing extra minutes anchoring the 2nd unit.

[hpantazo]

I like Rondo running the second unit, it gives him more freedom to score like he did when KG was out last spring, and it gives the second unit more leadership and ball handling, and even gives the 1st unit a great 3pt threat for a while in House.

[MVP]

I suggested we do this in the preseason so I'm obviously a fan of this idea. Having Rondo play with the 2nd unit forces him to be more aggressive, makes House much more effective and when Wallace get out of his funk and Davis comes back our 2nd unit might be a better shooting unit that the 1st unit. House/Davis/Sheed are basically jump shooters who you don't wont to do much creating which is where Rondo will thrive being able to dominate the ball and feed these guys for open shots. Hopefully Doc will continue to experiment with this strategy.

[misterx2day]

I really like it as well because...
A) It forces Rondo to be more aggressive because he's the leader on the floor. Perhaps it will get him going if he doesn't have a strong first quarter, because we all know good the Celtics are when Rondo gets going....
B) More rest for Ray and Paul. Usually those are the guys who play with the second unit, so putting the young, energetic Rondo in for a little more time per game makes sense.
C)It looked really good at times this past Sunday, and thats with Rasheed playing like absolute crap and Eddie not playing great.
B)Honestly, on defense, Rondo has the ability to guard guys who are 6-5, so its really not that big of a problem to have House and Rondo on the floor at the same time defensively.

And the guy who suggested picking up Iverson and putting Rondo on the bench? Really?...