Garnett admits it: "We HAD some chemistry problems"

[clover]

You hear it from the Old F*&ts when they're asked about Rondo and they respond to the effect of "He's just got to learn to be consistent" or "He's really coming along" or some such.  That patronizing twaddle must be irritating as anything for the younger generation to have to listen to.

[JudsonMerrill]

I think Doc covered this pretty well in Wojo's column after Rondo's Game 4 apotheosis.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-rondoceltics050910

“I think the player has to earn it,” Rivers said in the hallway. “You could see how good he was. You could see how talented he was. But every time he had a bad moment – a bad game, a flare-up where he lost his temper with another player – he would have to win that credibility full-time.

“To me, what Rondo has done is this: He’s done it with his play, and he’s done it with his actions. That allows people to buy in, because they have to buy in. You have to sell that to three guys like that. They have to believe in you all the time. That took a lot of work by Rondo. Last year was up and down – even in the playoffs it was up and down.

“This year it’s been constant, and I think that’s been the biggest swing. If you can convince Kevin Garnett to follow you, then you’ve done a hell of a job.”

“And Kevin believes in him.”

It's not just an ego/headbutting thing. If you're Pierce or Garnett and Rajon Rondo is barking and yapping mid-season to take control of your team--to call the plays, to pace the offense, to run the show--after you led the club to a title two years ago, and the kid hasn't always made the best on court decisions, wouldn't you hesitate before saying, "Okay, sure thing, 24-year-old, you can tell me where to run, when to pick, when to curl, when to cut and I'll take my seven all-star appearances and Finals MVP and just do what you say"?

How could that not take a few months to work out? How could that not be awkward and confusing for everyone involved? Maybe most confusing of all for guys like Tony Allen, Davis, and Perkins. Who's in charge of this team? It's a fascinating, almost classical dynamic. If anything, it's sort of amazing the team's still intact and makes me even more impressed with Doc and Garnett for keeping the club in one piece.

Like Doc says, a sales job like the one Rondo was making this year took a long run of consistently awesome play. And, in our case, a deafening exclamation point, which Rondo provided with that triple double. When the team needed a win most, it was the little guy who ripped it away from the Cavs. Settled then. You are the player best equipped to get us wins. You can tell me when to cut now. Let's go win some games.

[tenn_smoothie]

He didnt mean problems with one another, chemistry as in they werent clicking together on the floor with different injurys, lineups etc..

I'm not sure about that.  I thought he meant chemistry issues as in locker room issues.  That would be consistent with media reports.  But who knows, really.

it was clear he meant chemistry issues among the players themselves - he alluded directly to Rondo, saying that the point guard was finally starting to sort things out and come around.

evidently, from what can be pieced together, Rondo, and even Perk, wanted to be acknowledged as the top dog on the team and this has created conflict with the veteran HOF core.

what difference does it make to Rondo about who is looked at as the alpha dog. he needs to let KG and Pierce handle those duties and just play his game to win. there will be plenty of opportunity for Rondo to assume the leadership of this team soon enough.

[tenn_smoothie]

"He's just got to learn to be consistent" or "He's really coming along"

That patronizing twaddle must be irritating as anything for the younger generation to have to listen to. 

irritating, yes, because the veterans are right.

[FallGuy]

He didnt mean problems with one another, chemistry as in they werent clicking together on the floor with different injurys, lineups etc..

I'm not sure about that.  I thought he meant chemistry issues as in locker room issues.  That would be consistent with media reports.  But who knows, really.

it was clear he meant chemistry issues among the players themselves - he alluded directly to Rondo, saying that the point guard was finally starting to sort things out and come around.

evidently, from what can be pieced together, Rondo, and even Perk, wanted to be acknowledged as the top dog on the team and this has created conflict with the veteran HOF core.

what difference does it make to Rondo about who is looked at as the alpha dog. he needs to let KG and Pierce handle those duties and just play his game to win. there will be plenty of opportunity for Rondo to assume the leadership of this team soon enough.

I think the locker-room chemistry issues have an on-floor application. And that's the problem. Because KG, PP, and RA are right - guys like RR and BBD need to be consistent and need to keep their egos in check for the health of the team. But the veterans also have to turn over some of the shots and control of the team, on the court, to Rondo. I think PP was particularly guilty of that this year - thinking he could still do what he can't. And maybe Ray, who handles the ball a lot less, and whose contributions often come in the form of catch-and-shoots, was pushing for more shots too.

[BudweiserCeltic]

He didnt mean problems with one another, chemistry as in they werent clicking together on the floor with different injurys, lineups etc..

I'm not sure about that.  I thought he meant chemistry issues as in locker room issues.  That would be consistent with media reports.  But who knows, really.

it was clear he meant chemistry issues among the players themselves - he alluded directly to Rondo, saying that the point guard was finally starting to sort things out and come around.

evidently, from what can be pieced together, Rondo, and even Perk, wanted to be acknowledged as the top dog on the team and this has created conflict with the veteran HOF core.

what difference does it make to Rondo about who is looked at as the alpha dog. he needs to let KG and Pierce handle those duties and just play his game to win. there will be plenty of opportunity for Rondo to assume the leadership of this team soon enough.

I think the locker-room chemistry issues have an on-floor application. And that's the problem. Because KG, PP, and RA are right - guys like RR and BBD need to be consistent and need to keep their egos in check for the health of the team. But the veterans also have to turn over some of the shots and control of the team, on the court, to Rondo. I think PP was particularly guilty of that this year - thinking he could still do what he can't. And maybe Ray, who handles the ball a lot less, and whose contributions often come in the form of catch-and-shoots, was pushing for more shots too.

