I think, to a certain extent, you're evaluating Rondo based on how well he fits into the traditional role of a label that you're giving him. Most "franchise players" are the focus of their team's offense and the leading scorer of their team. That's not really his role in this offense, and the big three don't fit into the role of most role players.
Not really. My mold of a franchise player is "someone who will make stuff happen for you when the game is on the line". This may mean scoring, setting up other people, or making key defensive stops. Unfortunately, while Rondo has carried the team in stretches over the course of his career, I can't describe him as a franchise player under this definition until he takes it to the next level.
Of course, it's a valid point that "it's not just Rondo's fault". In which case we have to stop and recognize that he's not that guy -- and trust me, this will be way more important in the coming seasons when his supporting cast will not consist of three future hall of famers.
"Future hall of famers" is a great have your cake and eat it to phrase that you always see here. In one sentence, they're a better supporting cast than anything you expect him to be surrounded with in the future. In another sentence, they're aging troops and anything you get from them is gravy. LeBron, with his 30/8/8 this year, is a future HOFer. So is Kidd, clocking in at 5/4/5.
Not really. I'll try to explain.
I'm afraid that as aging as they are, our big three, this season, are a better supporting cast than Rondo may be able to get for seasons and seasons to come. This still doesn't mean that they can carry the team on their backs. So yes, if their heroics win you a game here and there that would be great. But we'll be looking at Rondo first every time.
The problem is that people are basing their assessment of how good Rondo is on the past 3 seasons when the Big 3 was distinctly less aged. So yeah, he was great in wreaking havoc when other teams had to worry about Pierce, Garnett, and Allen. However, we're clearly seeing this doesn't work night in and night out anymore. And Rondo still hasn't figured out how to win games for us under these circumstances.
Rondo doesn't shoot the ball a lot when the game is on the line, but he does set people up with great passes, make big defensive plays, and has also been known to get big offensive rebounds.
This team is still an ensemble piece, which means we'll be relying on all four of our star players to make big plays for us this year. Rondo will certainly be required to do his fair share, but, thankfully, he won't be asked to do it alone.
Players who are asked to go out and win games and ultimately playoff series and championships all by themselves, don't generally have a lot of success with that.
I think the best thing Rondo does in 4th quarters is hustle for loose balls and go after rebounds. I think the idea of setting of people with great passes is a myth, mainly because it usually doesn't come off work he does, he simply passes the ball. He didn't setup the situation, he didn't penetrate or made the defense focus on him to get guys open.
What they usually do is run set plays in which we got Ray running around the floor, if he gets open then Rondo gives him the ball. If not that, we do a lot of pick and pops with KG, or find defensive switches and give the ball to KG. Or we got Pierce creating something. Rarely do we see Rondo really putting the team on his back and really pushing the issue to the point that the team is so concern with him, it becomes unbalanced. What we usually see is a 4th quarter in which Rondo slows the pace down, and starts off plays with 10 second remaining in the shot clock, usually with nothing to show for it.
Rondo has a clutch gene though, particularly when the shot clock is running down and he has to shoot a 3-pointer, he often seems to hit those. And I love how he goes after loose balls, and how he rebounds the ball in 4th quarters. But I think it's a bit dishonest to give credit to how great he's passing in the 4th quarter when the situation wasn't of his making. I'd like to see more of him dribbling past his defender, go towards the hoop.
Now, he does find from time to time a great passing opportunity and take advantage of it, often for an alley to KG, but those are rare events.
Topic: Rondo is driving me nuts... (Read 16442 times)