Rajon Rondo just doesn't get it. And that's why he doesn't have a new contract.

[GKC]

Yeah not sure what game some of you watched.  He was dominating out there last night.  Anymore games like that and he will deserve the max.

Dominating on the ball defender and relentless on the boards.

Rondo did not dominate the game, he made several good plays especially in transition. But its hard to call it domination when he wasn't able to penetrate consistently.

I think what he meant is that he was dominant in his on the ball defense, not like his matador style he played last year. And given that Williams was a non factor, especially in the fourth quarter when Williams was invisible.

He played very good D on Williams, but that's not really dominance. You can't dominate a game by playing great D on the opponents point and then having a efficient but unspectacular offensive performance.

Too each his own I'll stick with a dominating on ball defense last night.  And my original post was meant to question anyone questioning his game last night.  So if you didn't question his game you probably aren't who I was commenting on.

By that definition Perk dominates games more than Pierce.

Leave it to Billy Simmons fan to come up with an awful analogy. ( sad emoticon )

But yes he was dominating last night.

It's a bad analogy, but what does that have to do with being a Simmons fan? I'm a big Simmons fan, and I can understand you meant "dominant on-ball defense", and that you can be dominant in other ways like PP was "dominant in clutch scoring".

I agree with you, but don't lump all the Simmons fans together. And buy his book; its researched surprisingly well

[Birdbrain]

Sorry, but posts like this are the reason I almost never come here anymore.
Rondo may be the third best pg(Paul, Rose) in the whole league IMO- no one is perfect.
Would all you critics prefer Dana Barros, Delonte West, Marcus Banks, Sebastian Telfair, John Bagley, or any of the dozens of other pgs the C's have had since the 80's?
Guess I'm just an old fart who appreciates that we finally have a pg who is not only exciting to watch, but is a winner.
Spare me the stats(though I agree that the foul shooting is inexcusable), the guy does things almost no other pg does. And contrary to the OP, Rondo has superior bb iq and instincts and makes very few errors.
So that's my ignorant, uninformed opinion for today. Bring on the insults or smug superiority.
And I apologize for the tone of my post, I'm tired:)

I think you are pretty spot on so I wouldn't be too concerned with any critiquing if your post.

[Birdbrain]

Yeah not sure what game some of you watched.  He was dominating out there last night.  Anymore games like that and he will deserve the max.

Dominating on the ball defender and relentless on the boards.

Rondo did not dominate the game, he made several good plays especially in transition. But its hard to call it domination when he wasn't able to penetrate consistently.

I think what he meant is that he was dominant in his on the ball defense, not like his matador style he played last year. And given that Williams was a non factor, especially in the fourth quarter when Williams was invisible.

He played very good D on Williams, but that's not really dominance. You can't dominate a game by playing great D on the opponents point and then having a efficient but unspectacular offensive performance.

Too each his own I'll stick with a dominating on ball defense last night.  And my original post was meant to question anyone questioning his game last night.  So if you didn't question his game you probably aren't who I was commenting on.

By that definition Perk dominates games more than Pierce.

Leave it to Billy Simmons fan to come up with an awful analogy. ( sad emoticon )

But yes he was dominating last night.

It's a bad analogy, but what does that have to do with being a Simmons fan? I'm a big Simmons fan, and I can understand you meant "dominant on-ball defense", and that you can be dominant in other ways like PP was "dominant in clutch scoring".

I agree with you, but don't lump all the Simmons fans together. And buy his book; its researched surprisingly well

Good point I was being a bit sarcastic in relation to Pierce analogy and Simmons constant use of analogies. 

[Fafnir]

It's not a bad analogy, there is more to dominating a game than great on ball defense.

Just like there is more to dominating a game than great post D, and solid help defense. (Ala Perk compared to Pierce)

If you're going to insult me for not hating Simmons, I'm not sure how we can have a conversation that's productive.

[Birdbrain]

It's not a bad analogy, there is more to dominating a game than great on ball defense.

Just like there is more to dominating a game than great post D, and solid help defense. (Ala Perk compared to Pierce)

If you're going to insult me for not hating Simmons, I'm not sure how we can have a conversation that's productive.

