Shaq shooting a better free throw percentage than Rondo

[BballTim]

The elite players in the league who can take it the rim can also all shoot free throws at least a decent clip; Westbrook, Rose, Durant, Kobe, Wade, etc.  That makes them espeically dangerous; you expect 2 points more often than not with a change at 3. 

  Assuming all of their and1s came from drives, Rose got and1s at about the same rate as Rondo last season. Westbrook got them at a higher rate, but it's like 1 every 2 games for Westbrook and 1 every 3 games or so for Rondo, not a huge difference. But Rondo hit more of his drives than Westbrook or Rose so, even figuring in the extra foul shots, Rondo scored more points per drive than either Rose or Westbrook.

[Chelm]

Right now, im not worried, when the game is on the line it will be Ray Allen and Pierce going to the line, not Rondo.

How much easier would the game be for Pierce driving in if Rondo's defender didn't get to play 10 feet off of him?

EDIT: This is completely off the original topic.  Sorry.  The free throws annoy me marginally more, though they are probably less impactful of his performance.  If he wasn't an ELITE PG in other respects, he'd be terribly detrimental.

It has been well documented that Rondo's man sagging off him makes it easier in fact for Rondo to find Pierce in easy places to score. Pierce is once again setting career highs in FG and 3pt percentage. I think it directly correlates to Rondo's play.

I'm talking about when Pierce/Garnett are isolating, not when Rondo has the ball.

[Chelm]

The elite players in the league who can take it the rim can also all shoot free throws at least a decent clip; Westbrook, Rose, Durant, Kobe, Wade, etc.  That makes them espeically dangerous; you expect 2 points more often than not with a change at 3. 

  Assuming all of their and1s came from drives, Rose got and1s at about the same rate as Rondo last season. Westbrook got them at a higher rate, but it's like 1 every 2 games for Westbrook and 1 every 3 games or so for Rondo, not a huge difference. But Rondo hit more of his drives than Westbrook or Rose so, even figuring in the extra foul shots, Rondo scored more points per drive than either Rose or Westbrook.

If Rondo scores more per drive and less overall, then he drives in less.  Also, all 3 of those named are playing significantly better than last season.

[Birdbrain]

If he could make free throws he'd be unstoppable because he could drive for contact instead of driving to get it in the hoop.

Right now he only scores when he thinks he won't get fouled.

I find it hard to believe that he plays that way but, I have read that in other blogs as well.  In fact I think he doesn't get fouled as much because he doesn't shoot as much because he's like their 5th option on offense. 

[Birdbrain]

Right now, im not worried, when the game is on the line it will be Ray Allen and Pierce going to the line, not Rondo.

How much easier would the game be for Pierce driving in if Rondo's defender didn't get to play 10 feet off of him?

EDIT: This is completely off the original topic.  Sorry.  The free throws annoy me marginally more, though they are probably less impactful of his performance.  If he wasn't an ELITE PG in other respects, he'd be terribly detrimental.

It has been well documented that Rondo's man sagging off him makes it easier in fact for Rondo to find Pierce in easy places to score. Pierce is once again setting career highs in FG and 3pt percentage. I think it directly correlates to Rondo's play.

Rondo makes KG, Ray and Pierce way better than they are at this stages in their career.  Without Rondo the team has no shot. 

[BballTim]

The elite players in the league who can take it the rim can also all shoot free throws at least a decent clip; Westbrook, Rose, Durant, Kobe, Wade, etc.  That makes them espeically dangerous; you expect 2 points more often than not with a change at 3.  

  Assuming all of their and1s came from drives, Rose got and1s at about the same rate as Rondo last season. Westbrook got them at a higher rate, but it's like 1 every 2 games for Westbrook and 1 every 3 games or so for Rondo, not a huge difference. But Rondo hit more of his drives than Westbrook or Rose so, even figuring in the extra foul shots, Rondo scored more points per drive than either Rose or Westbrook.

