Rondo: "I haven't played defense in a couple of years..."

[GreenWarrior]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

The thing is a lot of those times Rondo was also the worst starter on the floor with all those hall of famers.  Next game plays out of his mind.  Then somewhere in the middle.  Rondo was never a consistent player.  He would be up and down like crazy.

again not sure why Rondo gets singled out here? plenty of games where Pierce, KG & Allen put fourth an individual performance that pretty much carried the team. then the next game have little impact or fall way short of the previous games performance.

[Jonny CC]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

The thing is a lot of those times Rondo was also the worst starter on the floor with all those hall of famers.  Next game plays out of his mind.  Then somewhere in the middle.  Rondo was never a consistent player.  He would be up and down like crazy.

again not sure why Rondo gets singled out here? plenty of games where Pierce, KG & Allen put fourth an individual performance that pretty much carried the team. then the next game have little impact or fall way short of the previous games performance.

The difference is that PP, KG and RA would have multiple great games and then an off night.  RR would have a great game, and then multiple off nights. 
PP, KG and RA were far more consistent than RR. 

[MBunge]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

The thing is a lot of those times Rondo was also the worst starter on the floor with all those hall of famers.  Next game plays out of his mind.  Then somewhere in the middle.  Rondo was never a consistent player.  He would be up and down like crazy.

again not sure why Rondo gets singled out here? plenty of games where Pierce, KG & Allen put fourth an individual performance that pretty much carried the team. then the next game have little impact or fall way short of the previous games performance.

The criticisms of Rondo all really come to a point in this season.  He was not only expected but had every incentive to come in and play his best basketball in years.  Not only did he not do that but we can now see in Dallas that he was actively dogging it.  I don't think anyone ever accused Pierce of that, even in the worst seasons he spent in Boston.

Mike

[puskas54_10]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

The thing is a lot of those times Rondo was also the worst starter on the floor with all those hall of famers.  Next game plays out of his mind.  Then somewhere in the middle.  Rondo was never a consistent player.  He would be up and down like crazy.

again not sure why Rondo gets singled out here? plenty of games where Pierce, KG & Allen put fourth an individual performance that pretty much carried the team. then the next game have little impact or fall way short of the previous games performance.

Rondo never was the leading scorer aka go to guy of a team. Go to guys have more wiggle room like it or not.
His ascension stemmed from doing everything a bit. His defense was a big part of his prosperity. The Big 3 made an impact just to be on the floor. It was a nightmare to defend the celtics' offense. You can't leave any of them because they can shoot, you can't foul them, bacause they will make their free throws. These things prevent double teaming them too (at least effectively).

[kozlodoev]

How did Rondo handle it badly?  He tried to fit into Steven's system and work with the mediocre talent on the team.  He didn't complain to the press or demand a trade.  He knew Ainge was trying to acquire talent.  There was no need for Rondo to tell Ainge to do anything.

Oh, he did then? How exactly was he trying to fit? By repeatedly refusing to take over the offense, by not playing any defense, or by hogging rebounds?

He didn't demand a trade. He just mailed it in and waited for free agency. Good for him, I hope he's happy in Dallas or wherever.

[Hershey]

I love how someone in this thread posted something along the lines of "Rondo is LUCKY to be where he is making millions of dollars."

No fool, he worked harder than you and 99.9% of us ever has. The worst player in the NBA has worked harder than you or 99.9% of us ever has.

Paris Hilton is lucky to be where she is.

Rondo, or any other NBA player, is not lucky.

[BballTim]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

The thing is a lot of those times Rondo was also the worst starter on the floor with all those hall of famers.  Next game plays out of his mind.  Then somewhere in the middle.  Rondo was never a consistent player.  He would be up and down like crazy.

  In general, Rondo got credit for most of the bad games that the team (or those guys) had. Any time the team came out flat it was Rondo's fault because it's his job to get the team going, but you wouldn't see many posts about PP or KG or RA not giving the team a boost when they were struggling. It's hard for a player to be seen as consistent under those circumstances.

[AidaCelt]

I love how someone in this thread posted something along the lines of "Rondo is LUCKY to be where he is making millions of dollars."

No fool, he worked harder than you and 99.9% of us ever has. The worst player in the NBA has worked harder than you or 99.9% of us ever has.

Paris Hilton is lucky to be where she is.

Rondo, or any other NBA player, is not lucky.

I notice you're new to CB (or at least the amount of posts reflects as such)... I 100% agree with you and I always thought it was us Aussies that had tall poppy syndrome. It seems it's a worldwide issue to "take the p---", "bag", "bring down" successful people.

Now as a newbie, you should know that common sense will not be tolerated. We'll let you off this time.

[Sixth Man]

Rondo is the anti KG. Just do the bare min . Use your star power to get younger guys to do your dirty work

Sorry to take this from another thread but this was taken from an article re: 2012 C's team:
“When you have Hall of Famers in (the gym), you feel no choice,” Dooling explains. “You follow them. Those guys kind of led by example. They had their routines down. They’re like machines. Their habits kind of became ours.”

Even after back-to-backs, that team would hit the gym.

“Nobody’s doing that. And when I say a lift, like, a hard lift,” Bradley says, smiling. “And that’s what we took pride in. We wanted to be that type of team.”

“I remember, man, I used to go, my shoes would be untied, walking to the weight room, still had my jersey on. It was funny. We used to be so tired, but we would all look at each other like, ‘Are we lifting today?’ We used to ask Rondo and he’d be like, ‘Yeah, man. We gon’ lift today.’”

