Chris Forsberg on Rondo's defense

[nacceltic]

Rondo has long been overrated defensively, b/c of his steal numbers. Most of those steals were from Rondo being beat and then stabbing at the rock from behind.  He's never consistently moved his feet and the effort on that end of the floor this year has been the worst that I can remember, from him.

I also have to ask why Stevens waits until the final minutes of a game to put Bradley on the best penetrating guard from the opposing team? Schroder was beating Rondo at will last night and it was only until the final 4-5 minutes that Bradley was assigned the kid.

[BballTim]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

[deekhead]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

3 1st ballot HOFers bored?? I don't think so. They played hard every night. That's their HOF pedigrees showing.

Now our mercurial ASPG waiting for the PO's to begin?

Bored?

You got it.

He's even admitted as much... in a rare moment of candor.

Deek

[TwinTower14]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

This is an insult to KG who has never taken a play off in his life....

[BballTim]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

3 1st ballot HOFers bored?? I don't think so. They played hard every night. That's their HOF pedigrees showing.

  No, that's you deciding who plays hard based on their names and status level and not what happens on the court. How do you explain the team playing .500 ball for the bulk of the 2010 season and getting to game 7 of the finals? PP/KG/RA playing hard every night wasn't enough to move the needle? And where was the HOF pedigree when the team struggled for the first month or two of the season in 2012 because PP and KG couldn't be bothered to stay in shape during the lockout?

[TwinTower14]

Max Player stats:

Adam Jones @adamjones985  ·  18m 18 minutes ago
Rondo's 4th quarter stats, via @ESPNForsberg: 8-of-33 shooting (team-worst 24.2 percent), 32 assists, 13 turnovers, minus-50 in plus/minus.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

This is an insult to KG who has never taken a play off in his life....

There are literally thousands of posts on here detailing how woeful it was that the Big Three were content to coast through the regular season, and that even though we were 'built for the playoffs' we'd have a much easier time if we played a little bit harder for home court advantage. That's to say nothing of the 'reputable journalists' who wrote the same thing (and there are many of them).

Never mind plays, the team routinely took whole games off -- and you could see it every time they blew a big lead and had to fight for a W in the fourth quarter.

[pearljammer10]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

This is an insult to KG who has never taken a play off in his life....

There are literally thousands of posts on here detailing how woeful it was that the Big Three were content to coast through the regular season, and that even though we were 'built for the playoffs' we'd have a much easier time if we played a little bit harder for home court advantage. That's to say nothing of the 'reputable journalists' who wrote the same thing (and there are many of them).

Never mind plays, the team routinely took whole games off -- and you could see it every time they blew a big lead and had to fight for a W in the fourth quarter.

D.O.S and Bballtim have nailed this discussion. TP to you both.

[deekhead]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

3 1st ballot HOFers bored?? I don't think so. They played hard every night. That's their HOF pedigrees showing.

  No, that's you deciding who plays hard based on their names and status level and not what happens on the court. How do you explain the team playing .500 ball for the bulk of the 2010 season and getting to game 7 of the finals? PP/KG/RA playing hard every night wasn't enough to move the needle? And where was the HOF pedigree when the team struggled for the first month or two of the season in 2012 because PP and KG couldn't be bothered to stay in shape during the lockout?

I'll let you do the explaining since you are obviously the unbiased observer.

Deek

[Fred Roberts]

Its obvious and widely acknowledged, Rondo is a "Matador" defender - he moves his cape when the opponent goes by him.

I've been seeing this too. Lowry torches us. Schroeder(!!) torches us. The Bulls backup torches us.

Rondo has about a dozen elite defensive games in him per regular season. Night in night out he's just not up for it, and his "jets" may not be what they once were.

[Celtics18]

As contrary to popular belief as this observation is going to look to many, I have actually been quite impressed with Rondo's defense since the Phoenix game.

Both Rondo and Bradley got embarrassed in that game by Dragic and Bledsoe.  It's looked to me like they have both stepped up their play on that end of the floor since and have been playing very good defense.

It hasn't translated into wins against some of the best teams in the league, but I'm looking for our team to keep fighting and break the seal on winning a basketball game soon enough. 

[the_Bird]

Maybe this is a cop out, but in his first full year back from injury, and in a contract year, he shouldn't push it. Maybe if this was a playoff caliber team he would put in more effort on D

We all know he turns it up when it matters

I know, I know.... All the games matter

But if I was in his shoes,I wouldn't push it either.  Too much money on the line

Yes, that's a cop-out. 

And how is half-assing it going to get him a max deal this summer? 

[Fafnir]

Its obvious and widely acknowledged, Rondo is a "Matador" defender - he moves his cape when the opponent goes by him.

I've been seeing this too. Lowry torches us. Schroeder(!!) torches us. The Bulls backup torches us.

Rondo has about a dozen elite defensive games in him per regular season. Night in night out he's just not up for it, and his "jets" may not be what they once were.

Honestly penetrating point guards have exposed our bigs more than our guard rotation.

Rondo's been up and down, but largely I've been okay with his defense as a whole. When he doesn't get over a pick even 3 feet above the three point line too often its a straight line drive to the rim with no help or resistance from the defense.

[Donoghus]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

This is an insult to KG who has never taken a play off in his life....

There are literally thousands of posts on here detailing how woeful it was that the Big Three were content to coast through the regular season, and that even though we were 'built for the playoffs' we'd have a much easier time if we played a little bit harder for home court advantage. That's to say nothing of the 'reputable journalists' who wrote the same thing (and there are many of them).

Never mind plays, the team routinely took whole games off -- and you could see it every time they blew a big lead and had to fight for a W in the fourth quarter.

D.O.S and Bballtim have nailed this discussion. TP to you both.

I'll third this notion.

After the KG injury in early '09, they seemed to become more & more a team that would coast at times and even look out of sorts in regular season matchups.  How many times did we see them play down to their competition in '09-'12?  Plenty of times.

They became a team that became content to flip a switch come playoff time. And it worked for the most part. Let's not kid ourselves that they play every regular season game the same way.   

[BballTim]

Yeah,  the problem with this team is Rondo's average defense.  Not the roster full of scrubs and journeymen.
  And btw,  I've never seen a worse defensive low post duo than when Fatty and Hippy are out there.  It's pathetic. Add Rondo being bored playing with these trade chips and you get, well,  you see what you get.

Rondo was frequently bored even when playing with the Big Three.

20 games into each  season and he was already bored, longing  for the PO's to begin.

When Rondo sneezes, the team catches a cold... every time.

The same with boredom.

Deek

  After 2008 the big three was pretty bored during the season as well.

3 1st ballot HOFers bored?? I don't think so. They played hard every night. That's their HOF pedigrees showing.

  No, that's you deciding who plays hard based on their names and status level and not what happens on the court. How do you explain the team playing .500 ball for the bulk of the 2010 season and getting to game 7 of the finals? PP/KG/RA playing hard every night wasn't enough to move the needle? And where was the HOF pedigree when the team struggled for the first month or two of the season in 2012 because PP and KG couldn't be bothered to stay in shape during the lockout?

I'll let you do the explaining since you are obviously the unbiased observer.

Deek

  I thought so...