If Rondo scores more per drive and less overall, then he drives in less.  Also, all 3 of those named are playing significantly better than last season.

  No, he doesn't drive less, he takes fewer outside shots. And, yes, they're all playing better than last season, but the sample sizes are too small. Neither Westbrook or Rose have numbers that are much better this year if they're even better at all, by the way.

[Chelm]

Right now, im not worried, when the game is on the line it will be Ray Allen and Pierce going to the line, not Rondo.

How much easier would the game be for Pierce driving in if Rondo's defender didn't get to play 10 feet off of him?

EDIT: This is completely off the original topic.  Sorry.  The free throws annoy me marginally more, though they are probably less impactful of his performance.  If he wasn't an ELITE PG in other respects, he'd be terribly detrimental.

It has been well documented that Rondo's man sagging off him makes it easier in fact for Rondo to find Pierce in easy places to score. Pierce is once again setting career highs in FG and 3pt percentage. I think it directly correlates to Rondo's play.

Rondo makes KG, Ray and Pierce way better than they are at this stages in their career.  Without Rondo the team has no shot. 

I don't think anyone is suggesting anything different, just that his free throw woes are frustrating, particularly because most of us could probably out-shoot him from the line.  I'm not suggesting he doesn't help the team significantly overall.

[BballTim]

Right now, im not worried, when the game is on the line it will be Ray Allen and Pierce going to the line, not Rondo.

How much easier would the game be for Pierce driving in if Rondo's defender didn't get to play 10 feet off of him?

EDIT: This is completely off the original topic.  Sorry.  The free throws annoy me marginally more, though they are probably less impactful of his performance.  If he wasn't an ELITE PG in other respects, he'd be terribly detrimental.

It has been well documented that Rondo's man sagging off him makes it easier in fact for Rondo to find Pierce in easy places to score. Pierce is once again setting career highs in FG and 3pt percentage. I think it directly correlates to Rondo's play.

I'm talking about when Pierce/Garnett are isolating, not when Rondo has the ball.

  Don't know about isolating, but PP is hitting 77% of his inside shots and Rondo has a lot to do with that. He might do worse in an iso, but that's not really the strongest part of his game the last few years.

[Chelm]

Right now, im not worried, when the game is on the line it will be Ray Allen and Pierce going to the line, not Rondo.

How much easier would the game be for Pierce driving in if Rondo's defender didn't get to play 10 feet off of him?

EDIT: This is completely off the original topic.  Sorry.  The free throws annoy me marginally more, though they are probably less impactful of his performance.  If he wasn't an ELITE PG in other respects, he'd be terribly detrimental.

It has been well documented that Rondo's man sagging off him makes it easier in fact for Rondo to find Pierce in easy places to score. Pierce is once again setting career highs in FG and 3pt percentage. I think it directly correlates to Rondo's play.

I'm talking about when Pierce/Garnett are isolating, not when Rondo has the ball.

  Don't know about isolating, but PP is hitting 77% of his inside shots and Rondo has a lot to do with that. He might do worse in an iso, but that's not really the strongest part of his game the last few years.

I didn't necessarily mean iso, apologies, I just meant that the fact the paint can be packed with another guard when Rondo doesn't have the ball increases the likelihood that someone other than Rondo will be stripped driving in or posting up when Rondo is out on the perimeter.  It's been brought up before, and not on topic.

[kozlodoev]

Defenders sagging of is much less of a concern at this point. Rondo has shown he can stick the 15-footer with some regularity now, so teams who use this tactic will pay.

The free throw problems are much more disconcerting, since it means you can't really give the ball to Rondo and let him go to work in the end of a close game.

[Capricious]

If Rondo shot 75% from FT last year instead of 62%, he would have scored 37 more points raising his ppg to 14.2 from 13.7.  Not too big of a difference when you get to the line 3.5 times a game.

His 62% rate isn't what hurts, its when he goes on these horrendous cold streaks. If he could get to a CONSISTENT 70%, I think that's acceptable.