If Rondo is our top scorer, we're in trouble

[moiso]

Rondo will be our best player this year. The big 3 and Sheed can't match his energy. 

Quite possible!

[MrTripleDouble10]

Said it once and I'll say it twice, if someone overreacts to meaningless preseason games, you can chalk them up as a L(oser).

Wow you must be new here.  While I agree with you 100%, the word "overreact" accurately represents about 75% of all forum topic subjects.  TP for you nonetheless.

[Roy Hobbs]

Rondo will be our best player this year. The big 3 and Sheed can't match his energy. 

I disagree.  At least last season, it was Rondo who was criticized for not playing with the same amount of energy every night.  On the other hand, "energy" is not something I'd ever think of criticizing KG for.

I think Rondo was too inconsistent last year to be considered our best player.  Even if he makes "the leap", I think he'll rank behind KG and Paul.

[Fafnir]

Rondo will be our best player this year. The big 3 and Sheed can't match his energy. 

KG will be our best play this year, by a large margin. Rondo easily could be the second best player on the team if he brings consistent effort and hits his free throws.

But he can't match KG's defense, especially when big's are much more important in basketball than smaller players.

[Evantime34]

Said it once and I'll say it twice, if at the end of the night Rondo has taken the most shots on the team, you can go ahead and chalk up the L.

Strongly disagree, the majority of the shots Rondo takes are layups. If he's not taking layups he's shooting wide open jumpers. So if he scores a lot it's usually on good shots. If the Celtics are scoring that easily (layups and open jumpers) there's a good chance we win.

[Fafnir]

Said it once and I'll say it twice, if at the end of the night Rondo has taken the most shots on the team, you can go ahead and chalk up the L.

Strongly disagree, the majority of the shots Rondo takes are layups. If he's not taking layups he's shooting wide open jumpers. So if he scores a lot it's usually on good shots. If the Celtics are scoring that easily (layups and open jumpers) there's a good chance we win.

If only he could make a robust percentage of open jumpers.....

[GKC]

Games where Rondo was the top scorer, score and Win/loss

Detroit @ Boston (11/20/08), 18pts, Win.
Utah @ Boston (12/15/08), 25pts, Win.
NY @ Boston (12/21/08), 26pts, Win.
Phoenix @ Boston (01/19/09), 23pts, Win.
Boston @ Phoenix (02/22/09), 32pts, Win.
NJ @ Boston (04/08/09), 31pts, Win.
Chicago @ Boston (04/18/09), 29pts, Win*.
Chicago @ Boston (04/28/09), 28pts, Win*.

*Playoffs.
---
Observations:

Every game where Rondo is the top scorer we've won. And there's a reason for this. Pierce, KG, and Ray are very consistent in their offense. If Rondo does score more, that usually is the cherry on the sundae. These are against good teams too (6 out of the 8 with an over .500 record at the time).

Rondo will also consistently be the top scorer against running teams. And that makes sense; he's one of our younger guys and he loves to run, and is great scoring in transition. Top scorer of both Phoenix games, and he consistently scores well against the Knicks as well as the Nuggets. So we shouldn't be surprised that he was the top scorer last night (not to mention he dominated minutes).

Don't just make statements without looking at the stats, and then overreacting. THe stats seem to go to the contrary.

[clover]

Nice work, GKC--TP for you!

[clover]

Rondo will be our best player this year. The big 3 and Sheed can't match his energy. 

I disagree.  At least last season, it was Rondo who was criticized for not playing with the same amount of energy every night.  On the other hand, "energy" is not something I'd ever think of criticizing KG for.

I think Rondo was too inconsistent last year to be considered our best player.  Even if he makes "the leap", I think he'll rank behind KG and Paul.

I'd love to see Paul dedicate himself to becoming the incredible, unstoppable LeBron quencher by the end of the season.  We really need a strong defense guy to rein in LBJ in the playoffs, and it would be great if that side of Pierce's game could be a major focus this year.  With balanced team scoring and Daniels giving him enough rest, that would be quite possible.

[Roy Hobbs]

Games where Rondo was the top scorer, score and Win/loss

Detroit @ Boston (11/20/08), 18pts, Win.
Utah @ Boston (12/15/08), 25pts, Win.
NY @ Boston (12/21/08), 26pts, Win.
Phoenix @ Boston (01/19/09), 23pts, Win.
Boston @ Phoenix (02/22/09), 32pts, Win.
NJ @ Boston (04/08/09), 31pts, Win.
Chicago @ Boston (04/18/09), 29pts, Win*.
Chicago @ Boston (04/28/09), 28pts, Win*.

*Playoffs.
---
Observations:

Every game where Rondo is the top scorer we've won. And there's a reason for this. Pierce, KG, and Ray are very consistent in their offense. If Rondo does score more, that usually is the cherry on the sundae. These are against good teams too (6 out of the 8 with an over .500 record at the time).

Rondo will also consistently be the top scorer against running teams. And that makes sense; he's one of our younger guys and he loves to run, and is great scoring in transition. Top scorer of both Phoenix games, and he consistently scores well against the Knicks as well as the Nuggets. So we shouldn't be surprised that he was the top scorer last night (not to mention he dominated minutes).

Don't just make statements without looking at the stats, and then overreacting. THe stats seem to go to the contrary.

Nice job (TP).  Looking at the regular season, we only lost one game where Rondo scored 18 or more points (the St. Patty's Day game against Chicago.)  We were 15-1 in those games.

[Fafnir]

Of course we had to lose the game I went to....

[celticmaestro]

Said it once and I'll say it twice, if at the end of the night Rondo has taken the most shots on the team, you can go ahead and chalk up the L.

Don't say it a third time please, twice was enough.

[Roy Hobbs]

I guess the argument was "shot attempts", rather than scoring.  In regular season games where Rondo had 12 or more shot attempts, the team went 20-2 (losing only to the Bulls and Lakers).

If anything, that's some evidence that when Rondo isn't offensively aggressive, our team suffers a little.

[Chris]

I guess the argument was "shot attempts", rather than scoring.  In regular season games where Rondo had 12 or more shot attempts, the team went 20-2 (losing only to the Bulls and Lakers).

If anything, that's some evidence that when Rondo isn't offensively aggressive, our team suffers a little.

Or that if teams take away Rondo's shots by not allowing him to get into the lane, then that is the best way to stifle the C's offense. 

While I think there are certainly times when Rondo simply backs off too much, I think a lot of the times when he does not shoot the ball it is because the other teams are not allowing him to get in the lane.

[GKC]

I guess the argument was "shot attempts", rather than scoring.  In regular season games where Rondo had 12 or more shot attempts, the team went 20-2 (losing only to the Bulls and Lakers).

If anything, that's some evidence that when Rondo isn't offensively aggressive, our team suffers a little.

Or that if teams take away Rondo's shots by not allowing him to get into the lane, then that is the best way to stifle the C's offense. 

While I think there are certainly times when Rondo simply backs off too much, I think a lot of the times when he does not shoot the ball it is because the other teams are not allowing him to get in the lane.

Exactly. Rondo being aggressive causes defense to latch on him more, creating better spacing, and more switching when Rondo drives, allowing him to more easily dish.

I think just looking at Rondo's attempts and shooting %, he knows when to take his shots, and they're usually good. So I'd say if Rondo is the top scorer / has a lot of attempts, it really is the opposing defense that's in trouble, not us.