"You have to take that shot"

[celtics2]

It's a man thing. Rondo's like a Don Juan but without the equipment. What we see is not always not what we get. Rondo is still shooting blanks because he is not teachable. His career will be short because the big boys love slamming him into the floor.

[Marcus13]

Often times, I was thinking the same thing when Rondo was open....but truthfully on a majority of the plays that I was thinking that, he ended up making a great pass and got somebody else an open Jumper

[ballin]

He has to shoot some wide open shots to keep the defense honest just a little. I cringe too, but he really has to. 

His BIG disappointment for me is he can't make a freakin free=throw to save his life.  He shoots as bad as DH .

Rondo and DH on the same team would be the worst foul shooting starters in NBA history....casue Shaq at least had guards that could make a free throw

If it actually kept the defense honest then I'd agree with you. The problem is, the other team KNOWS he can't make that shot regularly enough to be efficient and they'll continue to play the odds on it all night.

Just watch, Rondo hitting one or two of those doesn't change the way he's guarded. And it especially doesn't do anything when he bricks 4 in a row, like he did to start off the last game (was anybody else counting? I was).

So again, I don't see the need for him to take this shot

[celtics2]

New nickname for Rondo *Brick*

Rebounders must go nuts when that missile is coming in.

[SHAQATTACK]

It is frustrating , JAson kid was a brickster when he came to the league. You know as athletic and skilled ball handler as Rondo is , you just know he has the skills to shoot a ton better.  Shooting is not so much natural , and like playing pool or hiting a baseball requires TONS OF PRACTICE. Practice is what has made Kidd better and Ray Allen great . Hours and hours standing in the gym shooting "J"s and foul shots. Its boring for kids today to do that, I thought it was fun, then I didn't have a computer either. . Natural abilities are nice , but skilled jump shooting is an aquirred skill though practice.

To last a long time in the NBA , when he slows down , like KIDD , he'll neeed another asset to sell his service. Would be nice if he would put the hours in during the off season and could hit the 15-18 foot shot consistant.

[wiley]

TP to OP......

Also not a fan of "have to" .......

especially in Rondo's case, one of those rare players who could probably find something better 90 percent of the time.....we won a title with him finding better options, after all.

I like it during the season but right now to say "have to" on Rondo's jumper just makes no sense....I don't mind if they leave it up to him to decide, but I don't understand why they push it.  Push it in a few years after it's improved a bit more.....

[action781]

I think Rondo has to take that 15-18 footer.  If he doesn't then the defense won't play him for it.  If Rondo's defender doesn't play him for it, then he is sagging off him making it hard for Rondo to beat him to the hoop for a layup.  So if Rondo isn't shooting and he can't drive, then he's ineffective.

So he needs to take that 15-18 footer for two reasons.  One, to score points because he can hit it at a pretty solid percentage (at least seemingly the same % that Baby attempts about 5 of which per game).  Two, to make defenders start to respect it and play him closer which will open up his drive.

I'll keep saying it.  Rondo, you have to take that shot.  Not every time.  If there's the potential for something better, then hold off.  But you need to take it once in a while.

[ballin]

I think Rondo has to take that 15-18 footer.  If he doesn't then the defense won't play him for it.  If Rondo's defender doesn't play him for it, then he is sagging off him making it hard for Rondo to beat him to the hoop for a layup.  So if Rondo isn't shooting and he can't drive, then he's ineffective.

So he needs to take that 15-18 footer for two reasons.  One, to score points because he can hit it at a pretty solid percentage (at least seemingly the same % that Baby attempts about 5 of which per game).  Two, to make defenders start to respect it and play him closer which will open up his drive.

I'll keep saying it.  Rondo, you have to take that shot.  Not every time.  If there's the potential for something better, then hold off.  But you need to take it once in a while.

Unfortunately, players won't guard you tight simply because you "take" a shot... you have to actually MAKE shots before there's a change in the defense.

To make an obvious example (I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but this post has already forced me to repeat what I just said) Shaq could pull up from 3 every night for an entire season and nobody would ever actually go out there to stop him. The defense WANTS him to take that shot. And it's the same way with Rondo!

