Rondo's clearly a better rebounder, though more on the defensive end I would guess.
Actually, Rondo is the slightly better rebounder, and its offensive boards that set him above CP3, not defensive boards. Chris Paul is actually a better defensive rebounder over their careers, and ROndo the much better offensive rebounder, by the metrics.
But in terms of overall rebounds grabbed against possible rebound opportunities, their difference is very slim; 7.2 Rebound Rate for Rondo to 6.9 Rebound Rate for Paul.
Rondo's rebounding edge really shows in the playoffs, where his rate is closer to being the best of any guard in history than it is to CP3's.
Well that's great...but in the hundreds of games sample size the regular season provides us, its extremely close.
I'm ok with Rondo not throwing his body around too much during the season. And he's played in about 75 playoff games, I'm fairly comfortable stating that what we've seen isn't a fluke.
Did you happen to check out each players' assist ratio, TS%, eFG%, Stl%, TOR, or WS/48?
Cuz all that stuff says Rondo is clearly the poorer offensive player to Paul in every single facet of the offensive game.
Except rebounding, of course.
I'd say Rondo is better at getting to the rim, and that IMO he does a better job at directing traffic/creating mismatches in the halfcourt than pretty much any other pg I see.
Well, simply put, I disagree I guess. I think all things being equal, CP3 having the same weapons Rondo has had, same turnovers created that he can capitalize on, same fast-break opportunities, I think he'd show that on offense he's above rondo in all the categories you mentioned.
Boston shoots in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock 34% of the time, NO 33% of the time. Boston's opponents have a turnover rate of .148 (3rd in the league), NO is .144 (tied for 6th). CP3 *does* have those same opportunities to capitalize on.
No, he doesn't. Boston defends better, forces more missed shots, and since they are always in good position, are in a better situation heading down the court. Boston forces more turnovers per 100 possessions, and on top of that they play at a faster pace, which means that in fact Boston not only gets more turnovers per 100 possessions, they get more turnovers faster.
All that adds up to less than a turnover a game difference, so in the time they play, about 1 turnover difference every other game. On a per game basis, NO takes slightly more shots early in the shot clock than the Celts. Again, same opportunities.
Show me the stats they tell me where the ball is typically rebounded, show me the points scored off turnovers, and not the poorly advised early shots from an undisciplined team. Also, I cannot for the life of me find the 'first 10 seconds' stat, so if you could link to that...
And lastly, Rajon Rondo plays with 3 other hall-of-famers, all of whom are some of the best in the league at knocking down jumpshots. That creates a world of potential space for Rajon, which he benefits from.
Chris Paul does not have the same opportunities Rajon Rondo has to get to the cup. He's gotta do more, with an entire defense keying on him, without anything approaching the supporting cast Rondo has. I'm not sure what is unclear or ambiguous about this.
If this was the case historically, it would be fairly clear. CP3 used to get to the cup much more than he does. Was he playing with elite jump shooters at the time, or maybe you don't think that defenses were keying on him? Obviously it's not just the reasons you gave.
On top of recovering from his injury, he actually has been pretty blessed by okay outside shooting in other years. Janerro Pargo, Peja (when healthy), Mo-Pete (when younger), Rasual Butler (when younger), etc..
The problem with NO has always been that while they get good short term production from role players (see Marcus THornton), they can't ever seem to sustain it as a squad year to year. Whether its Peja's back, or Tyson's knees, or age, or just bad luck, New Orleans cannot seem to sustain a team identity beyond 'Chris Paul's team'. David West is as close as they come.
And the notion they hey were worse last year supports a lot of the problems CP3 had getting to the cup last season. His 3 best running mates (OKafor, West, Ariza), while all 3 not the best guys you'd want to have in the heavy rotation of a contender, all missed roughly 10 games a piece. After that they went to the recycling pile for the rest of the roster.
New Orleans suffered from a lot of things last year, CP3's health contributed, but that's not the biggest knock on them. Poor roster construction is clearly their biggest problem.