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

[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.

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.

Yeah poorly worded on my part, what I meant is that if his athleticism never returns to pre injury levels hes in trouble because his shooting hasn't visibly improved as far as I can tell.

[RRNoLookPass]

Yeah poorly worded on my part, what I meant is that if his athleticism never returns to pre injury levels hes in trouble because his shooting hasn't visibly improved as far as I can tell.

I know Rondo isn't a great Free Throw shooter or 3p shooter, but the "Rondo is a bad shooter" argument is older than Mr. Rogers' khakis. Last year, Rondo had one of the highest FG%s for a PG, and his midrange jumpshot % was among the best in the league. But people refuse to stop labeling him a bad shooter, simply because he is a below average Free Throw and 3p shooter. And the whole thing with his 3p% is that it is skewed...His 3p% is wayy lower than it would be if he wasn't always the guy who runs the ball up the court for halfcourt heaves when time is running out at the end of a quarter.

He atleast plays within his game though. He knows he isn't a great 3p shooters, so he doesn't take many 3s unless he is really on fire with his jumpshooting. He just sets other people up for opens 3s instead.

Edit-- Oh, and regarding the OP- I can see complaining about Rondo's two missed FT attempts if it cost us the game, but we lost by 7, not 2. It really wouldn't have made a difference regardless.

[Jailan34]

Yeah poorly worded on my part, what I meant is that if his athleticism never returns to pre injury levels hes in trouble because his shooting hasn't visibly improved as far as I can tell.

I know Rondo isn't a great Free Throw shooter or 3p shooter, but the "Rondo is a bad shooter" argument is older than Mr. Rogers' khakis. Last year, Rondo had one of the highest FG%s for a PG, and his midrange jumpshot % was among the best in the league. But people refuse to stop labeling him a bad shooter, simply because he is a below average Free Throw and 3p shooter. And the whole thing with his 3p% is that it is skewed...His 3p% is wayy lower than it would be if he wasn't always the guy who runs the ball up the court for halfcourt heaves when time is running out at the end of a quarter.

He atleast plays within his game though. He knows he isn't a great 3p shooters, so he doesn't take many 3s unless he is really on fire with his jumpshooting. He just sets other people up for opens 3s instead.

Edit-- Oh, and regarding the OP- I can see complaining about Rondo's two missed FT attempts if it cost us the game, but we lost by 7, not 2. It really wouldn't have made a difference regardless.

Sure Rondo isn't bad at shooting open mid range shots, but he hasn't shown much ability to create his own shot, which he would need to do if he never regains full form. This would be because defenders no longer need to worry about him blowing up so they can play tighter defense, while still sagging off him at the 3PT line.

This is why I'm concerned, all I'm saying is that IF RR does not reach 100% again after this injury, much as KG never did as well as Rose then its a legitimate cause for concern because he already struggles to score.

RR needs to improve his FT and 3PT % much as Kidd did, because Kidd's game evolved he stayed relevant and productive and had a lengthy career, I want the same for Rondo.

I do believe he can do this, he works as hard as anyone, its just starting to worry me that this late into his career there hasn't been much improvement in those two key shooting percentages.

[tstorey_97]

I don't think Rondo needs defenders. This season is a w-a-s-h. He can work his way back to his best form over the next couple of months and be ready for his contract year.

He is a veteran player, he is what he is. The "Rondo is our salvation" folks are just as far off the mark as the "trade him to the Kings for Jordan Crawford" group.

Granted, they are making some sense, Rondo's "no look passes" aren't anywhere near as good as Crawford's "no look shots."

I'm concerned that some folks may think this post is on the level...only the Crawford part is serious.

 

[LarBrd33]

Yeah poorly worded on my part, what I meant is that if his athleticism never returns to pre injury levels hes in trouble because his shooting hasn't visibly improved as far as I can tell.

I know Rondo isn't a great Free Throw shooter or 3p shooter, but the "Rondo is a bad shooter" argument is older than Mr. Rogers' khakis. Last year, Rondo had one of the highest FG%s for a PG, and his midrange jumpshot % was among the best in the league. But people refuse to stop labeling him a bad shooter, simply because he is a below average Free Throw and 3p shooter. And the whole thing with his 3p% is that it is skewed...His 3p% is wayy lower than it would be if he wasn't always the guy who runs the ball up the court for halfcourt heaves when time is running out at the end of a quarter.

He atleast plays within his game though. He knows he isn't a great 3p shooters, so he doesn't take many 3s unless he is really on fire with his jumpshooting. He just sets other people up for opens 3s instead.

Edit-- Oh, and regarding the OP- I can see complaining about Rondo's two missed FT attempts if it cost us the game, but we lost by 7, not 2. It really wouldn't have made a difference regardless.

Sure Rondo isn't bad at shooting open mid range shots, but he hasn't shown much ability to create his own shot, which he would need to do if he never regains full form. This would be because defenders no longer need to worry about him blowing up so they can play tighter defense, while still sagging off him at the 3PT line.

