I sure hope Rondo is ready...

[Clench123]

Earlier today, Loy posted about Rondo's fantastic Asian trip. Looking at that, I started to thinking about the off-season and how different some players are. Most people who know me know that I love Celtics history and am always reading something from the past. We can learn some very important lessons from the Celtics legends.

For instance, Larry Bird was one of the greatest players to ever step on the court. He didn't have the physical tools that a lot of players have. He wasn't athletic and he couldn't jump and he wasn't fast. But yet, he was one of the most dominant players of any era. It didn't just happen, either. Larry Bird was also one of the hardest working players in league history.

When a season ended, Larry was right back out on the court working on his game, especially if the team missed out on the championship. He worked tirelessly on his conditioning, on his shooting, and on every facet of his game. He also tried to add a new wrinkle to his game every off-season to keep his opponents off guard. He didn't want to be too easy for them to guard. Larry didn't go on trips. He didn't do fun things. He worked and got better.


All of that brings me back to Rondo's summer. First, there were interviews and photos surface from Rondo's visit to France where he attended Nike's World Basketball Festival. He did a clinic there but didn't seem to have a lot of time for working on his own game. He then traveled to Asia for Red Bull and had a very busy time over there, again seemingly without a lot of time to work on his own game:

Hope you like this one. Here's a recap video of Rajon's visits to Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong. He hosted multiple youth clinics, a court refurbishment, and qualifiers for Red Bull King of the Rock. He also was able to spend some down time on the water while in Hong Kong, "becoming one with the banana boat" and doing some wakeboarding.

After his Asia trip we next found Rondo interning at GQ magazine and writing blogs about hats and having a great time carrying bags and coffee and delivering mail and all sorts of fun things. He was seen at Fashion Week and generally was a man about town. Then we had his appearance on BET's 106 and Park, being the fashion plate and witty interviewee.

He's hung out with the University of Kentucky girls volleyball team.   He's been out at UCLA playing flag football.  Next, he's heading to Alcatraz for the King of the Rock tournament.  The one thing that I haven't read anything about is how he's been working hard on his game.   Rondo is a great player, but let's face it, he has areas that he needs some work on.  It would be nice if we heard that he was working hard on his shot or on his free throws.

Just because we haven't heard anything about his working on his game or his shot or his free throws doesn't mean that he hasn't been doing it behind the scenes, but with a schedule like he had this summer, I don't see how he had the time to do too much.  Brandon Bass went to China and put on clinics there, but he also took his shooting coach with him and worked on his game in between the clinics and the public appearances.  If Rondo did something like that, I would think that one of the articles would have mentioned it.

I know that Rondo's had a fun summer and has done a lot of things.  But, I can't help but wonder if maybe he should have done a little more to be ready for the season.  Larry Bird proved that you don't become the best without hard work.  Rondo said in one interview that he thinks he's the best point guard in the league.  He's one of the best.  If he wants to be the best, it's going to come with a lot of hard work and less fun and games. 

That article got me thinking.  I hope Rondo is ready for the task ahead.  I'm glad he's having a good time with traveling and vacations (if I was a 26 year old millionaire too, I'll do thesame), but it would've been satisfactory to have heard he was in the gym working on his game and getting better.  Enjoy your money and success but what separate great players from good players is how much heart and hardwork they're willing to put on the line.  That article only made mention of Larry Bird but I've read thesame thing about Micheal Jordan and Kobe.  And those guys are in the league of their own, largely because of the hardwork they were willing to put in.

If he's going to win this MVP title, he's going to have to really work hard at it and improve on his weak sides.  He's got more than enough talent surrounding him going into this season.  No excuses, No apologies, No regrets.  I hope he's ready

[European NBA fan]

I believe that we are talking about one week in Asia and four days in Europe. Jet lag would be his biggest problem.

Red Bull obviously wants some attention to Rondo's Asia tour, while Rondo might not want that, regarding his workouts.

[bucknersrevenge]

And Rondo has definitely been in the gym and worked with the younger players since they've been coming in. Joseph noted as much recently and on Lee's infamous twitter dunk you can plainly see Rondo is the guy he beats backdoor.

[pearljammer10]

Basketball players have lives like everyone else. Rondo can't go on vacation and have the time of his life for two week? It's not like his basketball skills are just going to up and disappear because he went overseas.

