Rondo let his man beat him on purpose to get steals?

[GKC]

Ah, and I here I was thinking that I was making things up when I complained about Rondo's defense. I hope this puts the theory of "Rondo is simply funneling who he is defending to our big guys" to rest.

To be fair, my point was he gambles knowing he can hedge his bet (unlike guys such as Bowen who simply give defenders the lane towards Duncan). The more important point was though that Rondo knows who to funnel, and who not to (watch replays of Utah or NO at Boston to see what I mean).

[Fafnir]

Ah, and I here I was thinking that I was making things up when I complained about Rondo's defense. I hope this puts the theory of "Rondo is simply funneling who he is defending to our big guys" to rest.

To be fair, my point was he gambles knowing he can hedge his bet (unlike guys such as Bowen who simply give defenders the lane towards Duncan). The more important point was though that Rondo knows who to funnel, and who not to (watch replays of Utah or NO at Boston to see what I mean).

I don't buy that at all. Rondo certainly played solid D against Deron/CP3. But he let a lot of lesser guards penetrate which hurt the team during those games.

Bad habits are bad habits, and they did rear their head in the playoffs.

[Rondo_is_better]

Ah, and I here I was thinking that I was making things up when I complained about Rondo's defense. I hope this puts the theory of "Rondo is simply funneling who he is defending to our big guys" to rest.

To be fair, my point was he gambles knowing he can hedge his bet (unlike guys such as Bowen who simply give defenders the lane towards Duncan). The more important point was though that Rondo knows who to funnel, and who not to (watch replays of Utah or NO at Boston to see what I mean).

I don't buy that at all. Rondo certainly played solid D against Deron/CP3. But he let a lot of lesser guards penetrate which hurt the team during those games.

Bad habits are bad habits, and they did rear their head in the playoffs.

I don't believe that Rondo "filters" selectively, either. And if he does, that's actually worse. Its not like there are PG's in the NBA who suck at basketball--they're in the ****' NBA. If you let them get into the lane, that gives them a huge advantage and makes them JUST AS GOOD/DANGEROUS as the best PG's in the league (Tony Parker, CP3 etc.). Why? Because what makes those elite point guards elite is their ability to get into the lane. If Rondo makes it easier for less talented PG's to get into the lane, then there is no difference between the best and worse point guards, because they're BOTH getting into the lane.

[BballTim]

Ah, and I here I was thinking that I was making things up when I complained about Rondo's defense. I hope this puts the theory of "Rondo is simply funneling who he is defending to our big guys" to rest.

  What it should put to rest is all the "Rondo's a poor defender" threads. Notice Doc "takes a shot at Rondo's defensive reputation" by saying "Rondo is a fantastic defender, but he’s got a level to go and he can be a great, great defender". The GMs say that Rondo's one of the best defenders in the league. Doc says "That’s because they don’t coach". Well, the coaches took a vote last year and he made 2nd team all-defense. Sports Illustrated did a survey of GMs and advance scouts and he came up best defensive pg. So NBA GMs, coaches and scouts all seem to agree Rondo's one of the best defensive pgs in the league yet I keep reading all these posts that put his defense somewhere between mediocre and slightly above average.

[MrTripleDouble10]

Ah, and I here I was thinking that I was making things up when I complained about Rondo's defense. I hope this puts the theory of "Rondo is simply funneling who he is defending to our big guys" to rest.

  What it should put to rest is all the "Rondo's a poor defender" threads. Notice Doc "takes a shot at Rondo's defensive reputation" by saying "Rondo is a fantastic defender, but he’s got a level to go and he can be a great, great defender". The GMs say that Rondo's one of the best defenders in the league. Doc says "That’s because they don’t coach". Well, the coaches took a vote last year and he made 2nd team all-defense. Sports Illustrated did a survey of GMs and advance scouts and he came up best defensive pg. So NBA GMs, coaches and scouts all seem to agree Rondo's one of the best defensive pgs in the league yet I keep reading all these posts that put his defense somewhere between mediocre and slightly above average.

This is about as perfectly as you could sum up all of this nonsense.  The case is closed on this absurd argument as far as I'm concerned, and BballTim just said it perfectly. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

You people are simply falling in love with all the adjetives and dismissing the facts at your own convenience. To tell you the truth I could care less if you think Rondo is a good defender or not, that's pretty much subjective when you get down to it.

