Rondo is Overrated

[lon3lytoaster]

Not overrated but he sure can be frustrating as hell.

That whole Clippers game was frustrating. I agree with that overall, though. Love the kid, but he does a ton (or doesn't do in some cases, I guess) a lot of things that bug me.

[Celtics/Run]

These same fools blame Rondo for game seven.....

[Celtics4ever]

I think all pro athletss are over rated from time to time.  Especially by their own fanbase.   I am sure the Orlando Heat and Cavs don't agree with you though as he took over the series last year at least a game each series and imposed his will on them.  The league doesn't think Rondo is over rated he is on a few commercials.  He has been an all star too, twice now.   He plays very well for a 20 something pick.  He isn't a lotto guy remember.

He is what he is, a high IQ athletic guard who can't shoot. 

Sounds like a disgruntled Perk fan to me.  What killed us last night wasn't Rondo.  We allowed them to shoot  like 52% from the floor and we shot in the .44%  range.  I thought Krstic played well.  We are not going to win out folks.

[BballTim]

And don't forget, this is a guy who's been dealing with plantar fasciitis and hamstring injuries all year. Constantly fighting through picks is obviously going to be a challenge for him.

  I wouldn't be surprised if there was something like this bothering Rondo. The year Perk had plantar fasciatis he was called lazy, slow, a player with no lift at all when he jumped. He had reached his ceiling as a player at 6 points and 5 rebounds a game and there was no way he'd ever be a starting center on a decent team.

  As for Rondo being overrated, to each is own. I can see posts and threads about how Rondo's playing poorly lately, as he seems to be. But the claims that state that these games show that Rondo is a bad player leave me under the impression that the posters are unable to see any difference between how he's playing now and how he usually plays.

[wdleehi]

Only by those who say he is the best PG in the NBA.


There are three clearly better right now. 

[BballTim]

Leading the league in assists: He is passing the three future hall of famers who are all shooting better than 50%.

  Just for fun, if it's so easy to do what Rondo's doing, how many point guards playing with three all-stars (or eve 2 superstars) have led the league in assists? Who's doing it for Miami? Who did it for the Shaq and Kobe Lakers, who did it for the Celts in the 80s? How many have done it in the last 30-40 years?

[KungPoweChicken]

Leading the league in assists: He is passing the three future hall of famers who are all shooting better than 50%.

  Just for fun, if it's so easy to do what Rondo's doing, how many point guards playing with three all-stars (or eve 2 superstars) have led the league in assists? Who's doing it for Miami? Who did it for the Shaq and Kobe Lakers, who did it for the Celts in the 80s? How many have done it in the last 30-40 years?

Pierce, Allen, and Garnett are the best jump shooters at their position in the league. LeBron and Wade are bad jump shooters. They are isolation players.

The triangle offense isn't a system for point guards to rack up assists.
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[BballTim]

Leading the league in assists: He is passing the three future hall of famers who are all shooting better than 50%.

  Just for fun, if it's so easy to do what Rondo's doing, how many point guards playing with three all-stars (or eve 2 superstars) have led the league in assists? Who's doing it for Miami? Who did it for the Shaq and Kobe Lakers, who did it for the Celts in the 80s? How many have done it in the last 30-40 years?

Pierce, Allen, and Garnett are the best jump shooters at their position in the league. LeBron and Wade are bad jump shooters. They are isolation players.

The triangle offense isn't a system for point guards to rack up assists.

  What about the other teams I listed, or, again, any other group of stars in any system in the last 30-40 years? And why do we have a much higher FG% and a much higher rate of assisted shots when Rondo plays?

 

[BballTim]

Only by those who say he is the best PG in the NBA.


There are three clearly better right now. 

  That's (shockingly) arguable.

[celts55]

I don't want to dump on the guy because he oviously has excellent talent, when he chooses to use it.
I have to admit, I find him to be a frustrating. Two examples from last night would be:

A) guard Mo for oodness sake. I mean how many open 3's are you going to let him shoot in the last few minutes? Not to mention how many times are you going to let him blow by you, so a big has to pick him up, so he passes to the man the big left for a layup.

