Are we equal a threat w/Robinson??

[BballTim]

Let me explain this.  People don't understand how good Robinson actually is.  He is VERY underated, and he is actually probably better than almost half of the starting pointguards in the league.  That is why we are doing well with out Rondo. However,   we  really are best with Rondo as the starting point guard and Rondo is a better overall player than Robinson. 

It is great to have these two talented players, rondo and robinson, on the team because their games are soo different.  Both are great defenders, but they play defense completely different ways.  Rondo is a sneaky and very clever defender, allows pointguards to do certain things but finds opportune times to make steals, poke from behind with long arms, and tricks them into thinking he's not paying attention and surprises people.  Robinson is a lot more disciplined and less creative defender, making it his obssession to stay in front of his man, using his speed to no matter what be inbetween his man and the basket, and he is one of the best at this technique.  On offense, robinson is a great shooter obviously, bettter than rondo, but Rondo is better in every other way on offense, clever passing, intelligence, knows the plays like the palm of his hand, gets everyone involved at the right times.  Man, its nice to have not only a deep team, but a team with a variety of skills that make it overwhelming for the opposition to be able to prepare for all that we can throw at them. 

  Opposing point guards are hitting about 43% of their shots vs Rondo and about 62% vs Nate. They;re not in the same league defensively.

[2short]

We are a different threat but no not equal, not close
Nate has done a really nice job, normally I'd assume we would all think of delonte as backup pg, correct?  So nate has brought energy, a nice jumper and ball pressure.
A healthy Rondo is an amazing sight, few guys in the nba can control every aspect of a game like he can.   I want him healthy and forcing an opposing teams pg to stay with him.  His vision & basketball iq haven't been seen in boston since Larry Bird, that is how good I think Rondo is, he makes his teammates that much better.

[Birdbrain]

Nope without Rondo we have no shot to get past Miami in ECF let alone beat the Lakers.  But Robinson is proven NBA player that can do well as long as he plays within his role.

I just think it proves my belief that the Celtics are without question the deepest and most talented team in the league.

[wdleehi]

No.



Right now, Pierce is doing Rondo's job.  Nate is doing Rays job. 



Rondo is better then Pierce running an offense.  Pierce is a better offensive threat then Nate.



Talent is still out there to win in the regular season, but I would not feel comfortable with this lineup in 7 game series against the other top teams. 

[Sizzlack]

They can still score because Pierce has stepped in admirably to handle some of the distribution that Rondo normally handles.

It's a great aspect of the team that they're able to handle these kind of problems, only a real veteran team could do what their doing right now.

Defensively, Nate at high minutes hurts you, there's no question. He just does not have the length to bother people, although his ball pressure is great. If he goes under the pick and roll, he's dead in the water, he cannot recover quick enough to contest, because he just doesn't have the length. Even straight pull ups off the dribble generally get of with a full hand length over his outstretched arms. Yes, he has the vertical, but he has to be careful in timing those jumps without contact, very, very difficult to do.

I love Nate's ability to create, I love his tenacity and the energy he plays the game with, but more than back up PG/Scoring punch off the bench, he will never be.

[Edgar]

Their skillset are totally different but skill by the end.
So we have to re consider how deep this team is
even Semih is playing an important roll and this team
is only filling up this days. So good or even better things
coming hopefully

[MBunge]

Rondo's clearly better than Nate at running the team, but I don't think people should sell Nate's superior shooting short, especially from the foul line.  Think about this, how do the Lakers defend Boston with Nate instead of Rondo?  I would imagine they'd still want Kobe to guard him instead of Ray, but there's no way he could cheat off of Nate the way he does Rondo.

Mike

[JHTruth]

Well I don't know about being an equal threat with Nate. Heck, there are many who would claim Rondo is MVP thus far in the season. We're 22-4 and he's leading the league in assists. Plus his defense is stellar as well and his shot has improved.

Nate brings something that Rondo lacks of course, his jumper, but that's the only thing Nate does better. But you couldn't ask for a better guard combo off the bench than West (when healthy) and Nate. I think we should be appreciative of that..

[Birdbrain]

Rondo's clearly better than Nate at running the team, but I don't think people should sell Nate's superior shooting short, especially from the foul line.  Think about this, how do the Lakers defend Boston with Nate instead of Rondo?  I would imagine they'd still want Kobe to guard him instead of Ray, but there's no way he could cheat off of Nate the way he does Rondo.

