Bill Simmons says rondo will be MVP runner up

[sofutomygaha]

Love and Paul?
Yawn

Love certainly does not belong in that list...he's an Elite rebounder and that's about it.

1. H's never played in a playoff game. 

2. His offensive game is really not that great. He's a reasonable shooter and a mediocre post player.  It's much easier to put up titanic numbers when you're the number one (and two and three) option on a bad team, but aside from above-the-break threes his shooting percentages from everywhere on the floor are mediocre for a big.

3. He is utterly hopeless on defense.

If Love played on a stacked team like the Heat, Lakers, Thunder, Spurs or Celtics he's be averaging closer to 18 PPG (if that) and probably closer to 9-10 RPG.

The numbers he's putting up right now are far off what Chris Bosh was putting up in Toronto - he was up around 24 PPG & 12 RPG as a Rpator, but those numbers dropped instantly to 18 and 9 when he came over to Miami. Most would agree that Bosh is an All-Star calibre (but not MVP calibre) player.  That's despite the fact that Bosh is a MUCH better defender than Love is and a better offensive player as well.

Howard is also not a guarantee for that list IMHO.

He doesn't have the offensive skill or the emotional control to be a leader on a team - he's more Robin then Batman.  He needs a number one scorer on his team to draw attention so he can slip the offense for easy dunks.  You cannot run an offense through him in the post as a consistent strategy because he has a limited post game, he's not a great passer, and other teams are happy to hack him and let him brick free throws. Howard-led teams will consistently make the playoffs, but they will never win a title without a proper leader (like Pierce, Kobe) there with him.

Lebron, Durant and Paul (assuming they stay healthy) are guaranteed to be on the list, and IF the Celtics dominate this season there is no reason why Rondo couldn't be right up there with them. 

At least that is my opinion anyway

I think that all the crap that went down last year made it too easy to forge that Dwight Howard is the second best player in the league, that he is in his prime, and that he legitimately ought to have won the MVP in 2011.

It always makes me wince to hear a player get dinged because he didn't win a championship. "the one time they made the finals LA destroyed them." If your definition of a top 5 player is "a player capable of single-handedly winning the NBA finals," you are a crazy person. The way I see it, the Magic without Howard would have been a sub-500 team that year. With him, they made it to the freaking finals! The Orlando Magic "experiments" have proven that the Orlando Magic were a perennial contender when Dwight Howard was on their team.

As far as Kevin Love goes, I think you are being a little silly. You say words like "utterly hopeless" when you should probably be saying something like "merely average." You say "mediocre" when you should be saying "only top 5-10" and you say "reasonable" when you ought to be saying "outstanding."  As far as whether he's just the #1 option on a bad team, well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what the Wolves look like this year.

[pearljammer10]

rondos ready to break out, gonna be a big year for him.

[BudweiserCeltic]

For all the Rondo talk, I don't think he'll be THAT up there in the MVP voting. Reason is, that despite what many have led us to believe, since 2008, this is the team that will be least reliant on Rondo.

Last year's "we go as far as Rondo takes us" is no longer applicable this year. We've surrounded our team with a multitude of multi-faceted players with the bonus that they can handle the ball. If Rondo goes down, Terry is there to step up... and sorry if I don't think that the sky would be falling if that were to happen.

So, while Rondo may have a career year, our current roster make-up makes him less essential to us. I think Pierce and to a lesser extent KG will be of more import. Pierce because of the depth problem in SF currently, and KG because of his defense and big man injuries are always a huge concern.

Our guard depth will also limit his time on the floor.

[GreenEnvy]

For all the Rondo talk, I don't think he'll be THAT up there in the MVP voting. Reason is, that despite what many have led us to believe, since 2008, this is the team that will be least reliant on Rondo.

Last year's "we go as far as Rondo takes us" is no longer applicable this year. We've surrounded our team with a multitude of multi-faceted players with the bonus that they can handle the ball. If Rondo goes down, Terry is there to step up... and sorry if I don't think that the sky would be falling if that were to happen.

So, while Rondo may have a career year, our current roster make-up makes him less essential to us. I think Pierce and to a lesser extent KG will be of more import. Pierce because of the depth problem in SF currently, and KG because of his defense and big man injuries are always a huge concern.

Our guard depth will also limit his time on the floor.

I agree with you. I think Rondo averages less MPG this year than ha has since 2008. A lot of help now with Terry, Barbosa, Bradley, and even Lee. We could afford to miss Rondo more than we could KG and Pierce.

Where is the depth problem at SF though? We have a guy making $9MM who can play 30+ MPG. Pierce could (should?) average career low MPG during the regular season.


I really hope all of our Big Three play a significantly less amount of minutes this regular season, both from depth and blowouts. Preserve KG and Pierce for the playoffs, and protect Rondo from getting battered.

Regular season awards/honors and All-Star nods are nice and all, but banners and rings are a whole lot nicer.

[BudweiserCeltic]

For all the Rondo talk, I don't think he'll be THAT up there in the MVP voting. Reason is, that despite what many have led us to believe, since 2008, this is the team that will be least reliant on Rondo.

Last year's "we go as far as Rondo takes us" is no longer applicable this year. We've surrounded our team with a multitude of multi-faceted players with the bonus that they can handle the ball. If Rondo goes down, Terry is there to step up... and sorry if I don't think that the sky would be falling if that were to happen.

So, while Rondo may have a career year, our current roster make-up makes him less essential to us. I think Pierce and to a lesser extent KG will be of more import. Pierce because of the depth problem in SF currently, and KG because of his defense and big man injuries are always a huge concern.

Our guard depth will also limit his time on the floor.