[Clench123]

It wasn't two weeks, and you know it.  They have lives and nobody's saying they should ditch their personal lives.  But on the other hand, we are paying them millions of dollars to play basketball.  As far as I'm concern, that should be their top priority as well

[Sketch5]

He could have easily got in a couple hours here and there on his trips. Were he needs to improve at this point is jump shooting and foul shooting. If he did an hour every day in the mourning and maybe at night with just free throw shooting for a couple weeks, I'd be happy with that. Thats a lot of free throws.

That would add so much to his game if he got up to the 75% mark.

[apc]

If Rondo gets any better...its just not going to be fair

[Celtics18]

When did Larry Bird find the time to drink beer, go fishing, and hunting, and golfing? 

What about all Jordan's time spent gambling? 

Rondo will be ready. 

All of his Glamorous jet setting this summer seemed to involve the game of basketball.  I'm guessing that he found the time to get some shots up and work on his game.

[pearljammer10]

It wasn't two weeks, and you know it.  They have lives and nobody's saying they should ditch their personal lives.  But on the other hand, we are paying them millions of dollars to play basketball.  As far as I'm concern, that should be their top priority as well

I get paid thousands of dollars to teach. But for 2 months of the summer and two weeks at Christmas. The absolute last thing on my mind is school. Should I reconstruct my vacation time and take away from bettering my happiness and mental psyche?

[SHAQATTACK]

I think ROndo is finally mature .  He been though a whole lot of mental and physical tests . I believe he is all about the newer Celtics and feels its finally his team and turn to lead them into the future with oold granna Allen out of the picture.  I look for Rondo , Lee, Bradley and Jet to really dominate the backcourt.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Okay let me have my shot at it...


The President of The United States of America is the most important (time consuming) job in the world, yet, even he (they) take vacations throughout the year! If they don't take a "break" they would lose their minds and fail to function properly!

If you (anyone) doesn't find time to "get away" every now and then, you will go crazy and exhaust yourselves (probably fall over dead)!

They have off-seasons in sports for a reason (even in sports like golf)... you have to rest and recuperate so you can come back refreshed and ready for the mental and physical toll you have to endure for your jobs! Sure, they get paid millions, but we have billion dollar MACHINES that malfunction if they get overused or not take a break to be serviced ever now and then!

To the people talking about Bird, Jordan, and Kobe... hahaha... I guess you forget about all the extramarital affairs, drinking, gambling, fishing, etc.!

Get real if you are expecting Rondo to be some type of robot or something! He needs time away from the game, both mentally and physically!

I can guarantee he works as hard as most everyone else, you don't get to his level (believe it or not) just based off of God given talents... there are MANY people with amazing physical abilities who will never ever see an NBA court! Seeing as RR is one of the best players alive, should tell you he busts his butt, even if the results don't always (seem to) show it!

No one is perfect at basketball contrary to what you believe... even players like LeRoid, a physical specimen, have struggled at times!

RR improved last season and the ones before it, I expect to see the same type of improvements this season, the guy is only like 26 and easily one of the best alive!

Give him a break!

[lightspeed5]

"Rondo doesnt practice in the summer, he's interning for GQ"

this is basically what your post says. I have a problem with this, because you have no idea what Rondo's daily schedule looks like. How do you know he hasnt been practicing free throws everyday? Do you watch him in his home? Do you know what time he gets up at? or do you know where he is at all times?

Truth is, you do not know what Rondo does or has done this off-season. I guarantee you he has worked hard on his overall game. It was documented that rondo began practicing and shooting jumpshots the DAY AFTER they won the championship in 08. rondo's offseason began the day after they won. thats how hard working he is.

[AshyLarry]

If he's not, training camp will provide the necessary fuel.

I do think Rondo's become more mature, though. And that's just awesome.

[RJ87]

"Rondo has been great, just terrific this summer," Rivers said. "He reached out to all the players and got every single one of them to fly to L.A. and practice together. They put in about four or five hours a day. Paul and KG were already out there, but Rondo got Jason and Courtney Lee and all the other guys on board too.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/8418705/time-was-right-ray-allen-boston-celtics-part

/Thread

[Boris Badenov]

If he's not, training camp will provide the necessary fuel.

I do think Rondo's become more mature, though. And that's just awesome.

Yes. At this point the biggest leap in his development will happen between his ears:

1. Being a mature and composed leader on the court and in practice;
2. Bringing his A game more consistently.