Considering that Pierce and Ray only had 12 shot attempts per game throughout the year, I don't think it's quite fair to say this.

We had too many players in our team taking too many shots, when a good bulk should be concentrated around Pierce, KG, and Ray... and Rondo from time to time.

[FallGuy]

He didnt mean problems with one another, chemistry as in they werent clicking together on the floor with different injurys, lineups etc..

I'm not sure about that.  I thought he meant chemistry issues as in locker room issues.  That would be consistent with media reports.  But who knows, really.

it was clear he meant chemistry issues among the players themselves - he alluded directly to Rondo, saying that the point guard was finally starting to sort things out and come around.

evidently, from what can be pieced together, Rondo, and even Perk, wanted to be acknowledged as the top dog on the team and this has created conflict with the veteran HOF core.

what difference does it make to Rondo about who is looked at as the alpha dog. he needs to let KG and Pierce handle those duties and just play his game to win. there will be plenty of opportunity for Rondo to assume the leadership of this team soon enough.

I think the locker-room chemistry issues have an on-floor application. And that's the problem. Because KG, PP, and RA are right - guys like RR and BBD need to be consistent and need to keep their egos in check for the health of the team. But the veterans also have to turn over some of the shots and control of the team, on the court, to Rondo. I think PP was particularly guilty of that this year - thinking he could still do what he can't. And maybe Ray, who handles the ball a lot less, and whose contributions often come in the form of catch-and-shoots, was pushing for more shots too.

Considering that Pierce and Ray only had 12 shot attempts per game throughout the year, I don't think it's quite fair to say this.

We had too many players in our team taking too many shots, when a good bulk should be concentrated around Pierce, KG, and Ray... and Rondo from time to time.

With PP, it's not about shot attempts, it's about ball dominance. Big difference.

[Prof. Clutch]

I think Doc covered this pretty well in Wojo's column after Rondo's Game 4 apotheosis.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-rondoceltics050910

“I think the player has to earn it,” Rivers said in the hallway. “You could see how good he was. You could see how talented he was. But every time he had a bad moment – a bad game, a flare-up where he lost his temper with another player – he would have to win that credibility full-time.

“To me, what Rondo has done is this: He’s done it with his play, and he’s done it with his actions. That allows people to buy in, because they have to buy in. You have to sell that to three guys like that. They have to believe in you all the time. That took a lot of work by Rondo. Last year was up and down – even in the playoffs it was up and down.

“This year it’s been constant, and I think that’s been the biggest swing. If you can convince Kevin Garnett to follow you, then you’ve done a hell of a job.”

“And Kevin believes in him.”

It's not just an ego/headbutting thing. If you're Pierce or Garnett and Rajon Rondo is barking and yapping mid-season to take control of your team--to call the plays, to pace the offense, to run the show--after you led the club to a title two years ago, and the kid hasn't always made the best on court decisions, wouldn't you hesitate before saying, "Okay, sure thing, 24-year-old, you can tell me where to run, when to pick, when to curl, when to cut and I'll take my seven all-star appearances and Finals MVP and just do what you say"?

How could that not take a few months to work out? How could that not be awkward and confusing for everyone involved? Maybe most confusing of all for guys like Tony Allen, Davis, and Perkins. Who's in charge of this team? It's a fascinating, almost classical dynamic. If anything, it's sort of amazing the team's still intact and makes me even more impressed with Doc and Garnett for keeping the club in one piece.

Like Doc says, a sales job like the one Rondo was making this year took a long run of consistently awesome play. And, in our case, a deafening exclamation point, which Rondo provided with that triple double. When the team needed a win most, it was the little guy who ripped it away from the Cavs. Settled then. You are the player best equipped to get us wins. You can tell me when to cut now. Let's go win some games.

This was really good analysis and deserving of a TP.   Good work.

[Andy Jick]

Six humans trapped by happenstance
In dark and bitter cold
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs,
The first woman held hers back.
For on the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.

The next man looking cross the way,
Saw one not of his church,
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes,
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use,
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store.
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.

The logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from ---THE COLD WITHIN.

[ScoobyDoo]

Baby's a character but he's intense. Sheed, Marquis and Nate arI think losing Eddie and bringing in guys like Rasheed, Marquis and Nate affected Locker room chemistry for sure. Rashee, Marquis and Nate all seem like much more loosey goosey wildcat characters than Perkins, KG, Pierce, Ray, Rondo, Eddie, TA and even baby. So I think you had that.

I also think what KG said abotu Rondo was very, very telling.

You have this young kid who was in diapers two years ago, now he's barking marching orders on the floor and telling everyone what to do...and he's "meaning what he's saying to them".

To add insult to the injury, he's putting up bigger numbers.

That's a big adjustment. I think KG was saying, we figured out how to let Rondo into our invisible circle of the big three so that he knows we see him as our equal and vice versa.

I think there's a big difference between saying, "yeah Rondo is great and he helps the team go, etc.." and the big three psychologically, and from the heart, letting Rondo know they feel he's on par with them.

Alpha dogs don't give that ground easily and KG, Pierce and ray are all old hall of fame alpha dogs in their own ways, with KG at the top of that hierarchy.

But Rondo is clearly an alpha dog now too...They had to figure out who was going to eat first after the kill.

I think they have that straightened out now. They're all comfortable taking turns, including Rondo having his turns.