His jumpshot EFG%, according to 82games.com, is .382. That's AWFULLY inefficient, and it blatantly hurts the team. And it doesn't force the defense to do anything about it (in fact, it almost bails them out). And, like the poster above stated, Rondo is so good that 90% of the time he can find something better to do with the ball.

There's just no reason for him to take that shot, in the playoffs, at this point in his career, with anything more than 5 seconds left on the shotclock.

[Celtic#9]

In the regular season, I would want him to shoot it almost everytime he is wide open unless its the 4th quarter and it is close. Otherwise, he needs to take it. He won't get better or have any more confidence not shoting that shot. I would like to see it a lot more next season, maybe 4 or 5 a game at least. There will come a point in time where he will be relied upon to score. Also, I would rather have Rondo shoot that shot than Baby.

[ejk3489]

His jumpshot EFG%, according to 82games.com, is .382. That's AWFULLY inefficient, and it blatantly hurts the team. And it doesn't force the defense to do anything about it (in fact, it almost bails them out). And, like the poster above stated, Rondo is so good that 90% of the time he can find something better to do with the ball.

There's just no reason for him to take that shot, in the playoffs, at this point in his career, with anything more than 5 seconds left on the shotclock.

He shoots 41% from 16-23 feet though. Still not great, but not horrible either. (Westbrook shoots 36% from that area, Rose 38%, and league average is 39%) It's the 5-10 feet area where he stuggled the most this year.

I mean, you make it sounds like he bricks every jumper he takes, which is not true. I'd rather him attack the rim too but there is no reason why he can't take 2 or 3 a game.

[ballin]

His jumpshot EFG%, according to 82games.com, is .382. That's AWFULLY inefficient, and it blatantly hurts the team. And it doesn't force the defense to do anything about it (in fact, it almost bails them out). And, like the poster above stated, Rondo is so good that 90% of the time he can find something better to do with the ball.

There's just no reason for him to take that shot, in the playoffs, at this point in his career, with anything more than 5 seconds left on the shotclock.

He shoots 41% from 16-23 feet though. Still not great, but not horrible either. (Westbrook shoots 36% from that area, Rose 38%, and league average is 39%) It's the 5-10 feet area where he stuggled the most this year.

I mean, you make it sounds like he bricks every jumper he takes, which is not true. I'd rather him attack the rim too but there is no reason why he can't take 2 or 3 a game.

The difference is they shoot that percentage because 1) they actually pull the defense out to that distance 2) they have the ball in their hands a lot more at the end of the shotclock since they're two of the highest usage players in the league. So it serves a purpose other than scoring.

Rondo doesn't pull the defense out and he also tends to take that shot with plenty of time left on the shotclock, so you can't compare the utility of Rondo taking that shot with Rose and Westbrook. Lastly, even if you were to assume for the sake of the argument that the situation was analogous, deep 2-points are still the least efficient shot in basketball and Rondo should be taking as few as those as possible PARTICULARLY because he's not good at it. Rose and Westbrook take those shots because they have no other options; Rondo has 3 other all-stars on his team.

[ejk3489]

His jumpshot EFG%, according to 82games.com, is .382. That's AWFULLY inefficient, and it blatantly hurts the team. And it doesn't force the defense to do anything about it (in fact, it almost bails them out). And, like the poster above stated, Rondo is so good that 90% of the time he can find something better to do with the ball.

There's just no reason for him to take that shot, in the playoffs, at this point in his career, with anything more than 5 seconds left on the shotclock.

He shoots 41% from 16-23 feet though. Still not great, but not horrible either. (Westbrook shoots 36% from that area, Rose 38%, and league average is 39%) It's the 5-10 feet area where he stuggled the most this year.

I mean, you make it sounds like he bricks every jumper he takes, which is not true. I'd rather him attack the rim too but there is no reason why he can't take 2 or 3 a game.