Interesting how people look from the outside and make their minds up about a player.

some C's fans don't deserve to witness greatness again.

I am not sure what keeping or not keeping Rondo has to do with witnessing greatness.

has nothing to do with keeping or not keeping Rondo specifically. has everything to do with what that team and all those players did and how they conducted themselves as a whole - that's what made them great as a whole....Rondo included.

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

Apart from being a C's fan, I'm also a fan of Liverpool in the EPL... famous quote from Bill Shankly applies to those "fans" you speak of:

"If you can't support us when we lose or draw, don't follow us when we win"

Bill Shankly, a great manager and a great gent...from a Man City fan. 

[Esther]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

well, that's your own fault. you put expectations out there for no reason. we had no signs, nothing to go on to indicate that Rondo was like Pierce in that way. sometimes the best player on the court isn't the greatest leader. if anyone should have known it should have been ainge.
 
also, pierce was ready to leave town before the '08 season. he definitely handled it better than Rondo by coming out and telling ainge to do something. but it's not like pierce was without his moments.

How did Rondo handle it badly?  He tried to fit into Steven's system and work with the mediocre talent on the team.  He didn't complain to the press or demand a trade.  He knew Ainge was trying to acquire talent.  There was no need for Rondo to tell Ainge to do anything.

there some who believed he wormed his way out of here. pierce came right out and said directly to ainge to do something.

Because "some believed" makes a statement true?
Here is a blog post that will give you haters a different perspective.  Read the lengthy comments too.  Should put you haters to shame.
http://www.celticstoday.com/2015/01/rondo-plays-big-in-return-to-boston.html

[D.o.s.]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

well, that's your own fault. you put expectations out there for no reason. we had no signs, nothing to go on to indicate that Rondo was like Pierce in that way. sometimes the best player on the court isn't the greatest leader. if anyone should have known it should have been ainge.
 
also, pierce was ready to leave town before the '08 season. he definitely handled it better than Rondo by coming out and telling ainge to do something. but it's not like pierce was without his moments.

How did Rondo handle it badly?  He tried to fit into Steven's system and work with the mediocre talent on the team.  He didn't complain to the press or demand a trade.  He knew Ainge was trying to acquire talent.  There was no need for Rondo to tell Ainge to do anything.

there some who believed he wormed his way out of here. pierce came right out and said directly to ainge to do something.

Because "some believed" makes a statement true?
Here is a blog post that will give you haters a different perspective.  Read the lengthy comments too.  Should put you haters to shame.
http://www.celticstoday.com/2015/01/rondo-plays-big-in-return-to-boston.html

Read the comments, read the blog post. I'm more of a Rondo fan than many but neither moved the needle for me very much.

[kozlodoev]

well, that's your own fault. you put expectations out there for no reason. we had no signs, nothing to go on to indicate that Rondo was like Pierce in that way. sometimes the best player on the court isn't the greatest leader. if anyone should have known it should have been ainge.
 
also, pierce was ready to leave town before the '08 season. he definitely handled it better than Rondo by coming out and telling ainge to do something. but it's not like pierce was without his moments.

Just to clarify, I didn't say this

[guava_wrench]

I love how someone in this thread posted something along the lines of "Rondo is LUCKY to be where he is making millions of dollars."

No fool, he worked harder than you and 99.9% of us ever has. The worst player in the NBA has worked harder than you or 99.9% of us ever has.

Paris Hilton is lucky to be where she is.

Rondo, or any other NBA player, is not lucky.

He is in a fortunate situation though that could change any moment.

Regardless, I don't think he was serious with the defense comment. It was his typical deadpan sarcasm. He smirked a little though. I thought it was hilarious.

I think he will be better on defense with Chandler protecting the rim. I also don't think many players can play great perimeter defense on really bad teams because rotations are so important. It isn't like a center who can look good with a lot of blocks, even with horrible rotations. Blocks are pretty overrated on D anyway.

[kozlodoev]

Read the comments, read the blog post. I'm more of a Rondo fan than many but neither moved the needle for me very much.

The comments consist mostly of one guy talking to himself, really. Not particularly impressed.

[LilRip]

a lot of times Rondo was the best player on the court amongst all of those all-stars and future hall of famers. and yet it still gets overlooked and unappreciated by some C's fans. and imo those people just want to "have their cake and eat it too" and don't really deserve to "witness the greatness" of the next champions that raise a banner here. if their not going to appreciate the ones that brought fourth that championship why do they deserve another? what if there's players in that group that they don't like?

And when everyone expected him to be that player after those all-stars and hall of famers left town, he pulled a quick one and loafed around. I'm so disappointed we traded Paul Pierce because we though Rondo was ready for the heavy lifting.

well, that's your own fault. you put expectations out there for no reason. we had no signs, nothing to go on to indicate that Rondo was like Pierce in that way. sometimes the best player on the court isn't the greatest leader. if anyone should have known it should have been ainge.

well, being a team's best player comes with expectations. being the team's 'captain' comes with expectations. imo, that's reason enough. What often sparks all this polarizing Rondo discussions anyway is that people have these unmet expectations from him.

Rondo is talented but I think he needs to be, at best, the 2nd best player on the floor, which is who he is now in Dallas. The Mavs are still Dirk's team, and Rondo is arguably 3rd behind Ellis. I expect him to flourish with that team.