Rondo and Nash are tied

[BballTim]

BballTim, I know how much you love Rondo. But strictly speaking offensively, not defensively, would you say Rondo is a better point guard than Nash right now? Just offensively. As in, would you rather have Rondo running your offense than Nash? I just want to clarify.

  Right now, meaning for the next couple of weeks? Nash. But that's a meaningless question. Would we have won if we had Nash running our offense but gave up 6 steals and 6-7 rebounds on the other end?

  It's not about "loving" Rondo. It's about considering the entire impact of a player on a game. Would you claim that someone that felt we would be better off with Paul instead of Melo or KG instead of Bosh of saying that because "you know they love KG or Paul"? Possibly, I suppose...

[Celtics18]

Back to the topic, Rondo is not as good as he seemed to be at the start of the season. He is an excellent PG and passer, but he is one among multiple great passers. The only reason he is so far ahead of someone like CP3 is that CP3 does more than just pass on offense, so he doesn't have inflated assist totals.

Sure, Rondo is a top defensive PG. But this is a reality check on his alleged passing dominance.

  Don't know if you're watching the game tonight but Rondo had a play where he caught an outlet pass with his left hand and threw a 25+ foot cross-court bounce pass through traffic to someone (Paul or Ray) running towards the basket. How many other point guards in the league could make that pass? I'm guessing exactly one. He makes a couple of passes a week that you won't see an opponent make all year. He makes plays that a lot of pgs wouldn't even see until it was too late to make the pass.

  Sometimes he does things that are a little fancier than they need to be (just like most players) but he's the best passer in the game.

Another Tommy point.  Well put, and I agree.  Rondo's the best passer in the game.

[Finkelskyhook]

We really could have used Steve Nash tonight.

Just sayin'.

  Nash isn't perfect every night contrary to popular opinion. And it's worth pointing out that Rondo, with his assists and rebounds, got the Celts about 14 more possessions than you'd normally get from Nash.

....That's not a popular opinion here.  I guess I'd rather lose 90-87 than lose 122-110.  Los Nash probably would've scored 10 more points than Rondo did and Conley and Vasquez probably would have scored twice what they did....Not to mention the number of times that Memphis would have been playing 5 on 4.

[soap07]

  It's not about "loving" Rondo. It's about considering the entire impact of a player on a game. Would you claim that someone that felt we would be better off with Paul instead of Melo or KG instead of Bosh of saying that because "you know they love KG or Paul"? Possibly, I suppose...

No, not at all - but it's not analogous either. KG has better numbers across the board than Bosh. He's a better rebounder, better defender, about the same offensively - oh, and teams have to guard him on defense unlike Rondo.

And yes, in the offseason, someone asked me for a Melo/Paul straight-up trade, you absolutely have to do it. Melo is just a far superior player at this point than Paul.

[BballTim]

  It's not about "loving" Rondo. It's about considering the entire impact of a player on a game. Would you claim that someone that felt we would be better off with Paul instead of Melo or KG instead of Bosh of saying that because "you know they love KG or Paul"? Possibly, I suppose...

No, not at all - but it's not analogous either. KG has better numbers across the board than Bosh. He's a better rebounder, better defender, about the same offensively - oh, and teams have to guard him on defense unlike Rondo.

  Sigh. Ok, KG has better numbers *this* year. Does that mean that you'd have jumped to make the trade last year when KG didn't have better stats? What if I'd said Amare instead of KG?

And yes, in the offseason, someone asked me for a Melo/Paul straight-up trade, you absolutely have to do it. Melo is just a far superior player at this point than Paul.

  I'm not talking about in the offseason. I'm talking here and now, going into the playoffs, with both players healthy. Not based on having the younger player going forward. For this season only. I'd take Pierce.