Wojnarowski: Ray and Rondo don't have a great relationship

[BballTim]

This is what needs to happen to Ray though, he gets great separation when he's doing curls at free-throw level. He gets in trouble when he extends to the 3-point line because it allows defenders to catch up to him.

  It seemed like a few years ago Ray was starting to run into problems because he was still creating seperation, but not quite enough. He'd be open, but running away from the basket. By the time he had turned around to shoot and gotten the ball the defender was able to close him down. The next season he was beating this by driving past the defender that was rushing out at him and taking a pullup jumper, but he seems to have abandoned that strategy.

Other things to consider though is that Ray has a quick release, he doesn't need much separation. Which is why I keep talking about the timing of the passes. You don't have to wait for Ray to get to his spot for the pass to be on its way.

I always like to use this as an example because it shows the beauty of a well timed pass to Ray Allen, at the right speed at the right spot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usWQ0CF6K0s


See when Rondo starting passing the ball to Ray? It wasn't when Ray got to his spot. He know where Ray was moving towards and made the pass, Ray got there as the ball got there for an easy 3-pointer, in rhythm (which I've always said is important for a shooter).

That's what I want to see more of. Not waiting for Ray to get to his spot, to then pass him the ball.

  You can find tons of passes like that, Rondo's probably the best at it in the league. For starters, go with the behind the back mid-air pass off of the spin move from the playoffs. The problem is that many of Ray's plays have him coming off of screens when he runs across the lane. He creates some seperation, but he's running with his back to the basket and he has to get the ball and turn around (either one first) and still have some space to get the shot off. He doesn't have enough space to pull that off very often anymore.