Is IT better than prime Rondo? (POLL)

[loco_91]

Rondo's usual detractors will post lengthy diatribes in vain attempts to discredit Rajon Rondo's time here.

Some...change their spots like chameleons.

Yet others are caught up in the new.

Like Bruce Hornsby and The Range - "That's just the way it is. Some Things Never Change........."

I'm happy for IT4, Marcus Smart and BOS.

I suppose that the Sully Fat jokes and the perennial Trade Marcus threads are on hold - for now.

So, we'll dig up CelticsBlog favorite Whipping Boy - Rajon Rondooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhh...........

I loved Rondo.  I still love him.  He was overrated here.

And Sully is still fat.  He's been awful in the playoffs.  Good chance we let him walk this Summer.  If he's not careful, he's going to follow Big Baby's path out of the league.

Oh come on LB!! A vast majority of these posters who know you on this blog who are newer members might believe this but I was here for all those years and know for a fact you didnt love Rondo. Dang, you were calling for him to be traded for 5 years. You disappeared when Rondo was great and were the first person on this site criticizing him, his attitude, his shooting, anything you could criticize him for and then went into a diatribe about him needing to be traded if he went through a stretch where he didnt play at an elite level. I am not buying your Rondo love and neither should people who werent here for all those years

Not at all true.

I loved Rondo.  I still love Rondo.  Also, I've never disappeared from this forum.  I live here. 

I was likely one of the first to criticize him, but I always come from the same angle on this stuff.  My Celtic fandom comes first.  If there's a trade to be made to improve the team long-term, I'd trade anyone.  Paul Pierce is my favorite player of the modern era, but I wasn't going to play stupid when people here suggested he was better than LeBron.  I wasn't going to ignore it when the team's best big-picture move was to trade Pierce.   

The criticism of Rondo stemmed from a place of honesty.  People here wanted to say he was the best point guard in the league.  He wasn't.  Folks wanted to say he was better than Chris Paul.  He wasn't.   There was also mounting evidence that the team played well without him.  I argued all the way back in 2012 that while Rondo was playing phenomenally well racking up assists, the team might be better off with the injured young guard on Golden State averaging 14.7 points on 49%/46%/81% shooting.  Yeah, the guard didn't seem to display Rondo's pass instincts, had paper ankles and was seen as a vastly inferior defender to Rondo, but I had to wonder how our team might transform if you replaced an albatross offensive player like Rondo with a guy who could hold his own in the back court with Ray Allen.  Seemed to me, if that kid could keep up that hot shooting, it would make the team exceptionally dangerous.  The spacing would be incredible.  And it seemed to me we didn't necessarily need a traditional point guard.  We actually played better when the ball flowed through Pierce, and the initial plan when KG arrived was the have the ball flow through him.  Yeah, the guard out of Golden State would probably get less assists than Rondo, but I thought our offense would be better off.   

I was labelled a troll for those thoughts.  How dare I suggest moving Rondo for that guy?  That guy wasn't even close to being an all-star.  My whole thing was, the guard had proven to be an exceptional shooter and I thought he was being held back by Monta Ellis.  I would have traded Rondo for that kid. 

That player was Steph Curry.  No regrets. 

I loved Rondo.  I will not apologize for wanting to trade him for Steph Curry.   Supposedly Ainge did as well.  Rumor suggested Ainge tried moving Rondo for Steph back when Curry's stock was low and Golden State decided against it.

I still love Rondo.  There's pretty significant evidence Thomas is a better offensive player.  Last year alone there's evidence the team played better with Thomas than it did with Rondo.  It is what it is.   That doesn't take anything away from how I feel about Rondo.  It's ok to like flawed players.  I'm loving what I'm seeing out of Isaiah Thomas.  He's flawed as well.   I'm not going to pretend Isaiah Thomas is the best guard in the world now just because I'm a fan of his.

Man... Imagine if Ainge had pulled off that trade...

[Moranis]

Not on Rondo's good days, but IT is more consistent as a player.  he doesn't have the huge peaks and valleys that Rondo had.