Where did Rondo's Defense go?!

[EJPLAYA]

Well, I've never felt that he was as good as people made him out to be defensively. He's never been good at staying in front of his man. He also at times has trouble fighting through picks, and his defensive stance is not good (though improved a bit). Also, he gambles unsuccesfully too often. His biggest strength is his ability to recover and come from behind to save a defensive lapse, the way he plays the passing lanes (which at times is his biggest problem too), and his sneakyness.

  If he can't stay in front of his man then he wouldn't be fighting through picks as there would be no need for them. And it's hard to stay in front of your man the way they call fouls. Would you say that Rondo's defenders do a better job of staying in front of him than he does staying in front of them?

Sorry, blaming your bad defense on the refs is a pretty poor excuse.

As far as them keeping in front of them that doesn't matter. He is faster than them. They SHOULD have a hard time keeping him in front of them, yet point guards who are much slower do it all the time. It is because they play good fundamental defense which Rondo chooses not to. Other than a couple guys no one should beat him off the dribble. Defense takes hard work and extra effort, so maybe he just isn't that interested in being a great defender.

[RAcker]

The ankles may be an issue, but not officiating.  Anyone who reaches from behind poking at the ball as much as he does lacks some fundamentals somewhere.

[winsomme]

Rondo more than anybody on this team benefits from a healthy KG.

Like it or not, Rondo is a gambler on defense. he gambles off his man and he gambles on steals.

when both KG and Perk are back there protecting the rim, this has been hugely successful for Rondo. he totally screws with the other team sets by them never really knowing where he is going to be coming from.

but with Leon, Baby and Mikki back there, his gambles can lead to way too much penetration which completely unravels the defense and get easy, easy buckets for the other team.

So i don't know what to say. Rondo is great at what he does. We just need to get healthy to make it work in our favor.

[Steve Weinman]

Well, I've never felt that he was as good as people made him out to be defensively. He's never been good at staying in front of his man. He also at times has trouble fighting through picks, and his defensive stance is not good (though improved a bit). Also, he gambles unsuccesfully too often. His biggest strength is his ability to recover and come from behind to save a defensive lapse, the way he plays the passing lanes (which at times is his biggest problem too), and his sneakyness.

Well put, Bud.  TP.

-sw

[Reggie's Ghost]

im goign to guess with the sprained right ankle a month agoto start, and now with the other one sprained, its worse.

Defense is all about cutting and lateral movment, and its no secret he's got a bad ankle, and while its not so bad he can't play on it, he's made no bones about the fact that he is having trouble cutting when asked about it.

and now he has two, tough to play defense without that ability. He doesn't even full court pressure right now, and i don't think its laziness, its an inablity to stay with guys cutting left and right and making him plant.

Yep. Rondo looked liked a different player after the sprained ankle last night and it was confirmed by his comments. If both ankles are seriuosly bothering him, then we might be better off conceding the 2nd spot, getting Rondo healthy and resting up Pierce (he has looked tired out there for the past week or two).

TP Absolutely, I agree 100%, screw HCA, pull back on PP, RA, RR and keep KG at 14 mpg--let that 2nd unit find an identity and grow a pair. 

I think the OP points out just how effective Rondo plays on defense.  When healthy he's all over the court with thieves' hands, right now he's pedestrian on D.  Paul and Ray are exhausted, KG and Rondo are hurt, and we're one tweak of Perk's shoulder away from playing a starting 5 that is 60%-80% across the board...

[BballTim]

Well, I've never felt that he was as good as people made him out to be defensively. He's never been good at staying in front of his man. He also at times has trouble fighting through picks, and his defensive stance is not good (though improved a bit). Also, he gambles unsuccesfully too often. His biggest strength is his ability to recover and come from behind to save a defensive lapse, the way he plays the passing lanes (which at times is his biggest problem too), and his sneakyness.

  If he can't stay in front of his man then he wouldn't be fighting through picks as there would be no need for them. And it's hard to stay in front of your man the way they call fouls. Would you say that Rondo's defenders do a better job of staying in front of him than he does staying in front of them?

Sorry, blaming your bad defense on the refs is a pretty poor excuse.

As far as them keeping in front of them that doesn't matter. He is faster than them. They SHOULD have a hard time keeping him in front of them, yet point guards who are much slower do it all the time. It is because they play good fundamental defense which Rondo chooses not to. Other than a couple guys no one should beat him off the dribble. Defense takes hard work and extra effort, so maybe he just isn't that interested in being a great defender.

  Again, though, who are all these pgs who always keep their men in front of them? If he's as bad at it as you and Bud say you should be able to come up with a list of at least 10-15 guys who are clearly better at it than Rajon.

[illantari]

It left him when he tweaked that second ankle.  He begged it to stay, but it told him it was tired of his lack of lateral movement and bum ankles, and couldn't take it anymore.  It's going home to live with its mother, but told him to call if he ever gets his act together.

Took the kids too.

[CoachBo]

Well, I've never felt that he was as good as people made him out to be defensively. He's never been good at staying in front of his man. He also at times has trouble fighting through picks, and his defensive stance is not good (though improved a bit). Also, he gambles unsuccesfully too often. His biggest strength is his ability to recover and come from behind to save a defensive lapse, the way he plays the passing lanes (which at times is his biggest problem too), and his sneakyness.

Well put, Bud.  TP.

-sw

Good analysis. His defensive attention span isn't that good.

[EJPLAYA]

All of you who disagree need to let Tommy know. He said exactly what I was saying in this thread. Something to the effect of Rondo not keeping his feet in front of his guy and trying to knock it out from behind on almost every play. How it puts our bigs in a bind. TP to you Tommy! Rondo has to stop gambling and putting us in defensive jams...

[billysan]

A big part of everyones defense is missing lately.

Having a healthy KG on the court 'allows' Rondo and others to take a few more chances on defensive assignments. When he is not there, the team needs to play a little better individual defense. We obviously have no one else to pick up the team defensive slack like KG can.

Also, to be fair I think Rondo's recent ankle problems may be affecting his defense. This combined with his 'risk taking' and other shortcomings that have been pointed out by previous posters would explain a noticeable defensive drop off as well.