Rondo is definately overrated on this board. I mean there have been a number of threads in which people on this board wouldn't trade him straight up for people like Deron Williams. I mean come on, seriously.
Rondo is a good PG, but he isn't an elite PG and never will be. I can say that definitively because Rondo hasn't improved his shooting since he has been in the league. He is an awful shooter (worst foul shooting of his career by far this year). His FG% is pretty good because he is excellent at taking the ball to the hole and finishing around the rim, but he is a liability in many respects offensively because he can be left open (including the and 1 situations on the drives). He is a good defender, but even that is greatly exaggerated on this board.
He isn't a top five PG, and is a borderline top 10 PG right now (I mean if you are building a team for the future you would take Rondo over Nash, but Nash is still better then him, just as an example). Good but not great, and he greatly benefits from his teammates. Put him an awful team and his deficiencies would be magnified and would play a much larger role in how he is viewed.
Simple question, if Rondo and Conley switched teams, who is better?
Rondo's better than Conley in any and all situations. Just because your main criteria for judging point guards is shooting doesn't mean that people who disagree with you overrate Rondo. I'm sure that if you've ever seen Rondo dominate playoff games your first response was either "Conley could easily do the same thing" or "clearly he's not playing that well because he's not a good outside shooter". But the fact is that he does dominate games in the regular season and (more frequently) in the playoffs in spite of his shooting woes.
Could a player as poor as you think Rondo is average close to a triple double for consecutive playoff series, or average 21/6/12 in a series against a top 5 defense? Or is your point that practically any point guard can do the same thing? If he's borderline top ten then you should easily be able to name 7-8 other pgs that have shown themselves to be capable of better, right?
These PG's are all better then Rondo right now, in no particular order:
C. Paul
D. Williams
D. Rose
S. Nash
T. Parker
R. Westbrook
J. Kidd
So when you say, "Rondo is a good PG, but he isn't an elite PG and never will be. I can say that definitively because Rondo hasn't improved his shooting since he has been in the league.", did you forget how awful a shooter Jason Kidd was?
Rondo just turned 25...how can you, or anyone else, say that he won't improve?
Yes, being a poor shooter stops a pg from being elite. Just ask Kidd or Magic or Payton.
True, but all of them were better shooters than he is at this point when they were at their best, and more importantly, they would not hesitate to take the shot when left open.
That is the biggest issue with Rondo's shooting. Not that he can't hit the shot, but that he will go through stretches when he will refuse to shoot, despite the fact it would be the best decision based on what the defense is giving them.
If Rondo wants to get to the next level, he needs to get over that, and become comfortable enough with that midrange jumper to take it when he needs to, in order to keep defenses honest.