B) and this really makes me crazy. Why when your team is losing to a crappy team and making a come back would you choose to make fancy no look passes on fast breaks. I can understand these kind of plays when you're up by 20 not down by 20. He did that on a few occations last night and it just makes me nuts.

I guess it comes down to him still being young and a bit immature. I believe he's an excellent player, most of the time, but he needs to come to play every game. the last few games he just doesn't look interested. i know no one played great last night but porr shooting is different than lack of effort.

Maybe he's just beat from all the minutes he's been playing, I don't know, but he just hasn't looked the same as he did earlier in the year.

[Vermont Green]

rondo is a very good point guard, I have him top 10.  If he develops a shot, he would catapult up to top 5 maybe top 3 but as of today, he does not have a shot and it really hurts the team, especially in the 4th qtr.

What makes Rondo so valuable to the Celtics is not the fact that he is so good but rather who we have had behind him.  I believed that if West was healthy, that you would have started to see West on the floor with the starters during crunch times much like you sometimes saw Davis in for Perk.

West isn't healthy and Arroyo still has to prove himself so it is still all about Rondo.

[Assassin70]

Only by those who say he is the best PG in the NBA.


There are three clearly better right now. 

  That's (shockingly) arguable.

Only by the numbers (meaning amount of PG you rank higher than him)...it would be a fools errand to debate Rondo is "The best point card in the NBA" even the captain of the worlds best debate team would have to give it his best work to win that debate.

[IrishGreen]

Again, like the 'Rondo should be traded' thread that was about a couple of days ago, this is quite laughable.

Ok so how exactly is he overrated?

Passing - He leads the league in assists, and is top 5 in TO/A ratio. So therefore I doubt many people overrate him in this category.

Defensive - Hands down best defensive PG in the League. So not overrating here..Leads the league in steals.

Offensive - His jumper is atrocious but no one argues that it's actually good. It's well documented that's it's not. So therefore no one overrates his jumper.

I.Q - Only a handful of PG's or even players possess the same IQ as Rondo. Doc even said it himself. So no one again overrates this.

Clutch - Comes alive in big games, minus the shot of course. Again no one overrates this.

What we have here, as per usual is a bunch of Celtics fans that expect too much from him. I for one expect more from him than any of the other Big 3, therefore I'll critique his game with more zealous.

Simply put, he is not overrated, we just expect too much from him. If we were to expect the same from PP we'd want to see him average 24-26ppg, same with Ray.

[Chris]

Again, like the 'Rondo should be traded' thread that was about a couple of days ago, this is quite laughable.

Ok so how exactly is he overrated?

Passing - He leads the league in assists, and is top 5 in TO/A ratio. So therefore I doubt many people overrate him in this category.

Agreed.  It helps that he has guys who can finish so well, but he is absolutely an elite passer and playmaker.

Defensive - Hands down best defensive PG in the League. So not overrating here..Leads the league in steals.

He is a great defensive playmaker, but I think it is arguable whether he is the best overall defensive PG in the league.  There are guys who are better one on one defenders, who keep their men in front of them better, but don't force turnovers the way Rondo does.  I think Rondo's defensive style is perfect for the C's when they are executing, because it allows him to be more aggressive, and "float" a bit, while hiding his weakness one on one.  But I do think this is where he is overrated a bit.

Offensive - His jumper is atrocious but no one argues that it's actually good. It's well documented that's it's not. So therefore no one overrates his jumper.

Yup

I.Q - Only a handful of PG's or even players possess the same IQ as Rondo. Doc even said it himself. So no one again overrates this.

Agreed, his understanding of the game has always been his greatest strength IMO.  

Clutch - Comes alive in big games, minus the shot of course. Again no one overrates this.

Absolutely.  Although this is also the biggest criticism a lot of us have against him.  A lot of people seem to rate him based on his big game play, but this cuts both ways, because it means he underperforms in games that aren't as big.  If this guy is the future of the franchise, I don't think its unfair to hope for more consistency.

