Could Rondo be DWade?

[jpotter33]

Did anyone else feel like Rondo was covering his a** today when talking to the reporters about KLove?  It was like he was trying to avoid looking like he was tampering.  He explicitly stated that all of this KLove talk was speculation, and he seemed to play dumb about his "chance" meeting with him, which I HIGHLY doubt was a coincidence.  He even mentioned that you could replace Love's name with Carmelo, too.  I just find it funny that he mentioned Carmelo specifically, because they've been linked several times in the past.  Carmelo has an Early Termination Option, but so does LBJ, DWade, and Bosh.  So why did he say Carmelo specifically? Also, it's no secret that both Carmelo and Love are wanting to win.  Perhaps Rondo is using the Miami Big 3 tactic and talking behind closed doors to both of them to set up something, since, theoretically, the C's could have enough assets to pull off trades for both. Could Rondo be the DWade of a new Boston Big 3?

[D.o.s.]

That's a bold equation for this blod, given the arm-wrenching history between the two.

[badshar]

Do you realize that by posting such threads, you get all of us excited?

[manl_lui]

Do you realize that by posting such threads, you get all of us excited?

Rondo/Love/Melo

hope we can surround those players with defensive players

[Geo123]

Do you realize that by posting such threads, you get all of us excited?

Rondo/Love/Melo

hope we can surround those players with defensive players

terrible you would have 2 forwards that play no defense then... You can get away with 1 but not both

[Nef-Oracle]

Yes but i only want one of them. Love+Melo= no D

[nostar]

I think that lack of defense from Anthony and Love is blown way out of proportion. Anthony has shown that when he's engaged he can be a very good defender. The only issue I see is that Melo thrived at the PF spot and with Love he would slide back to SF.

Rondo, on the other hand, is an excellent defender. If you have Rondo-Melo-Love and a rim protected big like Asik then a lot of Love's defensive struggles disappear. Here are some numbers:

DRtg is the number of points allowed per 100 possessions.

KLove's DRtg was 104 least year (106 for his career)
Durant's was 104 this year.
Gary Payton's career DRtg was 106.
Serge Ibaka's was 102 in 2013/14.
Anthony Davis was the same as loves, 104.
Omer Asik's was 103.

So by this metric Love allowed 2 more points per 100 possessions than a DPOY candidate. Love's DRtg was actually better than his front court partner's. Pek's was 108. Certainly Love is no Joakim Noah (95.82) but he's also not Zaza Pachulia (111!). Oh and hilariously Love's DRtg was better than Tyson Chandler's last season.

If you want more, Love's DWS (Defensive Win Shares) were higher than Andre Drummond, Chris Bosh, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol.

This is all to say that individual defense isn't easily quantified. No one thinks that Love is a better defender than Tyson Chandler or Serge Ibaka. Their defensive ratings aside, the eye test is all you need to see to convince you of that. On the other hand Love has never played with an great defensive players and he's never played for a competent defensive coach. Give him a ball pressuring PG and a rim protecting big and I guarantee you he plays defense as well as Chris Bosh. Bosh's DRtg was 104 last season, 105 for his career.

As for Anthony, his DRtg was better than Jeff Green's last season and, surprisingly, better than Luol Deng's. Here are some people who had the same DRtg as Melo:

Thaddeus Young
Josh Smith
Iman Shumpert
Tayshaun Prince
Shawn Marion
Kyrie Irving
Shane Battier

Not guys often thought of as defensive liabilities.

Anyway my point through all of this is that you can't call Love and Anthony defensive liabilities until you get them in a defensive system and they make errors. They certainly aren't elite defenders by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren't sieves either. On top of that they are both gifted offensive players, easily top 10 players in the league, and the notion that a team wouldn't want them both for "defensive" concerns is ludicrous. Give me Melo and Love any day of the week. I will make that work.

But for the record I think getting both players is about as likely as getting LBJ. It just doesn't seem possible that two teams give us their top 10 players in one off-season. Not that I'd say no. Maybe Rondo can work Dwade style miracles.

[pokeKingCurtis]

I agree the defensive problems with Melo and Love are overblown. Melo's never had a coach who's good on D. Love's tenure with the Wolves has been riddled with change and therefore a lack of identity, certainty and a defined role on defense.

But shouldn't defensive ratings be pace adjusted? Straight comparing DRtgs (as well as any other single stat) is folly imo.

[boscel33]

Do you realize that by posting such threads, you get all of us excited?

Rondo/Love/Melo

hope we can surround those players with defensive players

terrible you would have 2 forwards that play no defense then... You can get away with 1 but not both

Put asik and Bradley in the mix.  Now that team is pretty [dang] good.

[slamtheking]

Do you realize that by posting such threads, you get all of us excited?

Rondo/Love/Melo

hope we can surround those players with defensive players

terrible you would have 2 forwards that play no defense then... You can get away with 1 but not both

Put asik and Bradley in the mix.  Now that team is pretty [dang] good.

that would be a pretty tough team to beat.--depending on who's left on the bench.  don't see how Danny could pull that off though.  I think he'd be hard-pressed to get just those 5 signed for $ that would total just the cap nevermind less than the cap

[LilRip]

Oh wow. Melo/Love/Rondo??? That would be too sick. Melo and Love immediately cover up Rondo's shooting problems and Rondo's pass-happy personality feeds into Melo and Love's (mostly Melo's) scorer mentality.

Also, I agree that the defense problems are overblown, particularly for Melo. I think Love will be an average defender, at best, but Melo could be great if engaged.

[Future Celtics Owner]

I just do not see Asik as a rim protector.

[Fafnir]

I just do not see Asik as a rim protector.

How do you see him, because that is pretty much his thing. He's a mobile big man who protects the paint and rebounds.

[manl_lui]

Oh wow. Melo/Love/Rondo??? That would be too sick. Melo and Love immediately cover up Rondo's shooting problems and Rondo's pass-happy personality feeds into Melo and Love's (mostly Melo's) scorer mentality.

Also, I agree that the defense problems are overblown, particularly for Melo. I think Love will be an average defender, at best, but Melo could be great if engaged.

in my honest opinion, I still don't think that is enough to beat Miami. While our theoretical lineup and big 3 is impressive, I think Miami is still deeper. We need someone who can defend Wade (Bradley to some extent), someone who we don't need scoring but stick his nose on Bosh the ENTIRE GAME (Like Chris Anderson for the Heat). No one on the planet can shut down Lebron, you can only stop him or foul him. And we need some wing players not named Melo to do that. If Melo is our primary scorer, we need him to score and not in foul trouble. Have Green (if he is kept and not used in any trade which I doubt) or some defensive wing we pick up to strictly foul the crap out of Lebron.

Defense is IMPORTANT. Rondo gambles too much, Melo as you said "When motivated", and Love is average.

[hpantazo]

I just do not see Asik as a rim protector.

really? because all he is is a rim protector, that's it