This is why I'm concerned, all I'm saying is that IF RR does not reach 100% again after this injury, much as KG never did as well as Rose then its a legitimate cause for concern because he already struggles to score.

RR needs to improve his FT and 3PT % much as Kidd did, because Kidd's game evolved he stayed relevant and productive and had a lengthy career, I want the same for Rondo.

I do believe he can do this, he works as hard as anyone, its just starting to worry me that this late into his career there hasn't been much improvement in those two key shooting percentages.

Rondo has always been a weak offensive player.  To expect him to suddenly improve now that he's past his prime is ridiculous.

He's a really good player, but he needed a certain system and team to be successful.  He needs lots of shooters.  KG and Bass were consistent mid-range shooters.  Ray was the best 3-point shooter alive.  Pierce was one of the most versatile offensive weapons in the league.  Those guys spread the floor and kept defenses honest.  It allowed Rondo to penetrate inside and have the option to kick it out to an open shooter. 

I've yet to see any reason to believe Rondo can be successful in a "share the ball" free-flowing offense.  He's somewhat of a liability shooting the ball.  Defenders will never take him seriously.  It puts added pressure on his teammates to score.  This team doesn't have the scorers.  I don't know how Rondo will get his assists when his teammates don't hit their shots.  This goes back to those debates a couple years ago... John Wall vs Rondo.  The argument was that Wall would get as many assists as Rondo if he wasn't surrounded with offensively inept players.  The argument was that Wall had as many assist-qualifying passes as Rondo, his team just didn't convert the shots. 

I've always been curious to see what Rondo would do without his hall-of-fame teammates and a coach tailoring an offense to his strengths and weaknesses.  I always thought there was potential for Rondo to be exposed a little.  So far, he looks like crap, but there's a lot of factors playing into it.  Gotta give him some time to get back into the swing of things.  If we have patience, I still think he can be a 12/8/5 guy

[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.

Yeah poorly worded on my part, what I meant is that if his athleticism never returns to pre injury levels hes in trouble because his shooting hasn't visibly improved as far as I can tell.

My point was Rondo's not 100%. On top of being slower, he's also kind of out of shape from his play and from what he's said. So everything we've seen should be taken with a grain of salt. Even his shooting.

A jump shot or a free throw is not as obviously and directly connected to physical abilities as running the break or going for a layup. But when you're gassed, your form isn't as good, you don't get as much lift and you lose concentration (from my experience, anyway).

[Croc Hunter]

Knee injuries can take up to an extra 12 months after the athlete starts playing competitive sports again for the athlete to get back to where they were before the injury.

Just because RR is back playing doesn't mean he's close to being back to what he was pre-injury.

Anyone who expects him to come back and play anything like what he is capable of is not only asking a lot of him, but are oblivious what its like to come back from such injuries. especially at the highest level of competition in the world.

[KGs Knee]

Yep, the Rondo 'haters' sure are taking their chances to get their 'shots' in while they can. Can't say I'm much surprised, trolls have a tendency to act like trolls afterall.

So when Rondo is back to being one of the top 3 PG's again, will the trolls eat their crow? I doubt it, they'll Likely just crawl back under their bridge and lay in the shadows.

[Clench123]

I'm a huge Rondo fan but even I can't deny the fact that 1 point in a whole game, regardless whether you're coming off of major injury or not is bad. 

[GreenFaith1819]

He should definitely continue to work on his free throws. But if we had a fully conditioned Rondo out there last night we could've pulled this off, which is amazing.

I've heard that Chris Paul can be frustrating, too

Rondo will be fine.

[Onslaught]

If he played like this all the time I'd be frustrated. Seeing that he isn't like this all the time then I'm ok.

I recall Magic missing two free-throws in the Finals vs the Celtics and losing the game for the Lakers. And his carrier turned out OK in the end.

[pokeKingCurtis]

I'm a huge Rondo fan but even I can't deny the fact that 1 point in a whole game, regardless whether you're coming off of major injury or not is bad.

26 minutes.

It's not great but Jeff Green used to go for single digit points with no rebounds no assists no steals no blocks. Rondo can do other things when he can't score.

[cltc5]

I saw Rondo defer to guys like Green and Wallace too many times down the stretch.  I know they are vets but this isnt Paul and KG out there.  I didnt like that, seeing as how neither of those two bums contributed.

[Celtics4ever]

He is not 100% folks.   I don't think he is even close to being ready.

What is even more frustrating is people don't get this and get that no GM would trade for him in his present state.

If he was a horse, they'd take him out back to shoot him.

[Roy H.]

If you take the worst of any player -- and Rondo was pretty much at his nadir last night -- there's going to be a lot you can find not to like.

However, the Rondo of last night isn't indicative of Rondo, even at his baseline. 

Rondo being a poor free throw shooter is frustrating, sure.  I'm just not positive that last night's game -- when he's still clearly rusty -- was the right time to make your point.