Wallace on Rondo

[timobusa]

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2014/03/gerald_wallace_celtics_have_real_asset_in_rajon_rondo

“I think you’ve got to be your own person,” Wallace said. “I think that’s what makes him so special. You don’t want him to change. I think the main thing is you don’t want him to be fake. You want what you get from him to be real. And I think as much as he’s a pain in the (butt) sometimes, it’s real.

“I’ve gotten to know him and really understand him. It’s just his competitiveness and his will to fight and want to win. . . . He doesn’t like to lose, and that’s the type of guy that you want to play with.”

“From what I’d seen and what I’d played against, and then being here and being with him, it’s kind of exactly what I expected,” Wallace said. “I mean, you see his competitiveness, his fire, his will to fight out on the court. As an opponent, when you see guys like that getting into that scuffle with (then-Nets property and now C’s teammate Kris) Humphries last year — when you see guys like that, it kind of makes you want to play with them. You kind of want to see if they’re really like that, you know what I’m saying? And he’s every bit of that, 100 percent. He’s competitive. He competes at everything.

“I mean, he’s that cocky guy that you want on your side, that you want to go to war with. You may have some doubts about what kind of person he is until you get with him, and I think he’s everything that I thought he was from playing against him on the court.”

As for how Rondo will be seen in marketing terms as the Celtics try to attract free agents in their rebuilding process, Wallace believes he will be a good salesman for the kind of player the team should be after.

“He’s the type of teammate that everybody would want — that everybody should want,” Wallace said. “He cares about losing. It hurts him to lose.

“As competitive as he is and the way he’s going, he’s at that level where he’s totally into it.”

Turning toward Rondo’s media encounters, Wallace added, “When you’re like that and you lose a game, you don’t really want to talk. It’s nothing against you guys or anything, but it’s just a lot of pain, a lot of hurt, a lot of questioning yourself on what you could have did better, how you could have helped the team to win.

“That’s the type of guy that you want to go to war with, the type of guy that doesn’t just laugh off a loss. He takes it to the heart and he wears his heart on his sleeve.”

And the fact that Rondo’s heart — and the rest of his body — were not in Sacramento nine days ago is, Wallace suggests, of no consequence in the long run. The 13-year veteran does not see Rondo’s birthday excursion as a threat to his Celtics leadership.

“I don’t think so, because what you do off the court kind of weighs on some people on how you are as a leader and what you do, but I think the most important thing that people look at, and the way I was raised is, you know, what you do on the court — how you compete,” said Wallace, who, like his mates, was aware that Rondo wasn’t scheduled to play against the Kings anyway. “If you’re fighting to win, that’s what gets guys behind you.

“When we’re on the court, we’re five guys together, a whole team together. When we’re off the court, we can be individuals. You know, you do your own thing and I do my own thing. It’s what you do on the court that makes me want to follow you. If you’re fighting and diving and scrapping for things, I want to follow you. That’s the kind of leader you want.

“So maybe he should or maybe he shouldn’t with his personal life, but that’s his personal life. Everybody has their own. All I know is that when I’m on the court, that’s the kind of guy I want out there with me. The rest don’t mean anything.”

[barefacedmonk]

Thanks for posting this. I wish I had the ability to give you multiple TPs without waiting for hours. One will have to do for the moment.

[lantinm]

This might be the most valuable thing that Wallace has done for us this year.  Extolling the virtues of Rondo will only help in our recruitment (via trade or free agency) of other star players.  I hope that Kevin Love sees this quote and decides that winning is more important than surfing and palm trees.

[LilRip]

This might be the most valuable thing that Wallace has done for us this year.  Extolling the virtues of Rondo will only help in our recruitment (via trade or free agency) of other star players.  I hope that Kevin Love sees this quote and decides that winning is more important than surfing and palm trees.

 I doubt this influences Kevin Love any more than the numerous threads on here wanting Love to come to Boston. This really is more for the fans, I would think.

[BleedGreen1989]

"Rondo is such a bad teammate.

Guys hate playing with him."

[sed522002]

This might be the most valuable thing that Wallace has done for us this year.  Extolling the virtues of Rondo will only help in our recruitment (via trade or free agency) of other star players.  I hope that Kevin Love sees this quote and decides that winning is more important than surfing and palm trees.

 I doubt this influences Kevin Love any more than the numerous threads on here wanting Love to come to Boston. This really is more for the fans, I would think.

At least he can recruit the Wallace's of the NBA  ...baby steps..lol.

[birdwatcher]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

[sed522002]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

[Enzzo]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

That's true, but Pierce had a much longer stretch of "a great player on a bad team". His situation, it wasn't too much of a shock that he would be upset. This is Rondo's first year where he's their go-to guy.

[D.o.s.]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

That's true, but Pierce had a much longer stretch of "a great player on a bad team". His situation, it wasn't too much of a shock that he would be upset. This is Rondo's first year where he's their go-to guy.

It's also Rondo's first year on a bad team. Hopefully his tenure in that position is shorter than Pierce's was.

[manl_lui]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

That's true, but Pierce had a much longer stretch of "a great player on a bad team". His situation, it wasn't too much of a shock that he would be upset. This is Rondo's first year where he's their go-to guy.

It's also Rondo's first year on a bad team. Hopefully his tenure in that position is shorter than Pierce's was.

**First Year as the go-to-guy on a bad team**...he was a rookie when we tanked in 2007

[sed522002]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

That's true, but Pierce had a much longer stretch of "a great player on a bad team". His situation, it wasn't too much of a shock that he would be upset. This is Rondo's first year where he's their go-to guy.

I think he's handling it well so far..not doing any grumblings to media about the team or chewing them out on the court. I think it helps that he's rehabbing himself back to full form so the team has to have patience with him as well as him having patience with the team.

[D.o.s.]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

That's true, but Pierce had a much longer stretch of "a great player on a bad team". His situation, it wasn't too much of a shock that he would be upset. This is Rondo's first year where he's their go-to guy.

It's also Rondo's first year on a bad team. Hopefully his tenure in that position is shorter than Pierce's was.

**First Year as the go-to-guy on a bad team**...he was a rookie when we tanked in 2007

Right.

[Enzzo]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

You're so right their stories are almost parallel..Pierce was even almost traded for CP3 too..lol.

That's true, but Pierce had a much longer stretch of "a great player on a bad team". His situation, it wasn't too much of a shock that he would be upset. This is Rondo's first year where he's their go-to guy.

It's also Rondo's first year on a bad team. Hopefully his tenure in that position is shorter than Pierce's was.

Maybe it's just me being optimistic, but I really don't see us getting into another slump like Pierce's era. At least not in the near future.

[GreenWarrior]

I'm sure it has been said recently, but for all those worried about Rondo and his attitude and off court BS, I will never forget how Pierce was in 2006. He was a pointing fingers at everyone but himself, fighting with Doc to the point many of us were expecting to see one or the other forced out of Boston. He was selfish, immature, making bad decisions off the court, and was becoming a **** with the media. It was frustrating to see him emerging as a star on the court while he painted a terrible picture of himself as a person. Then when it seemed like it was about to come to a head, Ray Allen and KG show up, and Paul ended up being the player we will all look back on.

Lets hope the same is about to happen with Rondo, and that maybe Danny has some magic left.

I've come to a realization. players who act up tend to get labeled as a problem too quickly. maybe they want to win and don't know what else to do without looking like the "bad guy". but no matter what they do it happens.

...another reason why I question melo as a cornerstone.