What we have here, as per usual is a bunch of Celtics fans that expect too much from him. I for one expect more from him than any of the other Big 3, therefore I'll critique his game with more zealous.

I expect the same from him as I expect from the Big 3.  And I think that is more than fair.  And I do not see the same consistent "flipping of the switch" in big games versus smaller games in the big 3 that I see from Rondo.  Rondo, you can almost pinpoint when he is going to be good, and when he is going to be mediocre.  While KG, Ray, and Pierce all have good and bad days, you can't pinpoint it like that, and even in their bad games, they seem much more focussed than Rondo does in his bad ones.

Obviously this is something that may come with more maturity.  But I think its more than reasonable to criticize him for this.

Simply put, he is not overrated, we just expect too much from him. If we were to expect the same from PP we'd want to see him average 24-26ppg, same with Ray.

I fail to understand how he is not overrated, if we are expecting to much from him?  If we were expecting PP to score 24-26ppg, that would mean we were overrating him too.  Overrating just means that our expectations are larger than his actual production.  

It doesn't mean he is a bad player.  It doesn't mean we should trade him.  All it means is that perhaps he is not the superstar in the making that some make him out to be.  

[Assassin70]

Again, like the 'Rondo should be traded' thread that was about a couple of days ago, this is quite laughable.

Ok so how exactly is he overrated?

Passing - He leads the league in assists, and is top 5 in TO/A ratio. So therefore I doubt many people overrate him in this category.

Defensive - Hands down best defensive PG in the League. So not overrating here..Leads the league in steals.

Offensive - His jumper is atrocious but no one argues that it's actually good. It's well documented that's it's not. So therefore no one overrates his jumper.

I.Q - Only a handful of PG's or even players possess the same IQ as Rondo. Doc even said it himself. So no one again overrates this.

Clutch - Comes alive in big games, minus the shot of course. Again no one overrates this.

What we have here, as per usual is a bunch of Celtics fans that expect too much from him. I for one expect more from him than any of the other Big 3, therefore I'll critique his game with more zealous.

Simply put, he is not overrated, we just expect too much from him. If we were to expect the same from PP we'd want to see him average 24-26ppg, same with Ray.

I will start by saying I like Rondo.

I honestly think for the system and people we have in place Rondo is what he is.  He will have fantastic games and clunkers...and he can go on stretches of either.

People are just giving their opinions nothing wrong with that.

I honestly don't care where he rates. I just want him to play well and for us to win.

With all that said...I will give my opinions to the topics and question you asked.

1. Passing: I agree nothing to add there.  

2. Defense: His defense is highly overrated in my opinion.  I don't care if he gets torched by guys like Dwill, Cp3, Wall, Rose, etc.  Because everyone does.  But I don't like when he get burned by the Sessions, Calderon, Jennings, Brooks of the world.  Can Rondo be an elite defender when he wants to...no question.  But he doesn't show those elite defending skills enough for my taste.  Far to many gambles for steals that don't pay off that hurt our whole team defense.  No other Celtic is allowed to make as many defensive mistakes (to much roaming) and gambles on a regular basis and not get killed for it.  Say I agree or disagree with the best defensive PG hands down assessment either way...when you make that statement who are you comparing him to?  Most if not all elite PG in the NBA don't really play good defense or have to on a regular basis.  I could say I am the best basketball player in my apartment complex of 800 people but if only 8 of those 800 play basketball are you that impressed by my claim?  I mean it is not my fault only 8 people out of 800 play basketball and I am "hands down" better then them in this scenario...but it is what it is.  Just food for thought.

3. Offense: I agree again and I will ad there are far far far to many times when Rondo has an open layup and instead passes out for a jumpshot that misses and we get nothing of of the possession.  I would like to see more driving aggressiveness.

4. IQ: I agree.

5. Clutch: He is clutch unless you count on him taking that last shot of making a FT if we really needed it.  But other then those situations I am confident in Rondo in the clutch.