Rondo does a lot of good things defensively, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have some glaring weaknesses also, that for some reason some of you are dismissing quite unreasonably. Just about anyone that knows basketball knows what the main responsibiliities of a defenders are, hell even Doc is mentioning it... stay in front of your man, stop penetration. That's the main aspect of a good defender, and sadly Rondo is not doing it well enough... at least not in a cosistent manner, and certainly failed to do so when we needed it the most last year, particularly against inferior competition. Even Rondo is saying that he hasn't been doing it... it's really beyond me how you guys can keep dismissing this fact.

I find it funny that many here only use "expert opinion" when is convinient. 90% of the posts here are about complaining about these so called experts and their bad analisis, yet we have to take their word for it when it concerns Rondo, when we in Celtic nation have been watching him play for 3 years now. I don't need some expert's opinion to know what I'm seeing, to know what Rondo is doing well and what he's doing wrong. Stopping penetration and staying in front of his man overall has been a big weakness for him... not that he doesn't have the skills to do it, but he just isn't doing it well enough.

This seems like those Powe discussions about his defense... "oh, but look at all the charges he's taking, he's a GREAT DEFENDER!". Sadly, his responsibility on defense is not to take charges, but to make the correct rotations... something he was weak at.

So when all it's said and done, Rondo can be the good defender he is, and still fail at his main responsibility. And that's a fact, admited by him and by Doc.

Sorry, there's no way to rationalize that. If you still want to label him as a good defender, he's that's up to you, but you simply can't close your eyes to the fact that he's missing some of his main assignments defensively and he's admiting to it. So no, I don't want to hear tha crap about him simply funneling his defenders, because it's a completely untrue and deceptive as far as I'm concerned.

Rondo does some really good things out there, staying in front of his man is simply not one of them. Stopping penetration is not one of them, no matter how you rationalize it.

I'll just leave you with this thought: Pruitt is a good shooter, but shot poorly during games. Rondo is a good defender...

[BballTim]

You people are simply falling in love with all the adjetives and dismissing the facts at your own convenience. To tell you the truth I could care less if you think Rondo is a good defender or not, that's pretty much subjective when you get down to it.

Rondo does a lot of good things defensively, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have some glaring weaknesses also, that for some reason some of you are dismissing quite unreasonably. Just about anyone that knows basketball knows what the main responsibiliities of a defenders are, hell even Doc is mentioning it... stay in front of your man, stop penetration. That's the main aspect of a good defender, and sadly Rondo is not doing it well enough... at least not in a cosistent manner, and certainly failed to do so when we needed it the most last year, particularly against inferior competition. Even Rondo is saying that he hasn't been doing it... it's really beyond me how you guys can keep dismissing this fact.

I find it funny that many here only use "expert opinion" when is convinient. 90% of the posts here are about complaining about these so called experts and their bad analisis, yet we have to take their word for it when it concerns Rondo, when we in Celtic nation have been watching him play for 3 years now. I don't need some expert's opinion to know what I'm seeing, to know what Rondo is doing well and what he's doing wrong. Stopping penetration and staying in front of his man overall has been a big weakness for him... not that he doesn't have the skills to do it, but he just isn't doing it well enough.

This seems like those Powe discussions about his defense... "oh, but look at all the charges he's taking, he's a GREAT DEFENDER!". Sadly, his responsibility on defense is not to take charges, but to make the correct rotations... something he was weak at.

So when all it's said and done, Rondo can be the good defender he is, and still fail at his main responsibility. And that's a fact, admited by him and by Doc.

Sorry, there's no way to rationalize that. If you still want to label him as a good defender, he's that's up to you, but you simply can't close your eyes to the fact that he's missing some of his main assignments defensively and he's admiting to it. So no, I don't want to hear tha crap about him simply funneling his defenders, because it's a completely untrue and deceptive as far as I'm concerned.

Rondo does some really good things out there, staying in front of his man is simply not one of them. Stopping penetration is not one of them, no matter how you rationalize it.

I'll just leave you with this thought: Pruitt is a good shooter, but shot poorly during games. Rondo is a good defender...

  It's true that Doc has identified rondo keeping his man in front of him is an area where Rondo can improve. It's also true that Rondo has agreed with this assessment. But if this is a glaring weakness of Rondo's it's also a glaring weakness for just about every point guard in the league. You're right, these things are subjective. And when I talk about Rondo being good or bad at defense I'm comparing him to other point guards that I see.