Early Season Lesson: Rondo Can't Carry a Team

[PosImpos]

Despite how bad the team as a whole as played, I think it's fair to say that Rondo has done about as much as he could possibly be expected to do so far this season.  He's come out from the very first tip off looking like he wants to prove to everyone that he's a star, and his numbers for the year so far would be his best season, at least statistically speaking.

Despite Rondo's great play, the team has struggled mightily against all but the very worst teams they've played.  I can't help thinking that this is strong confirmation about what many of us have suspected all along -- Rondo is a very good player, but he's not capable of carrying a flawed team.  

One caveat is that the team as currently constructed does not play to his strengths.  Half of the roster is not fast enough to keep up with him on fast breaks, or play the game the way he'd probably most like to play it.  Yet even as bad as they've been, there's still a lot of talent on this roster.  But with Paul playing badly and KG looking "creaky" (to put it mildly), the team has had an extremely difficult time scoring.  

To me this just underlines that you can't expect Rondo to carry a team offensively; if he's the most capable and consistent scorer on the roster (or even the #2), your team is going to have a very difficult time scoring points, and therefore most likely your team is just not going to be very good.

[FearTheBeard]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

[greenpride32]

I think the whole notion of surrounding Rondo with faster legs is overblown.  You can't just say you're going to play quick transition basketball; you have to create opportunities with turnovers or quick outlets off rebounds.  If Rondo tried to run fast break on every possesion whether it was there or not, he would only last 25-30 minutes instead or 40+ a game.

Rondo's lack or shooting is a big liablity to this team on the offensive end.  Since we mainly have jumpshooters, Rondo's defender can simply zone off of him and cut down a good amount of passing lanes.  This is part of the reason why our half court set is really stagnant.  

I've said it all along, Rondo is a very good player; but he is not elite.  Funny how people were still comparing him favorably to D Rose as recently as last year.  Though I haven't heard a peep about it in a while.  I'm not trying to knock Rondo, but he is what he is.  If he were a legitimate franchise player do you think DA would have tried to move him on more than one occasion in the past couple of years?

[clover]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

[vinnie]

I think this is correct, but I also think it is correct that there are very few guys who can carry a team. Watching the Clippers last night, I would say Chris Paul is one of them, although Blake Griffin certainly is a nice teammate to have.

[FearTheBeard]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

what?

[Celtics18]

I think there's a pretty good chance that a D Rose or Chris Paul led Celtics team would be about 4 and 7 right now.  Nobody carries a team into title contention all by himself.  I mean nobody.

If you go forward with Rondo, of course, you have to put good pieces around him, like you would with any other player.

[KGs Knee]

I'm not sold on this idea "Rondo can't carry a team".  For me, this means being the best player, not necessarily it's lead scorer.

In the beginning of the Big 3 era, Rondo was asked to be a complimentary player to the Big 3.  This worked beautifully due to the strenthgs of the Big 3, and the complimentary skill set Rondo brought to the table.  Now that the Big 3 are being asked to be the complimentary players to Rondo, it's not working as well.  This isn't an indictment on Rondo though.  The skill sets of the Big 3, at this point in their careers, just don't mesh well with the style of play Rondo is best suited for.  They are slow and unwilling to attack the basket.  They don't posses the abilities anymore to maximize Rondo's abilities.

Maybe, in a few years when Rondo has players surroundng him who can run, attack the basket, and score from the post, we'll truly be able to judge Rondo as a "lead dog".  Until then, for me anyways, the jury is still out.

[pearljammer10]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

If that... Kobe is probably the best player of the last ten years and he has always needed a 1b (in sHAQ'S case I would even say 1A) type player to help him get to the top. To say anyone, especially Rondo, can carry a team alone in todays game is somewhat ridiculous.

[clover]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

what?

LBJ 'couldn't carry' a bad team either.  No single NBA player I've seen has been able to do so.

[KCattheStripe]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

what?

LBJ 'couldn't carry' a bad team either.  No single NBA player I've seen has been able to do so.

Hakeem Olajuwon thinks you're adorable.

[Inside-Out]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

what?

LBJ 'couldn't carry' a bad team either.  No single NBA player I've seen has been able to do so.

He carried a bad team to the Finals in Cleveland, and pretty early in his career at that.

Iverson did the same a decade ago.

[Celtics Fan]

And who can?

[Celtics18]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

what?

LBJ 'couldn't carry' a bad team either.  No single NBA player I've seen has been able to do so.

Hakeem Olajuwon thinks you're adorable.

Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry and Otis Thorpe are insulted.

[KCattheStripe]

There's maybe 10 players in the league that can carry a team.


Rondo can't carry a team but he can  be a 1b type player on a championship team

Rondo-Harden-Deng-Smoove-Gasol

I think it's safe to say right now Rondo is the best player on that team (Harden probably passes him in a  couple years, but for now) and it could make a deep run in the playoffs

KG in his prime was easily a top-5 player, but by your definition he 'couldn't carry a team'.

what?

LBJ 'couldn't carry' a bad team either.  No single NBA player I've seen has been able to do so.

Hakeem Olajuwon thinks you're adorable.

Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry and Otis Thorpe are insulted.

They can be as insulted as they want, but at that point in their careers they weren't better than  Shaq, Varejo, Antwan Jamison, Anthony Parker, Delonte.