Rondo ready to Go / Rondo is the best PG in the NBA (merged)

[cordobes]

Teams guard Rondo very differently from the way they defend Ray or Paul. When are teams doubling Rondo to take the ball of his hands or staying at home with him when he's off the ball?

[Roy Hobbs]

  It was my point that Ray's been to all of those all-star games. You're expecting Rondo to be more consistent than perennial all-stars. Ray can disappear and contribute nothing for long stretches. So can Paul or KG. But when Rondo does this it's proof that he's an inconsistent player. When Paul doesn't attack the basket or run his iso play in the first half of a game where are the threads about how he doesn't bring it every game? Where are the posts saying that we need to bring a better backup sg to light a fire under Ray so he doesn't take games off?

I think you missed the point.  Ray or Paul *aren't* inconsistent; they've played consistently at a high level over the course of their careers.  Sure, they have bad games here and there, but overall, they've established themselves over years as all-star caliber players.

Rondo averaged 11.9 / 8.2 / 5.2 this season.  He hasn't been an all-star yet.  He had five brilliant games in the playoffs, followed by three relatively poor ones, followed by an excellent one.  He's had ups and downs his entire career, as is to be expected from a third year player.  He is *not* consistently performing like the "best point guard in the NBA", which I'm sure you know.

Maybe I'm missing your point, but if you're trying to suggest that Rondo plays at Ray's or Paul's level as consistently as they do, I think you're mistaken.

With the exception of Perk, the Celts haven't had ANY truly consistent performers in the playoffs.

I guess Mikki Moore has been consistent in a bad kinda way (though he did have those quality 3 minutes in Game 7)

In determining whether somebody is a consistent / inconsistent player, I think you have to look at more than 9 playoff games.  I guess it's just surprising to me that people are ready to elevate Rondo above players like Chris Paul or Deron Williams -- or argue that they're as consistent as Ray Allen or Paul Pierce -- after a great post-season, which follows a good but not excellent regular season.

[BballTim]

  It was my point that Ray's been to all of those all-star games. You're expecting Rondo to be more consistent than perennial all-stars. Ray can disappear and contribute nothing for long stretches. So can Paul or KG. But when Rondo does this it's proof that he's an inconsistent player. When Paul doesn't attack the basket or run his iso play in the first half of a game where are the threads about how he doesn't bring it every game? Where are the posts saying that we need to bring a better backup sg to light a fire under Ray so he doesn't take games off?

I think you missed the point.  Ray or Paul *aren't* inconsistent; they've played consistently at a high level over the course of their careers.  Sure, they have bad games here and there, but overall, they've established themselves over years as all-star caliber players.

  No, that was my point. Ray and Paul are seen as very consistent players. Rondo's played as consistently as they have in the playoffs. Yet Rondo's been criticized for being inconsistent during the playoffs to a much greater extent than either of them. Shouldn't the fact that they are historicaly more consistent than Rondo mean that they should be MORE consistent that him?

Maybe I'm missing your point, but if you're trying to suggest that Rondo plays at Ray's or Paul's level as consistently as they do, I think you're mistaken.

  His stats aren't as consistent as theirs but his contribution to the team was. I don't think that you can measure Rondo's effect on a game by the number of points or assists or rebounds he gets. But all season long I kept reading "as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics". The team won 62 games, so it's not like he's a jeckyl and hyde type of player.

[KungPoweChicken]

  It was my point that Ray's been to all of those all-star games. You're expecting Rondo to be more consistent than perennial all-stars. Ray can disappear and contribute nothing for long stretches. So can Paul or KG. But when Rondo does this it's proof that he's an inconsistent player. When Paul doesn't attack the basket or run his iso play in the first half of a game where are the threads about how he doesn't bring it every game? Where are the posts saying that we need to bring a better backup sg to light a fire under Ray so he doesn't take games off?

I think you missed the point.  Ray or Paul *aren't* inconsistent; they've played consistently at a high level over the course of their careers.  Sure, they have bad games here and there, but overall, they've established themselves over years as all-star caliber players.

  No, that was my point. Ray and Paul are seen as very consistent players. Rondo's played as consistently as they have in the playoffs. Yet Rondo's been criticized for being inconsistent during the playoffs to a much greater extent than either of them. Shouldn't the fact that they are historicaly more consistent than Rondo mean that they should be MORE consistent that him?

Maybe I'm missing your point, but if you're trying to suggest that Rondo plays at Ray's or Paul's level as consistently as they do, I think you're mistaken.

  His stats aren't as consistent as theirs but his contribution to the team was. I don't think that you can measure Rondo's effect on a game by the number of points or assists or rebounds he gets. But all season long I kept reading "as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics". The team won 62 games, so it's not like he's a jeckyl and hyde type of player.

Good point, the greatness of Rondo cannot be measured by statistics. Stats are good for all-star games and for contracts. Nonetheless, to weigh in on this discussion, Rondo has clearly been much more consistent than Allen and Pierce thus far. Although Pierce has pretty much been consistently bad all playoffs, does that count for anything?

[Mr October]

going with the idea of not using stats to determine a players worth.. How about effort?

Ray and Paul bring it at a consistent level game to game. Some days the outside shot isn;t falling.

In the regular season, Rondo's effort has been up and down. He coasted more often than I liked. But he is young and is getting better all the time.

Rondo is not on Ray or Paul's level of consistent effort yet.

[BballTim]

going with the idea of not using stats to determine a players worth.. How about effort?

Ray and Paul bring it at a consistent level game to game. Some days the outside shot isn;t falling.

In the regular season, Rondo's effort has been up and down. He coasted more often than I liked. But he is young and is getting better all the time.

Rondo is not on Ray or Paul's level of consistent effort yet.

  I think Rondo's lack of consistency is just the most obvious. Paul can play like crap in the first half, start heating up in the third and have a good 4th quarter and everyone's happy. Rondo has a game like that and he gets criticized.

[crownsy]

going with the idea of not using stats to determine a players worth.. How about effort?

Ray and Paul bring it at a consistent level game to game. Some days the outside shot isn;t falling.

In the regular season, Rondo's effort has been up and down. He coasted more often than I liked. But he is young and is getting better all the time.

Rondo is not on Ray or Paul's level of consistent effort yet.

  I think Rondo's lack of consistency is just the most obvious. Paul can play like crap in the first half, start heating up in the third and have a good 4th quarter and everyone's happy. Rondo has a game like that and he gets criticized.

paul also has somewhat misleading stats.

don't get me wrong, i think he's the best PG in the NBA at the moment. But he dominates the ball for 18-20 seconds on some possessions.

I remember a game from this year where they only had 17 assists all game, and paul had 16 of them.

Still love his game, and he's still the best....but i dunno, just seems to me that he might be the most ball hogging PG around...he just holds the ball so long in that offense.