Mike

I think the cheating off rondo concept is misnomer and I hope they do it again this year and he ends being the Finals MVP. 

[arctic 3.0]

two things
first: rondo makes life easier for the big three, especially pierce. do you really want paul to have to run the o when he is tasked with guarding lbj on the other side?

second: this is all kind of pointless because rondo is, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the c's starting point guard.
the more pertinent question is "why can't nate robinson shoot like this coming off the bench? i know he needs to find a rhythm, maybe he likes playing with the starters, whatever. but he needs to embrace his role as a 15 minute/ game microwave.

[Sizzlack]

Rondo's clearly better than Nate at running the team, but I don't think people should sell Nate's superior shooting short, especially from the foul line.  Think about this, how do the Lakers defend Boston with Nate instead of Rondo?  I would imagine they'd still want Kobe to guard him instead of Ray, but there's no way he could cheat off of Nate the way he does Rondo.

Mike

I think the cheating off rondo concept is misnomer and I hope they do it again this year and he ends being the Finals MVP. 

People aren't paying attention to the fact that he's shooting the best % of his career so far, and a lot of those shots have come from 10-15 ft. But no one is really talking about it because it's a footnote on the "Rondo just put up another 17 assists" that grab all the story lines.

His elbow jumper has been considerably improved, and he's shooting from behind the arc at a reasonable clip (he obviously wont be looking for that shot, but late in the clock when the offensive sets just didn't bring anything, he's hit a number of that.)

Now if only he could improve that foul shot, we'd be in real business.

[MBz]

No.



Right now, Pierce is doing Rondo's job.  Nate is doing Rays job. 



Rondo is better then Pierce running an offense.  Pierce is a better offensive threat then Nate.



Talent is still out there to win in the regular season, but I would not feel comfortable with this lineup in 7 game series against the other top teams. 

Exactly.  It also looked like Ray had to take some PG duties as well.  Obviously it takes away from Ray and Pierce's game if they have to run the offense instead of looking to score.  I think Pierce and Ray can do this on occasion, but they are not going to be able to do this for stretches of multiple games.  Rondo is what makes this team run.  He's the guy to start the offense and he's our first line of defense.  We are not better without him. 

[Vermont Green]

I have two points to make.  The first is that I believe that Rondo's importance to our teams success is over-rated but he is still our best point guard.

The second point is that when you look at how our team has played these last few games without Rondo (all wins), don't forget that Delonte West is out also.  I think having West would allow him to play some with the first unit plus make the second unit a whole lot better.

Our weakness for these games without Rondo hasn't been the play of the first unit for the most part, it has been having to play Bradley or Daniels (or Pierce or Allen) as the back-up PG.  I think we can compete for a championship with West and Robinson both healthy (or any 2 of the 3) but we are clearly better and deeper with all 3.

[BballTim]

I have two points to make.  The first is that I believe that Rondo's importance to our teams success is over-rated but he is still our best point guard.

The second point is that when you look at how our team has played these last few games without Rondo (all wins), don't forget that Delonte West is out also.  I think having West would allow him to play some with the first unit plus make the second unit a whole lot better.

Our weakness for these games without Rondo hasn't been the play of the first unit for the most part, it has been having to play Bradley or Daniels (or Pierce or Allen) as the back-up PG.  I think we can compete for a championship with West and Robinson both healthy (or any 2 of the 3) but we are clearly better and deeper with all 3.

  We've seen we can get past the likes of the Nets and the Hawks and the Pacers without Rondo. I don't think I'd want to see how we fare against the likes of Miami or Chicago in the playoffs without him. Don't forget when KG was injured in 08-09 we went like 20-8 without him and struggled against the Bulls in the playoffs.

  Before Rondo started with the foot problems he was in the top 2-3 players on almost every online MVP race. He's got as much to do with how far we go this year as anyone else on the roster.

[Vermont Green]

Don't forget when KG was injured in 08-09 we went like 20-8 without him and struggled against the Bulls in the playoffs.

He was injured in 09-10 and we were more or less a 0.500 team without him, or with him but limited.  If you are implying that Rondo is more valuable than Garnett than I guess I disagree big time.

And also my main point is that without both West and Rondo we are definitely short-handed but still winning games we should win.  This likely wouldn't last with both West and Rondo out.

I also understand that there was crazy Rondo for MVP hype, I just was in the minority and not buying it.  We are better with Rondo but we do not become a 0.500 team without him as we were without Garnett last year.