Rondo's game never evolved from Summer league.

[the_Bird]

It's not just that the skills never evolved; the other issues, the stubbornness, the petulance, not being coachable, that's the stuff that was being talked about when he left Kentucky that made him fall so far in the draft.  All the talk about how much he had grown up, how he's matured around Pierce and KG, how the team had become "Rondo's Team" a couple years ago was just complete and utter nonsense. 

And I don't think those are unrelated.  He doesn't seem to trust his coaches.  He's stubborn in his approach.  How's a player supposed to *get* better if they're unable to accept help or criticism?

[crimson_stallion]

Sure Rondo got better at the skills he already had, but he never changed from the guy I first saw running around like a madman in his first Summer league stint. Some guys evolve some don't.
 Every year we would fantasize that Rajon would be able to shoot a three, or a fifteen footer, or a free throw. It never happened he could not add any other facet to his game.

 Oh well now we have three point guards who can hopefully do what Rondo could not. Improve drastically. I do like Stevens chances with three very different options.

Rondo shot 39% from 10-16 feet and 40% from 16ft - 3PT over his career.

Those are pretty decent numbers, and about 25% of all his career FGA came from within those ranges. 

He's actually been a decent midrange shooter over his career, just never developed much of a three point shot.

He's also been left wide open there for most of his career.

So have many guys who have been perceived as bad shooters, but many never made midrange jumpers at such reasonable percentages - even when left wide open.

[D.o.s.]

I am curious to see how many players who entered the league as sub par free throw shooters were able to become "acceptable", or league average FT shooters.

Narrow that question to subpar shooting guards,  and you might have a debate

Pictured: a subpar shooting guard

Sorry met supar FT shooting guards which he shot 89%

Hey now, I take making fun of Nick Young very seriously.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I do not think this is fair or true to a large degree.   I think Rondo's shot improved marginally over the years but a lot of his progress was halted by playing with three hall of famers who could carry a team.     It was their team all the way and Rondo was the fourth option.   He also benefited from this making an all-star game.

I thought he could compensate for his lack of shooting until the injury with his speed.   He could drive by folks and penetrate but once his injury happened he was never the same player.  Typical Ainge guy who has some talent but if flawed in some way.   Ainge loves to gamble that their strengths will overcome their flaws.   For a while, with Rondo he was right.

I thought the season in which he got injured he was shooting the mid-range jumper really well, so he did develop on that regard.

His biggest problem has always been on the defensive end (which is maddening since he's a very capable defender), the lack of penetration (particularly during the season), and his inability to "run" and walking the ball up the floor. Well not inability, but he found it difficult to get himself to do it.

That's always what doomed Rondo more than anything, not the lack of shooting.

There's always Playoff Rondo to look out for, which makes the analysis of him as a player a bit difficult, though his inconsistencies also remained, but he was a top performer when he put his mind into it.

[Celtics4ever]

His biggest problem has always been on the defensive end (which is maddening since he's a very capable defender), the lack of penetration (particularly during the season), and his inability to "run" and walking the ball up the floor. Well not inability, but he found it difficult to get himself to do it.

I agree, he picked his moments, and they did not come often.

[wahz]

I am curious to see how many players who entered the league as sub par free throw shooters were able to become "acceptable", or league average FT shooters.

Gary Payton is a decent example as he had a .66 and .59 year in his first 4 years but ended up being consistently about .740.  Our own KG gained a good 100 points himself. A fair number of guys get better, but I don't know anyone who went from sub 600 to above 800

[wahz]

I am curious to see how many players who entered the league as sub par free throw shooters were able to become "acceptable", or league average FT shooters.

Chris Webber, Karl Malone ,Blake Griffin perhaps

Nice work. Griffin is possibly the best current example. He really worked at it. He also wasn't stubborn about it and he even joked about it in the car commercials

[D.o.s.]

So, it would seem to me that those are the exceptions, rather than the rule, and that players are more 'unlikely' to improve their FT percentages in a meaningful way than 'unwilling' to do so.

In other words, if shooting freethrows was the difference between earning what Rondo will be paid by the Kings or earning what we thought he was going to make a couple years ago, it would seem  silly for any player not to improve their performance from the line.

edit: posted too soon, it seems (although that link is a few years old. TP Hwanji)

[hwangjini_1]

I am curious to see how many players who entered the league as sub par free throw shooters were able to become "acceptable", or league average FT shooters.

more than a few.

https://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/nba-players-with-mid-career-improvement-in-ft/