There's a big difference between rewarding guys who run with you and forcing guys to catch up to you to finish off your pass. If your going to pretend that what you see above is anything less then Rondo racking up some easy assists theres no point in me continuing to argue with you. I would think any objective fan can admit that Rondo pads his assists every once in a while. Being a fan doesn't mean you have to pretend your favorite players doesn't have his flaws.
First of all it's ridiculous to claim that nba players have to be "forced" to run 20 feet up the court to make a layup. The next time Paul or Ray complain about taking open layups will probably be the first time ever. Secondly, I never said Rondo never does that, I said other point guards do it as well, and any objective fan would notice this.
I watch a lot of basketball, and the guys we're talking about (CP3, D WIlliams, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose) do not stat-pad their assists. But, that is not my biggest problem with Rondo, by a long shot.
My biggest problem with Rondo is not his 'stat-padding', but it is his blatant reluctance to shoot. For a guy that (dependent on health) has the ability to get wherever he wants whenever he wants, and on top of that is surrounded by 3 elite jump shooters for the majority of the time he's on the floor, Rondo has a ridiculously low volume of shots attempted at the rim, especially considering his lack of a real jumpshot.
Rondo is too deferential in his own attacking the rim. Some might call that 'stat padding', but I think it has to do with a mental inconsistency.
This year he was battling health problems for much of the season which impacted his offensive aggressiveness but he's more aggressive in the playoffs. During the season he averaged about 10 shots a game, he was averaging 15 a game in the playoffs before his injury. During the season he averaged 4 shots a game at the rim, during the playoffs he was probably double that before his elbow injury.
Rondo's 4 attempts at the rim though are not the same as say...CP3 taking 4 attempts at the rim, because Rondo doesn't have range on his jumper. So, realistically speaking, his 4 attempts at the rim are the only attempts that really matter from Rondo, because he's a more effective passer the more he penetrates, and he's more likely to draw fouls and disrupt spacing.
And his attempts at the rim are not the sole indicator on how often Rondo is getting inside, and whether that's 'enough'. His FTA/FGA is among the worst in the league, and every pg we're talking about (Rose, Westbrook, Paul, Williams) have more than double Rajon Rondo's FTA/FGA. Considering that Rondo doesn't have a decent jumper like everyone else on this list, he should conceivably have a much higher ratio of FT's to FG's than the other guards, because of the number of shots rondo should be taking at the rim to be more effective. Rondo simply is not getting to the cup enough, especially in situations when he can do damage.
Are you claiming that Deron has never passed the ball to someone else on a breakaway? Or, more likely, you know that he also does that every once in a while, the difference being you don't consider it to be stat padding.
I will claim that Deron Williams could count on his fingers the number of times during an NBA game he passed up an open lay-in or dunk to wait up for a trailing teammate to give them the bucket.
So Williams is a selfish player who pads his scoring stats. I can see why people are so enthralled with him.
Ha, no. And I dont think anyone who read that honestly would think that's what I'm saying.
By the way, if Rondo's under the basket alone and passes it back to Ray or Paul and they take (and make) a three, doesn't that show him to be a more savvy pg that Deron, who would (apparently) never think to pass back to those guys?
Well, that's a matter of opinion. Is Rondo passing up a guaranteed 2 points for 44% at 3 points? Because if that's the case, it makes him a heck of a riverboat gambler, but I don't know if it makes him savvy. Now, if the C's NEED 3 pts, that is of course different.
Again, though, what's the point of your "stat padding" argument? If he shot the ball instead of passing in in the situations you showed then he'd get two more points for every assist he lost and his fg% and PER and WS/48 and other stats would go up as well. His numbers would more closely match what you see from other point guards. That would cut into the arguments against him.
THat's kind of like saying 'If Rasheed Wallace would've just played in the paint more often, he would have scored more points, and his field goal % would have risen, and he would've closely mirrored Tim Duncan's production.'
If you don't see a difference between "If Rasheed Wallace would've just played in the paint more often, he would have scored more points" and "if Rondo had taken uncontested layups instead of letting other players take uncontested layups" then I don't know what to say.
My point was that what you're insinuating Rondo 'could' do more (ie be more aggressive on a nightly basis, and look for his own shot more) may not be something that is in his nature to do, much like it is not in Rasheed's nature to live on the block.
First of all, Rondo isn't terribly inconsistent. If you disagree, go back to the first month or two of the season when he was healthy and show me all the games he took the night off. Secondly, I think that when Rondo tries to play through injuries, a lot of the posters here are quick to attribute the dropoff to his game to mental issues.
I actually looked at this pretty in-depth earlier in the year (comparing Rondo's play earlier in the season to his play later).
http://www.celticsblog.com/2011/3/10/2042655/by-the-numbers-is-rajon-rondo-off-latelyRajon Rondo is a streaky, inconsistent player, and it lies almost entirely in his own aggressiveness. If he played an entire year at the level he played the first two months of the season, you'd have a leg to stand on, but he never has.
