I think Rondo is the better fit for this Rondo than Paul. Paul would want to dominate the ball too much. We know the chemistry with Rondo works very well. You just don't know how Paul would mesh with big 3 and now "Sheed.
This "better fit" crap is going overboard.
Paul has been an MVP candidate for the last couple of years, and you're going to worry about Rondo being a better fit? Which he isnt...
I don't know I kinda buy elements of the better fit argument. Paul is clearly the better player and probably always will be.
but that NO team was terrible last year. there definitely was a chemistry problem. they had injuries, but their problems went deeper than that.
The roster was built very poorly and they had quite a few key injuries... NO's struggle wasn't Paul's doing.
22 points per game, at 50% shooting, 36% from 3-pointer, 11 assits per game... come on.
Their big man situation was horrible, and that played a huge role. They didn't address that need, instead choosing to overpay for Posey. Then we have Peja who was underperforming and got injured close to the playoffs making matters worse.
well the roster was pretty similar to the year before and Posey actually played well for them.
I'm not saying that CP caused the problem per se, but as the PG you need to get the team playing well together not just get your own stats....
there was enough talent on that team to play better than they did. heck, they did it the season before.
Posey playing well for them was irrelevant if you neglect your real needs. Your teammates under performing, missing wide open shots, is not Paul's problem...he can only do so much. If there's something he does real well is get people wide open shots. And I don't know how much of you can say that it was the same roster with your only good center, and a catalyst of their offense, with Chandler very injured through most of the year. Peja missing shots that he should make
Really, CP can only do so much. And I subscribe to the idea of your PG taking some blame when things are not running smoothly, but when he's doing what he's supposed to and others aren't responding, something else is going on. Funny that people don't like some of my critiques of Rondo when the offense is not running as it should but have no problem in using it against other PGs.
And lets not forget that coach's role in all of this. Still they got to the playoffs, and lost to Denver who really was a powerhouse in the playoffs.
but i disagree that they were simply a team of players missing open shots. things IMO were not running smoothly.
and they got destroyed by DEN. their offense in the series was totally dysfunctional.
they went from one win away from the WCF '08 to an easy out in '09. pretty big drop.
Which is pretty much irrelevant when Chris Paul is concerned as there were many other factors to blame for this, like health. Same as the Celtics this year... Rondo played better this playoffs than the last one, yet we were eliminated earlier. You can't draw conclusions like that. There are many factors involved, and Chris Paul being the PG of the Hornets and him running the offense was hardly their problem.
again, i disagree. I think NOs problems ran deeper than health. they certainly didn't have the same level of injuries as the Cs.
you just said that you complain about Rondo when the Cs offense doesn't run smoothly, so why is it such a stretch to put some blame on CP when NOs offense doesn't run smoothly.
did you watch the DEN series? they were awful. that was not all injury. they were just bad.
Because for the most part Paul is doing what he's supposed to while Rondo isn't?
So, West playing poorly was Paul's fault? Nothing to do with him playing hurt.
Chandler playing poorly because he barely played all season and hadn't played in just one game of the last 16 games of the season before the playoffs started and was completely out of rhythm and quite lost at times. Was that Paul's fault?
And Peja just played poorly, taking bad shots and missing wide open ones... shots he was making consistently the previous year.
Really, Paul was hardly the problem with that offense. Other than Posey, the rest of the roster is pure crap.
You guys complain about Ainge not having a back-up center last year (when we had Garnett, Perk, Baby, and Moore fully capable of playing center) but you know who New Orleans had? Hilton Armstrong... yuck. That's it, other than Chandler who was hurt and just playing awful, that's all they had. PF? West and that crap Sean Marks.... really come on.
You have to be realistic.