What you get with Rondo.

[Vermont Green]

This is supposed to be "Rondo's Team" this year.  Unfortunately, it is not an especially good team but when you are supposed to be "the guy" on the team, you are going to get more credit than you deserve for the wins and more blame for the losses.  That is the situation that Rondo is in.

This is his first chance to be the clear leader and best player on a team and he is not performing very well relative to the standards of that type of role on the team.  He is pretty much the same Rondo that he has always been, highly talented but flawed, competitive but mercurial, and a few other contradictory things like that which if I was a better writer, I could probably articulate.

Yes, if you put better players around Rondo, the team would probably win more but I think Rondo would still be Rondo.  He is a fine $13M per year PG; to me, that is about where he should be paid relative to other comparable PGs around the league.  If that was his role on the team, he would be fine but somehow the expectation got a little out of control.

[manl_lui]

it's sort of like management

if your team does well, you get credit for leadership
if your team does bad, you usually get most if not all the blame

[obnoxiousmime]

The biggest question now is whether this is the best we're going to see of Rondo. Rorhbach on WEEI.com as part of his "Rondo Trade Barometer" series questioned whether Rondo still had the ability to play full-tilt on back-to-backs anymore and pointed out his low mpg (32.1, lowest since his second year in the league). Granted, Rondo missed training camp and might not yet be at full strength but it bares watching.

If Rondo is now one of those players who needs to take games off during the long 82-game season I would really hesitate giving him a max deal (even with the cap increasing). It's possible that through the course of that deal Rondo will decline in endurance and athleticism, the latter being particularly problematic since he's never been a great shooter.

Rondo will be 29 years, 8 months old at the start of next season and a 5-year extension would run from then until he's 34 years, 4 months. How good will he be during the course of that deal?

http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2014/12/09/magic-9-ball-rajon-rondo-trade-barometer-v4-0/

EDIT: I didn't mention the scariest consideration which is that the minutes decrease is due to Rondo simply not being the best option to win on certain nights. If that's the case, let's forget any talks of him staying.

[vinnie]

In a nutshell:

Rajon Rondo produced his third triple-double of the season by posting 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists over 32 minutes. It's the 32nd triple-double of Rondo's career. But this was hardly Rondo's night and he was a team-worst minus-21 in plus/minus for the game.

I would not give him his current contract. He is not worth the 13 million he makes now.

How many players who make less than 13 million have 3 triple doubles a season?  Let alone 3 in 18 games (on pace for 14 this season).

Who cares. Only ppl in fantasy leagues care.

I would trade Rondo's 3 triple doubles he has this season for wins instead.

How about if Bradley and Sully didn't combine to go 4-19 from the field ?  or our starting lineup hit more than1 three ?  Why don't you put blame on anyone else ?

Come on. You know that's all Rondo's fault.

[playdream]

In a nutshell:

Rajon Rondo produced his third triple-double of the season by posting 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists over 32 minutes. It's the 32nd triple-double of Rondo's career. But this was hardly Rondo's night and he was a team-worst minus-21 in plus/minus for the game.

I would not give him his current contract. He is not worth the 13 million he makes now.

How many players who make less than 13 million have 3 triple doubles a season?  Let alone 3 in 18 games (on pace for 14 this season).

Who cares. Only ppl in fantasy leagues care.

I would trade Rondo's 3 triple doubles he has this season for wins instead.

How about if Bradley and Sully didn't combine to go 4-19 from the field ?  or our starting lineup hit more than1 three ?  Why don't you put blame on anyone else ?

Come on. You know that's all Rondo's fault.

No one is saying it's all Rondo's fault
But he plays a very big part of it

[Celtics4ever]

Rondo is a Wild Card or X factor, he can destroy a team or implode his own and it varies from game to game.

[Rosco917]

Rondo's elbow shot on Stevenson was the best Celtic shot of the night. Stevenson is a thug!
I have to say one thing...you don't screw with Rondo. Now Stevenson knows it.

The Celtics looked terrible, like they had a hang over from the loss the game before.