Good point.

[slamtheking]

I disagree with the OP. Rondo had a pretty good game, and passed very well. A lot of the points are just nitpicking. Rondo slowing down to get the poster?

If you look at what Ray did, you'll understand that you HAVE to try and dunk it, because if you lay it up, Lebron will DEFINITELY get it. I think it's a sign that ROndo learned, because a week ago, he tried to go off glass and Lebron killed them. Same reason why Cliff Lee in the playoffs laid it up, got blocked, and on the next fast break possession dunked it instead.

As for boxing out, there is absolutely no need to box out as a point guard against a guard that doesn't stay for the rebound. Once the shot goes in the air, Mo is already running back on D. This allows for Rondo to sneak between big men and grab a board, something that's extremely effective as you can see by his stats.

I think Rondo had a good game, and it's hard to complain about that. Simply nitpicking, you can do it to every player, and I just think for the sake of the fact that he wants money, it's been targetted at Rondo and it's a little unfair.

No, I mostly agree with you - Rondo had a very good game overall; his rebounding was also excellent as usual.  I don't agree with the thread title by any means.  But he still is making some dumb plays out there.  It was more things like the attempted dunk on LeBron, and trying to toss in a layup over Shaq after that huge rebound he got with 1:30 left that annoyed me more than anything else.  Don't want to sound like I'm hating on him, it's just that Rondo's got enough talent where if he cuts the mental mistakes down to a minimum he'll be a top-5 point guard.  We're gonna need a lot from him this year.

I'm going to give Rondo 2-3 stupid plays a game because he is only 23 years old. Yeah, he's a 4 year vet now but we forget just how young he is as a PG starting for the best starting five in the league. I have less problem with that rebound and attempted layin late as that is shear emotion and adrenalin working at that point as I do the second of his turnovers where he drove to the basket, jumped himself behind the basket and had nowhere to go with the ball once he was in the air.

THAT, he should have learned to stop by now. Dribble through to the other side and watch your man and the defense move back to their assigned men and see that a quick turnaround jumper from 5-8 feet will be wide open for you every time Rondo. You were doing that most of late last year. Don't fall back on old habits now.

Every player is going to have 2-3 stupid plays per game.  Ray's been good for 4-5 bad plays each of the 1st 2 games this year. 

[slamtheking]

No, I mostly agree with you - Rondo had a very good game overall; his rebounding was also excellent as usual.  I don't agree with the thread title by any means.  But he still is making some dumb plays out there.  It was more things like the attempted dunk on LeBron, and trying to toss in a layup over Shaq after that huge rebound he got with 1:30 left that annoyed me more than anything else.  Don't want to sound like I'm hating on him, it's just that Rondo's got enough talent where if he cuts the mental mistakes down to a minimum he'll be a top-5 point guard.  We're gonna need a lot from him this year.

  I wouldn't really criticize him for the dunk attempt. It's not like LeBron was waiting under the basket for him. I think the better play might have been to lay it in and try and get a foul when LeBron went after it. It was a pretty amazing play by LeBron.

It's more that he appeared (to me; I could be wrong) to know he was coming and tried to make the spectacular play instead of going under the rim for a reverse layup, and that he's challenged LeBron multiple times before on fastbreaks, and they never ended well either.  LeBron's done it enough times that guys should be looking for him out there, and he's done it enough times to Rondo specifically that Rondo should be taking a different approach.

Um, isn't it worse to layup? Lebron has proven that he will kill the layup, and the dunk attempt seems safer because you could get a foul out of it, since dunks are much harder to block, and would have more contact involved (where Lebrons involved).

Remember, Ray Allen did the SAME THING. It's not as if he's getting criticized for it

I criticized Ray for it in a different thread.  He's got about 9-10 years of experience on Rondo, bigger than Rondo and had the "benefit" of seeing Lebron block Rondo on the same play in the same game.  Ray definitely needs to be called out on that play for not having the sense to either score the basket without getting blocked or go up in a manner that would draw a foul.  No excuse for that.  Simple concept to understand in a Cavs game---when going up for a dunk or layup on a breakaway (if you're lucky enough to get 1, nevermind 2) and Lebron's on the court, don't take off until near the basket when you can better use your body to block the defender instead of taking off from a distance and extending the ball out for him to get it cleanly.

