When I criticize Rondo I criticize things that he has control over, that he should be able to perform, like running the team, passing (timing/accuracy), the pace, and defense. I never or very rarely criticize his shooting for example, which is his major weaknesses as far as skills are concerened.. So when Rondo frustrates me, it's because he's not performing at the level that he should be with his current skill set, and there's no reason for one to be complacent when he performs that way.
In general I agree with what you're saying but his current skill set doesn't necessarily give him the experience or maturity of an older player. While I think that Rondo's inconsistency is frequently exaggerated on these boards and that he does some things extremely well for his age the fact is that spells of up and down play aren't that unusual from 22 year old players. People tend to evaluate Rondo in a vacuum.
Overall true and valid, but then you factor in the type of responsibility he has been given on our team. If he had a lesser role, then I wouldn't mind it much. But as it stands, he has been "given the keys of this team" and he HAS to deliver.
For example. On his second year, I was perfectly content with his lesser role throughout the season when we aquired the KG and Ray. You might remember this era as the "pass to the wing and run to the corner" era. As the season progressed he had asserted himself more in our offense, which is all fine and dandy but just the same he was given more control of our offense. Until we arrived to the playoffs and his role running the offense drastically increased from what it was previously during the season. On that aspect he didn't deliver, and it really annoyed the heck out of me. But in that instance, I put the blame on Doc rather than Rondo because I felt he wasn't ready for that type of responsibility yet.
His 3rd year though, he showed numerous times that he was ready for it, that he could deliver it. This was illustrated perfectly particularly during our big winning streak and the Bulls series (though there were many aspects that he could've done better at). And yeah, he was given the keys... he became a vocal leader, he was given the responsibility and he clearly wanted the responsibility. We're a championship contending team, and he simply has to deliver with the level of control he has on our team. That's just the way it is at the moment.
So no, it's not on a vaccum (though I agree that some do to some degree or another)... it's merely from the perspective of a player who has a huge role as we try to win a championship. So while his struggles are perfectly understandable for his age, it's unacceptable with his current role and our championship aspirations (when he plays poorly).
I do think Rondo is "different" without KG, but not necessarily for the reasons stated. Rondo is different because the entire team plays differently when KG isn't in the game. I did a statistical breakdown during last year's playoffs that showed the differences in the offense with and without KG, and without looking it up the difference is essentially that the scoring volume remains similar but the team has fewer assists, more turnovers, and tends to shoot a lower percentage when Garnett is out.
My reasoning for why this happens is that Garnett is the offensive Ubuntu-maker...he has a pet 2-man play with every starter on the team, and when he's in there his style fosters ball movement. When he's out, on the other hand, the Celtics resort to individual offensive talent. Now, there are some extremely talented offensive individuals on the Celtics which is why the scoring volume can remain constant or even increase without Garnett. But this style requires a lot more individual offense creation with the basketball.
Specifically for Rondo, when Garnett is out Rondo becomes the one that dominates the ball more and becomes primarily responsible for the majority of the non-1-on-1 points that the team generates. So Rondo's assists go way up while simultaneously his scoring also goes up because he has the ball more and is doing more individual attacking. Then, as a side benefit, his rebounding numbers also go up because there are more rebounds available when Garnett isn't on the court.
The thing is, I don't necessarily think Rondo playing in KG-out mode would be best for the team when KG is actually around. When KG is around, you can get back to the free-flowing Ubuntu offense where everyone shares the responsibility for offense creation and efficiency can go back up. Likewise, Rondo no longer needs to put in the energy on the defensive boards and instead he maybe can leak out more and put more pressure on the opposing defenses off of missed shots. Yes, this might come at the expense of some of Rajon's numbers, but at the end of the day it benefits the team as a whole.
Well a combination of both scenarios would be prefferable. Particularly in the Bulls series I really liked that he often attacked early in the shot clock and his pace was really good... those things he can manage with KG in there and improve our overall peformance. One of his problems is when he gets a bit of tunnel vision and he initiates the plays late in the shot clock. And overall I like him doing more attacking, it puts a ton of pressure on the opponents defense, I think PG's overall have a bit of a responsibility to attempt to break down the defense as often as they can early in the shot clock, and he has shown that he can do it and I don't think KG has to be a factor in this, even if he has shown to be.
I think how a lot of people interpreted my original post was that I don't like Rondo and KG on the floor at the same time, but that's not what I was trying to get across, because I think the key to this team winning the championship is the starting five remaining healthy, and the chemistry they have together. The main point I was trying to make is that I think Rondo is more tentative about penetrating the paint when KG is there, and I still think it's true.
For what it's worth, I thought it was a very interesting post, and something worth tracking. There's no denying that Rondo was at his absolute best without KG, and that outside of last year's playoffs, Rondo has been very inconsistent, both in terms of production and (if you believe Doc) focus and/or energy. It's worth examining why that is, if that inconsistency continues into this season.
I don't know about absolute best, but he surely showed a lot of aspects of his game that he often doesn't employ, like I said he pace overall improved and he became more assertive on offense. During our winning streak last year, I thought that Rondo was at his best. He was pushing the ball, making great decisions with the ball, defensing well, and passing the ball well (Ray Allen is my barometer in this for the most part). So, there's some evidence there that Rondo can be a powerhouse with KG in there.