The difference is they shoot that percentage because 1) they actually pull the defense out to that distance 2) they have the ball in their hands a lot more at the end of the shotclock since they're two of the highest usage players in the league. So it serves a purpose other than scoring.

Rondo doesn't pull the defense out and he also tends to take that shot with plenty of time left on the shotclock, so you can't compare the utility of Rondo taking that shot with Rose and Westbrook. Lastly, even if you were to assume for the sake of the argument that the situation was analogous, deep 2-points are still the least efficient shot in basketball and Rondo should be taking as few as those as possible PARTICULARLY because he's not good at it. Rose and Westbrook take those shots because they have no other options; Rondo has 3 other all-stars on his team.

Would Westbrook or Rose's FG% really go up that much if they didn't take end of the clock jumpers? I doubt it would be that significant.

Westbrook has no other option? He plays with Durant, and he's been highly critized by OKC fans/bloggers,ect. of not setting him up more often. (But that's more off-topic...)

[action781]

I think Rondo has to take that 15-18 footer.  If he doesn't then the defense won't play him for it.  If Rondo's defender doesn't play him for it, then he is sagging off him making it hard for Rondo to beat him to the hoop for a layup.  So if Rondo isn't shooting and he can't drive, then he's ineffective.

So he needs to take that 15-18 footer for two reasons.  One, to score points because he can hit it at a pretty solid percentage (at least seemingly the same % that Baby attempts about 5 of which per game).  Two, to make defenders start to respect it and play him closer which will open up his drive.

I'll keep saying it.  Rondo, you have to take that shot.  Not every time.  If there's the potential for something better, then hold off.  But you need to take it once in a while.

Unfortunately, players won't guard you tight simply because you "take" a shot... you have to actually MAKE shots before there's a change in the defense.

To make an obvious example (I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but this post has already forced me to repeat what I just said) Shaq could pull up from 3 every night for an entire season and nobody would ever actually go out there to stop him. The defense WANTS him to take that shot. And it's the same way with Rondo!

This response makes little sense because like I said, Rondo actually DOES MAKE shots from 15-18 feet.  Somebody else even mentioned he does at a better % than Rose and Westbrook.  And a Rondo 15-18 footer is nothing like a Shaq 3.  You are comparing apples to... elephants here.

So let's say the game is tied and down to the last possession.  Rondo has attempted 5 shots that game from 15-18 feet and hit 2 of them (his season average).  Does a good defense come out to guard him on that shot on the last possession?  Or do they let him take that open shot for the game?  They come out to guard him because they know he'll take and can hit it and they aren't going to give away such an easy chance to win a game.  Now,  the defense is guarding him, so he can use all of his abilities.  If you think Rondo should NOT be shooting that shot, even I could come up with a defensive scheme to make Rondo completely ineffective on that play.

For example, in my men's league, I'm a point guard and not a great three point shooter (maybe 30%).  But I will always attempt my first three pointer within the first 6 minutes of the game.  Why?  So the defense thinks I am feeling my shot and they will come out to guard me which enables me to beat them off the dribble.  When teams are losing, they don't play the percentages and hope you miss a 30-40% fga.  They play to get stops and will guard you if you can hit.

[MBunge]

One thing that must be considered is that if any player passes up a wide open shot it often leads to his team getting out of sync.  Sometimes it's better to miss a shot in the flow of the offense rather than not take it and either overpass the ball or have another player force up a shot that puts the team in either poor rebounding position or in the wrong place to get back on defense.

The point is that your offense should not be putting guys who can't shot in positions where they have to put it up.

Mike

[LooseCannon]

Lastly, even if you were to assume for the sake of the argument that the situation was analogous, deep 2-points are still the least efficient shot in basketball

Context matters.  According to work presented at the Sloan Conference, a strongly contested layup is worth about as much as a wide-open 19-footer.  Rondo may be less likely to make the long two, but he's also less likely to make free throws if fouled on a tightly-defended layup.

Working the ball around and getting a wide-open deep 2-pointer for a good shooter like a Pierce or Allen is probably a more efficient shot than dumping the ball inside for an average big man to post up against an average defender.