I agree with you. I think Rondo averages less MPG this year than ha has since 2008. A lot of help now with Terry, Barbosa, Bradley, and even Lee. We could afford to miss Rondo more than we could KG and Pierce.

Where is the depth problem at SF though? We have a guy making $9MM who can play 30+ MPG. Pierce could (should?) average career low MPG during the regular season.


I really hope all of our Big Three play a significantly less amount of minutes this regular season, both from depth and blowouts. Preserve KG and Pierce for the playoffs, and protect Rondo from getting battered.

Regular season awards/honors and All-Star nods are nice and all, but banners and rings are a whole lot nicer.

Depth isn't about a talented 1-2 punch in the position, but about number of bodies you have available to play the position in-hand.

Pierce goes down, you have Green as our only reliable SF (and vice-versa). So, you'd end up relying plenty of Lee at that position, which is not one of strength for him, and/or on Joseph, who's a rookie, so who knows what he can give you with that eventuality.

I guess I should've phrased it as something along the lines of, Pierce won't be as important to help us win games while everyone is healthy, but he's a player that if injured could be costly.

[GreenEnvy]

For all the Rondo talk, I don't think he'll be THAT up there in the MVP voting. Reason is, that despite what many have led us to believe, since 2008, this is the team that will be least reliant on Rondo.

Last year's "we go as far as Rondo takes us" is no longer applicable this year. We've surrounded our team with a multitude of multi-faceted players with the bonus that they can handle the ball. If Rondo goes down, Terry is there to step up... and sorry if I don't think that the sky would be falling if that were to happen.

So, while Rondo may have a career year, our current roster make-up makes him less essential to us. I think Pierce and to a lesser extent KG will be of more import. Pierce because of the depth problem in SF currently, and KG because of his defense and big man injuries are always a huge concern.

Our guard depth will also limit his time on the floor.

I agree with you. I think Rondo averages less MPG this year than ha has since 2008. A lot of help now with Terry, Barbosa, Bradley, and even Lee. We could afford to miss Rondo more than we could KG and Pierce.

Where is the depth problem at SF though? We have a guy making $9MM who can play 30+ MPG. Pierce could (should?) average career low MPG during the regular season.


I really hope all of our Big Three play a significantly less amount of minutes this regular season, both from depth and blowouts. Preserve KG and Pierce for the playoffs, and protect Rondo from getting battered.

Regular season awards/honors and All-Star nods are nice and all, but banners and rings are a whole lot nicer.

Depth isn't about a talented 1-2 punch in the position, but about number of bodies you have available to play the position in-hand.

Pierce goes down, you have Green as our only reliable SF (and vice-versa). So, you'd end up relying plenty of Lee at that position, which is not one of strength for him, and/or on Joseph, who's a rookie, so who knows what he can give you with that eventuality.

I guess I should've phrased it as something along the lines of, Pierce won't be as important to help us win games while everyone is healthy, but he's a player that if injured could be costly.

Regardless of depth, when a player goes down of Pierce's caliber,  you are doomed. Didn't Chicago have a few backup PG's?

We have a plethora of bigs now. Still, if KG goes down we are screwed.

But the fact remains we have a top 5 SF in Pierce and the best backup in the league. And like you said, we have Lee who could play 15 mpg there and Joseph.

Sure, in a perfect world we have 3 quality guys at every natural position. But when you have those two, it's kind of hard to pay a guy what he is worth or take significantly less money to most likely ride pine all year.


All in all though, I agree with you. If you look in the "rank 'em" thread, I actually put Green 4th because of his importance. Can't put Bradley or Terry or Lee ahead of him because of Lee AND Terry AND Bradley (and Barbosa). One goes down, we have guys who bring other things to the table at SG.

[xmuscularghandix]

6 PGs to win MVP Award: http://bkref.com/tiny/sDxvE

[BballTim]

For all the Rondo talk, I don't think he'll be THAT up there in the MVP voting. Reason is, that despite what many have led us to believe, since 2008, this is the team that will be least reliant on Rondo.

Last year's "we go as far as Rondo takes us" is no longer applicable this year. We've surrounded our team with a multitude of multi-faceted players with the bonus that they can handle the ball. If Rondo goes down, Terry is there to step up... and sorry if I don't think that the sky would be falling if that were to happen.

So, while Rondo may have a career year, our current roster make-up makes him less essential to us. I think Pierce and to a lesser extent KG will be of more import. Pierce because of the depth problem in SF currently, and KG because of his defense and big man injuries are always a huge concern.

Our guard depth will also limit his time on the floor.

  Losing Rondo would hurt more than losing Pierce. Our 3rd pg is probably better than our 3rd sf but the dropoff from PP to Green is less than the dropoff from Rondo to Terry.

  I'd be fairly surprised to see Rondo get an mvp but I'd expect to see him win a finals mvp if we get that far. Still, the fact that people are talking about him as a candidate kind of makes him one. There's (IMO) a sheep-like quality to the voters.

[GreenFaith1819]

It would good if he's runner up for MVP, but I would rather see him win Finals MVP.

This, absolutely.

And he is very capable of it, too.

He raises his game a notch during the post-season, and this year will be no different.

[hpantazo]

It would good if he's runner up for MVP, but I would rather see him win Finals MVP.

This, absolutely.

And he is very capable of it, too.

He raises his game a notch during the post-season, and this year will be no different.

Agreed, and it would likely be over the lakers in the finals too

[PaulPierce34G]

I think he will make a really good case for himself this year.  The assists will be there, the steals, the decent rebounding stats for a point guard, etc.  If he can get his points-per-game up at least 15 and the Celtics finish with a good record (top 4 seed), I think he will have a good shot.