So...now do you see why Rondo can be frustrating?

[kg is king]

Yep. Worst PG ever.

Most definitely.

[paidthecost2betheboss]

Is it possible that taking a year off, having major surgery, playing a season high in minutes in your 3rd game back - giving max effort against the one team in the league you'd like to beat the most - is it possible that all of that could leave a player with tired legs at the end of a game? And that having tired legs hurts your free throw shooting?

Someone help me out here. I mean, it could go either way, right?

Aaaah tsk tsk tsk...you hush now...you're making sense and stuff

[Vermont Green]

Rondo had 1 point, 3 rebs, 5 assists, and 3 TO in 26 minutes against low tier opposing point guards.  No matter how you slice it that is bad.  Take your pick of the following:

(1)  Rondo is not fully ready to play
(2)  Rondo is exposed due to players around him and is not nearly as good as anyone thought.
(3)  The injury is worse than believed and he will not ever be the old Rondo.

I will grant that (1) is the most likely which leads to the question of why on earth would they put him out there if he is not fully ready to play.  It makes no sense in terms of trade value; it makes no sense if you want to build around him.

[sed522002]

Rondo had 1 point, 3 rebs, 5 assists, and 3 TO in 26 minutes against low tier opposing point guards.  No matter how you slice it that is bad.  Take your pick of the following:

(1)  Rondo is not fully ready to play
(2)  Rondo is exposed due to players around him and is not nearly as good as anyone thought.
(3)  The injury is worse than believed and he will not ever be the old Rondo.

I will grant that (1) is the most likely which leads to the question of why on earth would they put him out there if he is not fully ready to play.  It makes no sense in terms of trade value; it makes no sense if you want to build around him.

Or how about this is his 3rd game back where he's basically having his preseason and opposing guards are going to keep attacking him while he's weak. What's being "exposed" is that he's still rehabbing a major injury (while on minute restrictions and a knee brace).

[Kuberski33]

No training camp either.  Plus with those injuries - and normal treatment -- they take more than a year to recover from - hence the bulky brace.  He won't be back to normal till sometime next season.  I doubt we'll see any explosiveness at all from him the rest of this season.

[LEHGOCELTICS]

3. That is the number of games Rondo has played since his surgery. Give it time.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I'm in the "keep Rondo" camp, but one of the Heat announcers made what I thought was the line of the night. After Rondo missed the first of those two free throws—and having already missed 1 of 2 earlier—the guy said, "Rondo misses the first, he's showing a little rust."

Umm, no. Rondo is rusty, yes, but he's always struggled with his free throws.

[Jailan34]

Like i thought rondos scoring has been severally limited by his diminished athleticism. If rondo never regains his speed he will be almost a non factor in offense

[green147]

When the Celtics are down, we need this guy to patrol these forums...

[Jailan34]

Rondo being rusty is expected. However, i think a fair concern is that he will never regain his full athleticism, because its still yet to be seen if hes improved his shot at all.

[pokeKingCurtis]

Rondo being rusty is expected. However, i think a fair concern is that he will never regain his full athleticism, because its still yet to be seen if hes improved his shot at all.

Shooting a basketball or free throw doesn't require the strength or effort of an acrobatic layup or a dunk.

However, it does still require some effort and energy and focus.

Jury's still out (for me).



Edit:

Not to mention this isn't just practice, not a scrimmage, nor preseason (as someone pointed out), this is full speed professional basketball. It takes some adjusting to.

I'm very optimistic he'll be better than ever when he gets back in shape. He's had time to do nothing but work on his jumper.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Missed free throws? He hasn't played ball in like a year. Pretty sure he hit the bottom of the backboard on a 3 point attempt after that (I was watching on Facetime). Give him a break, bruh. If he came back firing on all cylinders I'd assume he was juiced up and/or Adrian Peterson.

[tyrone biggums]

Misses two key free throws at the end of the game.

This is why people like myself feel Rondo is not nearly as good as he's made out to be.

It's nice if you can make nifty Harlem Globetrotter like-passes and "get your teammates involved" or "be a great facilitator" (or however the Rondo song and dance goes.)

But if you can't knock down two free throws at the end of the game when you're down by just 4, then where does that leave you?

So when Rondo is pushed out by you guys maybe you will be able to appreciate his skill set more. Clearly we were better off when JR Bremmer and Kenny Anderson were running the point.

[RRNoLookPass]

It was a jump to conclusions mat!

Hahahahaha. TP for that my friend. Soo true...It applies to a solid half the posts in this thread too.

Some of these comments are flat out ridiculous...I don't know whether to laugh or just stop reading.

Like so many other people said, it's his Third game back. He's not even back in game shape yet. Like Rondo said himself recently-- something to the extent of: you can run, bike, swim, do any kind of workout you can think of, but nothing compares to playing in an actual game. 

It's going to take some time for him to play himself back into game shape and get into a groove again.

Not to mention the fact that he's playing with a Whole New Team! And not only that, but the Celtics have made two trades recently, and now the team is depleted with injuries too. Some of these new guys haven't even practiced together yet, and the whole team is discombobulated with all the new faces and injuries.

It take time for a team to mesh. Look at the Nets for example-- with all that talent they are stacked with, people thought they were going to come right out and dominate. The Brooklyn starters were on a SI cover captioned "who wants to mess with them?" before the season even started. With all the talent on that team, it still took them 20 or 30 games to start playing cohesively.

Cut the guy some slack. He worked hard to come back as early as possible, and help his team in whatever way he can, unlike Derrick Rosey Poo

[paidthecost2betheboss]

As odd as this sounds I think Rondo is evaluating the locker room just before triggers are pulled. Who else can Danny get to tell him straight up who's doing what? The Coach is New and that is that. Rondo has to be concerned about hurting his leverage by conducting training camp for himself in January.....So...name him Captain cuz he should be and it is a reassurance ..

Danny: I only had one other Capt...I don't throw that title around like bills in a strip club...don't worry"

I said and say again that Green is gone before any other if Danny has his way. I said that before the front page story because it's just too obvious. Any lingering questions about Green inside the locker room have been cleared up. Danny doesn't have P.P. and K.G. for temperature checks anymore. If Bass can be moved Danny might wanna make a good run at Hump. I think Rondo and Hump become B.F.F's cuz Hump has team player written all over him. He's a tough guy bruiser and Rondo got on well with that type most. Perk,K.G. Dooling was a quasi mentor healer whatever so I don't even see that as a bball court thing.

Green even if he had more game it would be a better return but he's gone. I think Rondo has a swelling in the knee **cough** just after Danny decides what's the plan. I think it's been decided and we are seeing it now.

Rondo will shut it down Bass and Green are gone and another PF will come outta D league and or draft and Rondo gets to help Danny and Stevens with his thoughts after gathering data.

 

For Rondo as a player and a guy who's next contract could/should be his biggest it makes little sense to make bad stats. Unless it's not gonna be needed because he's gonna stay and Danny doesn't care cuz this year is a wash a test a check a time to clean. The bigger picture. Coming into focus.