Rondo's, by the way, is actually ABOVE the league average for point guards ... his shooting woes are entirely overrated.
Nobody is saying Rondo's FG% is whack. In fact, it's always been pretty good. It's the fact that he can't make a shot past 15 feet even with all the space in the world.
Back on topic:
The sentiment over at PHX seems to be that Rondo is only as good as he is because he has the big 3 to pass to - it's something I think most non-Celtics fans believe to some degree.
As a first or second option (which Nash is, over there), no-one expects him to play to the standard required.
Rondo will be a great PG (assists-wise) on a run-and-gun team.
But what percentage of any team's opportunities are in transition. Because he can't shoot, and is afraid to penetrate as much as he could because of his FT% woes, he eliminates much of the gain his superior court vision affords him in a half-court offensive setting.
Rondo's shooting from 16-23 feet is *above* league average, so your "fact" is clearly not true. He also has a higher usage rate than Nash, who *isn't* a first or second option in Phoenix. And he's top 5 or so for point guards so I think "afraid to go to the rim" is out the window as well. Your post may have been fairly accurate 3-4 years ago, not currently though.
If Nash isnt the Suns 1st or 2nd options, then who is? The only other offensive threats on that team are dudley (who just camps out on the 3 pt line), and Gortat (who scores on clean ups around the basket, and pick and rolls set up by Nash). 3-4 years ago they actually had some talent surrounding him, so maybe then he wasnt the 1st option...this year everything runs through (and usually ends) with Nash. He's definitely their #1 option.
Gortat takes more shots than Nash, so does Frye. Hill takes the same amount as Nash and Dudley's pretty close. If you consider free throws, Nash takes about as many shots as Rondo, and most of our offense runs through Rajon as well.
As far as Rondos shooting from 16-23 feet being "above average"...The numbers dont even tell half the story. He might have a higher fg% from that distance, but thats because he's left COMPLETELY UNGUARDED. Every other PG in the league will be well defended there, so they should be expected to shoot a lower % than someone whose shot was uncontested.
Sigh. If you actually read what you quoted you'd see that I was responding to:
"It's the fact that he can't make a shot past 15 feet even with all the space in the world."
In that sense, your statement is pretty much useless. But beyond that, I'd point out that it's ridiculous to claim that every other PG in the league will be well defended there. I don't know if people only watch the occasional Celts game and only pay attention when they're looking for reasons to criticize Rondo, but there seems to be a lot of people who think that Rondo's left wide open on every shot but every other outside shot is contested like Paul or Ray or Kobe are taking them. That's not the case, plenty of wide open outside shots are taken in every nba game that's played, even by point guards.
Basically Rondo shoots completely uncontested 16-23 foot jumpshots at a slightly higher rate then average NBA players shoot them when they are being guarded. Thats not a positive. It's especially not a positive, if that "league average" being quoted includes 16-23 footers that are shot by power forwards and centers (players that would bring the "league average" down, but shouldnt be used as a comparison for the shooting of a guard). If "contested 16-23 foot jumpshots shot by guards" was a stat that was available, it would be a useful comparison...and one I'd expect Rondo to fail miserably at.
First of all, the stat holds true whether you're talking about point guards or players in general. Secondly, Rondo taking jump shots and hitting them at a higher rate than others is quite obviously a positive. Scoring points efficiently is somewhat important in the nba. Maybe instead of criticizing Rondo for only taking wide open jumpers, you should consider criticizing the shot selection of players that take contested 16-23 foot jumpers. Everyone knows that long two point shots are the least efficient shots to take, taking them while you're well guarded isn't very smart.
Topic: Phoenix fans take on Rondo+JO for Nash+Gortat... (Read 12312 times)