[Global Celtic]

Nice topic. I also think there's something wrong with Rondo. I'm just not comfortable in giving him a 50+million extension.

But, as for LeBron's blocks, we must consider they have to decide these moves in fractions of a second...

[fairweatherfan]

No, I mostly agree with you - Rondo had a very good game overall; his rebounding was also excellent as usual.  I don't agree with the thread title by any means.  But he still is making some dumb plays out there.  It was more things like the attempted dunk on LeBron, and trying to toss in a layup over Shaq after that huge rebound he got with 1:30 left that annoyed me more than anything else.  Don't want to sound like I'm hating on him, it's just that Rondo's got enough talent where if he cuts the mental mistakes down to a minimum he'll be a top-5 point guard.  We're gonna need a lot from him this year.

  I wouldn't really criticize him for the dunk attempt. It's not like LeBron was waiting under the basket for him. I think the better play might have been to lay it in and try and get a foul when LeBron went after it. It was a pretty amazing play by LeBron.

It's more that he appeared (to me; I could be wrong) to know he was coming and tried to make the spectacular play instead of going under the rim for a reverse layup, and that he's challenged LeBron multiple times before on fastbreaks, and they never ended well either.  LeBron's done it enough times that guys should be looking for him out there, and he's done it enough times to Rondo specifically that Rondo should be taking a different approach.

Um, isn't it worse to layup? Lebron has proven that he will kill the layup, and the dunk attempt seems safer because you could get a foul out of it, since dunks are much harder to block, and would have more contact involved (where Lebrons involved).

Remember, Ray Allen did the SAME THING. It's not as if he's getting criticized for it

Reverse layup - there's no good way to attack the rim when LeBron's lurking behind you, he's the best in the league at blocks like that.  But going under the rim and using your body and the rim to defend the play is about as well as you can handle it. 

And Ray should've known better too, but the topic is Rondo, and I got the sense with Ray that he just didn't realize LeBron was there, whereas Rondo was deliberately trying to dunk on him.

Anyway, Rajon had a great game without any major mental mistakes last night.  So far, so good.

[misterx2day]

Where is the incredibly misguided person who posted this thread now? 21 assists to 3 turnovers in first 2 games. He's shooting above 50 percent as usual. He's getting steals, but he's not letting his man beat him. Its only two games, but the person that posted this made their judgment after 1 game, so I guess I get to make snap judgments too.

[Birdbrain]

I would go with dominating again last night.  The left handed pass across court to PP was a thing of beauty.  He's making a case for the max.  

[Moranis]

I would go with dominating again last night.  The left handed pass across court to PP was a thing of beauty.  He's making a case for the max.  

unless the PG is named Magic or Paul I would never pay a PG max.  They just aren't worth it.

[Birdbrain]

I would go with dominating again last night.  The left handed pass across court to PP was a thing of beauty.  He's making a case for the max.  

unless the PG is named Magic or Paul I would never pay a PG max.  They just aren't worth it.

Or Derron Williams who I feel is better than Paul but, your point is valid.  Although if someone wants Rondo for the Max the C's will match, IMO.  I say let it play out unless he takes 5/50 by Saturday.

[BballTim]

I would go with dominating again last night.  The left handed pass across court to PP was a thing of beauty.  He's making a case for the max.  

unless the PG is named Magic or Paul I would never pay a PG max.  They just aren't worth it.

  I'd have given the max to Isiah.

[GKC]

I would go with dominating again last night.  The left handed pass across court to PP was a thing of beauty.  He's making a case for the max.  

unless the PG is named Magic or Paul I would never pay a PG max.  They just aren't worth it.

Oscar? In his prime Jason Kidd? West? Cous? Pete Maravich? Stockton?

I smell the exaggeration train coming in.

  I'd have given the max to Isiah.