Am i the only one who hates the way Rondo plays defense?

[Bahku]

He had a ton of turnovers tonight, doesn't attack the paint as much as I wish he would, pounds the ball at times, needs work with his jump-shot and free-throws, and needs help tightening up his defense ... but there's absolutely nothing that I "hate" about Rajon Rondo ... I love this kid, and I am soooooooooo thankful he's ours!

[LooseCannon]

I hate his stat padding/passing up WIDE open lay-ups more.

I've seen him miss enough layups so that doesn't concern me.  I would rather Rondo gamble a bit too much on defense than not gamble enough.  Rondo seemed to be pacing himself in case he needed to play the entire second half due to Bradley not being a point guard.

[Birdbrain]

Hate not in the least.  Cherish is more like it. Everyone wants Rondo to make every play on the court and when he doesn't he's looked down on.  He didn't play well last night if that's what you mean. Misses wide open lay ups?  Shooting over 50%.  Worrying about Rose? They better worry about him.  Watch a few of his games and you see PGs blow by him like he's standing still and he doesn't have the ability to strip it from behind.  A lot Celtic fans have a problem with overly judging the team they see way too often.  Especially Rondo who plays with too much flair I'm sure for some.  Hopefully with Arroyo around they he can get him some rest and not have to coast so he has something left in tank at the end of games.  That's my take.

Have a nice day.

[snively]

It's just Rondo's style against most PGs.  He takes away their strong hand and funnels towards his big man help, and then goes for the pokeaway instead of riding them all the way into the lane.

It's actually very effective against most PGs, because they aren't great finishers in the lane, especially going up against KG, and Rondo is very disruptive lurking behind them to deny passes back out.

I do prefer Bradley's constant ball pressure and muscular fight-throughs on picks, but he's a defensive specialist playing in 5 minute increments: I don't expect Rondo to do that for 38 mpg.

[Tgro]

I think we all see too much good to really hate the guy. Rondo is certainly far more positive than negative. I'm still not sure I've seen from him this season what we seen last season in the playoffs when he busted his name and game wide open. The things about his game that bothered me then still bothers me now. On defense, I love him. As a playmaker I love him. As a shot maker, I cringe. I've said it before and got blasted for it with "he shoots over 50%". Maybe so, but the times he misses he just looks lazy or careless. Then the fact he's horrendous at free throws. My feeling is I love Rondo in everything he does except when he shoots floating jump shots. Anything not within a layup worries me, as I've said before. Yeah, he makes his fair share of shots and when I cringe half the time it turns out good. There is just a part of his game that to me seems like he's not thinking. But before I get bashed as a hater I want to note, I love every other part of his game and am 100% glad he is a Celtic.

[Eja117]

Let's his man blow by just so he can try to strip him from behind. Why does Doc allow him to play D this way? It's infuriating.

Well when you have the mighty Nenad Krstic behind you it may make sense to funnel him into the center. 

Sorry. Sorry.  Sorry. That wasn't right. I admit it. 

[Tai]

Maybe my eyes deceived me, but at least in the 1st half (I actually didn't get to watch MOST of the 2nd half), it seemed like Rondo had to fight through a TON of picks set up for Jennings. I'd love to  be able to re-watch every defensive possession with Rondo in it to see if that's true for the 2nd half, but at least for the 1st half, I'm surprised we're worried about Rondo "gambling", as if to imply he had much of a chance to. Even Mike Brown was raving about the Bucks good offense with the pick and rolls.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Maybe my eyes deceived me, but at least in the 1st half (I actually didn't get to watch MOST of the 2nd half), it seemed like Rondo had to fight through a TON of picks set up for Jennings. I'd love to  be able to re-watch every defensive possession with Rondo in it to see if that's true for the 2nd half, but at least for the 1st half, I'm surprised we're worried about Rondo "gambling", as if to imply he had much of a chance to. Even Mike Brown was raving about the Bucks good offense with the pick and rolls.

Partly right, and KG wasn't playing good defense during a good portion of the game, so that plays into that. But Rondo needs to do a much better job in fighting through those screens/picks and do a better job recovering.

[2short]

Maybe my eyes deceived me, but at least in the 1st half (I actually didn't get to watch MOST of the 2nd half), it seemed like Rondo had to fight through a TON of picks set up for Jennings. I'd love to  be able to re-watch every defensive possession with Rondo in it to see if that's true for the 2nd half, but at least for the 1st half, I'm surprised we're worried about Rondo "gambling", as if to imply he had much of a chance to. Even Mike Brown was raving about the Bucks good offense with the pick and rolls.

Yes, also jennings is so fast that it makes it tough, rondo was playing him at angles forcing him into kg or other big.  Jennings 1st step and move were so quick he was blowing by where rondo forced him (team defense).  It was nice to see our third defender switch out and the whole team rotate.  I think some people should just watch the movement of one guy, amazing to see ray allen run off picks or rondo chase jennings around.  Someone hates the way rondo plays defense they are ball watching and not watching THE GAME.    I  haven't seen many threads lately about his jump shot which he's obviously worked on and improved greatly.  Bradley is showing that he might never be a pro guard, so we have rondo and who is backing him up now??  I'd assume when delonte gets back or even arroyo he will do things differently.  I don't care how young his is, you can't play 38 minutes chasing around one of the fastest guys in the nba without it affecting your game.  See ray allen making dwade play hard defense to if only affect the last 5 minutes of game.

[Tai]

Maybe my eyes deceived me, but at least in the 1st half (I actually didn't get to watch MOST of the 2nd half), it seemed like Rondo had to fight through a TON of picks set up for Jennings. I'd love to  be able to re-watch every defensive possession with Rondo in it to see if that's true for the 2nd half, but at least for the 1st half, I'm surprised we're worried about Rondo "gambling", as if to imply he had much of a chance to. Even Mike Brown was raving about the Bucks good offense with the pick and rolls.

Partly right, and KG wasn't playing good defense during a good portion of the game, so that plays into that. But Rondo needs to do a much better job in fighting through those screens/picks and do a better job recovering.

Well, fair enough, but see, that's a myriad of a difference from what the OP and others have said. Obviously Rondo's tendency to gamble isn't a myth, he clearly does it, but I'll take a couple of swipes at the ball if that's the only way to stop some easy plays for Jennings at times once the pick comes. It doesn't help that Rondo may had to do that for 38 minutes. Not an enviable task at all.

[RAcker]

After last night's stinker of a performance, this thread is well deserved.  Rondo needs to step it up a notch.

[BballTim]

It is interesting to see how Bradley seems better than Rondo at remaining in front of his man. Normally I would say that Rondo didn't let Jennings through, rather Jennings is just hard to defend. But Rondo doesn't seem as impressive at positional defense as Bradley.

 Rondo's play has been a little off lately but it's worth noting that Bradley A) would never see the court if he didn't defend like that, B) only has to keep it up for 5-6 minutes a game, and C) averages 5 fouls in 36 minutes.

Edit: Forgot D) doesn't have to expend much energy on offense.

[BballTim]

  I just compared his Opponent Production stats vs the other starting point guards in the league. Rondo's first in the league in lowest eFG% allowed and fewest assists and rebounds allowed. He's second in lowest PER allowed and 4th in turnovers forced per 48 minutes.

  I went to hoopdata to see the average production for point guards who have played 20+ games and 25+ minutes a game. Listed below are what Rondo allows per48 vs what the average starting pg produces (in parenthesis):

Points 17.9 (21)
eFG% .435 (.483)
Reb 3.7 (4.9)
Ast 8.0 (10.0)
TO 4.5 (3.6)
PER 12.6 (17.0)

  He also has the best defensive rating of any pg among the league leaders on basketballreference.

[Chris]

  I just compared his Opponent Production stats vs the other starting point guards in the league. Rondo's first in the league in lowest eFG% allowed and fewest assists and rebounds allowed. He's second in lowest PER allowed and 4th in turnovers forced per 48 minutes.

  I went to hoopdata to see the average production for point guards who have played 20+ games and 25+ minutes a game. Listed below are what Rondo allows per48 vs what the average starting pg produces (in parenthesis):

Points 17.9 (21)
eFG% .435 (.483)
Reb 3.7 (4.9)
Ast 8.0 (10.0)
TO 4.5 (3.6)
PER 12.6 (17.0)

  He also has the best defensive rating of any pg among the league leaders on basketballreference.

To be fair, he also has something most other PG's don't have...KG.

But your point is legit.  The numbers bear out that he is a heck of a defender.  However, that doesn't change the fact that he could be significantly better if he consistently dug in, and didn't get caught on picks so easily. 

He could go from arguably the best defensive PG in the league (which is not saying much), to being one of the best perimeter defenders in the history of the league. 

Now, part of this is not his fault.  When he consistently plays 38-42 minutes per game, without a reliable backup, you can't expect him to consistently go 100 mph on both ends of the floor.  Its just not possible.  And I really hope with the signing of Arroyo (and West hopefully returning), Doc can cut those minutes so he can go harder when he is out there.  But still, it is frustrating to watch when you know how dominating he can be when he is locked in.

[BballTim]

  I just compared his Opponent Production stats vs the other starting point guards in the league. Rondo's first in the league in lowest eFG% allowed and fewest assists and rebounds allowed. He's second in lowest PER allowed and 4th in turnovers forced per 48 minutes.

  I went to hoopdata to see the average production for point guards who have played 20+ games and 25+ minutes a game. Listed below are what Rondo allows per48 vs what the average starting pg produces (in parenthesis):

Points 17.9 (21)
eFG% .435 (.483)
Reb 3.7 (4.9)
Ast 8.0 (10.0)
TO 4.5 (3.6)
PER 12.6 (17.0)

  He also has the best defensive rating of any pg among the league leaders on basketballreference.

To be fair, he also has something most other PG's don't have...KG.

But your point is legit.  The numbers bear out that he is a heck of a defender.  However, that doesn't change the fact that he could be significantly better if he consistently dug in, and didn't get caught on picks so easily. 

He could go from arguably the best defensive PG in the league (which is not saying much), to being one of the best perimeter defenders in the history of the league. 

Now, part of this is not his fault.  When he consistently plays 38-42 minutes per game, without a reliable backup, you can't expect him to consistently go 100 mph on both ends of the floor.  Its just not possible.  And I really hope with the signing of Arroyo (and West hopefully returning), Doc can cut those minutes so he can go harder when he is out there.  But still, it is frustrating to watch when you know how dominating he can be when he is locked in.

  How many of those best perimeter defenders in history had to play when they couldn't put their hands on their opponents? And did the offenses that they played against set as many picks to free up point guards as they do now?