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

[Tr1boy]

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

[byennie]

Why was he the leading rebounder you ask..?

Because when you can't be bothered to stay with your man, you're free to waltz in and get all the rebounds you want. Why is he not the leading rebounder in Dallas?

It's possible he's been padding the number a little this year, but let's not get it twisted. Rondo has always been an excellent rebounder, including monster nights in critical games where he definitely played D.

[D.o.s.]

Here's the full quote:

What has it meant to Rondo to have such a defensive impact on Mavericks? Defensive numbers have been fantastic with him.

I haven’t played defense in a couple of years. I’ve been able to hide it a lot with Avery Bradley on the ball. He’s helped me out, the young guy. But here they expect me to play defense. And in the West, if you don’t play defense you’ll get embarrassed every night at the point guard position. I took it as a challenge (for) myself. It’s not just me. It’s my teammates. Our communication is getting a lot better and our coverages are getting better. So it’s the whole team concept, it’s not just me. Obviously people are going to look at the stats and say, ‘Since Rondo’s came there, they’re down seven or eight points or whatever defensively.’ But we still have a lot of room to improve and I believe we’ll still get better defensively.

To the surprise of nearly everyone involved, once you get the context the quote isn't nearly as agitational as the tweet would make it seem.

Shocking stuff.

Strange, the context doesn't change anything for me.

I don't know what's worse. Rondo finally admitting he didn't give a fart and throwing his former teamates and coach under the bus, or the apologists defending him. Nah, I think it's the latter.

What a little ****head.

Agreed on both fronts---the full quote doesn't alter anything for me, either. And, moreover, I don't quite see the appeal in defending a man who clearly didn't respect his teammates, his coaches, the fans, or our tradition.

Who's defending? I just think it's important to not succumb to  frothing idiocy.

[The Oracle]

  To anyone that thinks Rondo's defense was anything but atrocious especially in the 1st 15 games or so this year, I invite you to watch the replays on nba.com.  You can view each and every defensive possession in the play by play.  He gets taken off the dribble relentlessly and cannot or does not stay in front of his man.  Here are just a few to start with.

1. Watch him give up guarding Conley and allow a wide open 3 1:28 into the Memphis game.
2. Watch him give up a wide open 3 to Blake at the 4:37 mark of the 3rd qtr. of the Portland game.
3. Watch him wipe his feet and not box out Carter-Williams in the Dec. 15th Philly game at the 5:59 mark of the 3rd qtr.
4. Watch him hang 2 early fouls on Olynyk in the Phoenix game because he could'nt stay in front of Dragic or Bledsoe.

  Every game is littered with examples and anyone that defends his defense or his effort is nuts! 

  None of this has changed since joining the Mavs except for his effort which is off the charts better.  The Mavs have resorted to switching and going under screens to compensate and other teams are targeting Rondo.  This has worked decently so far because of a very favorable schedule but he and the Mavs will soon be exposed.  The Celtics should attack Rondo with screens and do exactly this tonight!

[Shamrocker]

Here's the full quote:

What has it meant to Rondo to have such a defensive impact on Mavericks? Defensive numbers have been fantastic with him.

I haven’t played defense in a couple of years. I’ve been able to hide it a lot with Avery Bradley on the ball. He’s helped me out, the young guy. But here they expect me to play defense. And in the West, if you don’t play defense you’ll get embarrassed every night at the point guard position. I took it as a challenge (for) myself. It’s not just me. It’s my teammates. Our communication is getting a lot better and our coverages are getting better. So it’s the whole team concept, it’s not just me. Obviously people are going to look at the stats and say, ‘Since Rondo’s came there, they’re down seven or eight points or whatever defensively.’ But we still have a lot of room to improve and I believe we’ll still get better defensively.

To the surprise of nearly everyone involved, once you get the context the quote isn't nearly as agitational as the tweet would make it seem.

Shocking stuff.

Strange, the context doesn't change anything for me.

I don't know what's worse. Rondo finally admitting he didn't give a fart and throwing his former teamates and coach under the bus, or the apologists defending him. Nah, I think it's the latter.

What a little ****head.

Agreed on both fronts---the full quote doesn't alter anything for me, either. And, moreover, I don't quite see the appeal in defending a man who clearly didn't respect his teammates, his coaches, the fans, or our tradition.

Who's defending? I just think it's important to not succumb to  frothing idiocy.

With respect, I can't remember a thread filled with more double-talk, spin, and equivocating.  Would love for the 'Rondo can do no harm' folks to simply admit the comments were both indefensible and revealing.   

[Greenback]

So glad Rondo is gone...no defense, no shot, lots of baggage...let's move on

[SHAQATTACK]

This storm on Rondo comment ...just reminds me of how much I ve disliked Nelson as a player since Howard
Left the team.

Nelson..gave up ...never seemed to care ...no,defense ......sulking .....dragging around.

Now he is a Celtic 

[Casperian]

Here's the full quote:

What has it meant to Rondo to have such a defensive impact on Mavericks? Defensive numbers have been fantastic with him.

I haven’t played defense in a couple of years. I’ve been able to hide it a lot with Avery Bradley on the ball. He’s helped me out, the young guy. But here they expect me to play defense. And in the West, if you don’t play defense you’ll get embarrassed every night at the point guard position. I took it as a challenge (for) myself. It’s not just me. It’s my teammates. Our communication is getting a lot better and our coverages are getting better. So it’s the whole team concept, it’s not just me. Obviously people are going to look at the stats and say, ‘Since Rondo’s came there, they’re down seven or eight points or whatever defensively.’ But we still have a lot of room to improve and I believe we’ll still get better defensively.

To the surprise of nearly everyone involved, once you get the context the quote isn't nearly as agitational as the tweet would make it seem.

Shocking stuff.

Strange, the context doesn't change anything for me.

I don't know what's worse. Rondo finally admitting he didn't give a fart and throwing his former teamates and coach under the bus, or the apologists defending him. Nah, I think it's the latter.

What a little ****head.

Agreed on both fronts---the full quote doesn't alter anything for me, either. And, moreover, I don't quite see the appeal in defending a man who clearly didn't respect his teammates, his coaches, the fans, or our tradition.

Who's defending? I just think it's important to not succumb to  frothing idiocy.

I think you are defending. Or is it attacking?
Either way, for a guy who's apparently trying to save the intellectual standards of this sports forum, it'd be awfully nice if you could follow your own advice.

[jpotter33]

Now ask yourself how would you play if your boss said publically he was seeking to get rid of you for all these years...and it was probably just off hand talk.. overall he played as good D as a too-high % of the rest of the team..!!! Why was he the leading rebounder you ask..?

That's such a BS excuse. He's a grown man being paid 12 M a year; maybe he should grow a pair and deal with it. These athletes are extremely lucky people to be being paid to do what they do. Why do people feel the need to not hold them to the same standard as regular working people? If you acted like this to your boss, what do you think they would do? They'd tell you to suck it up or you're fired! Let's stop making excuses for privileged millionaires...

Well when you talk about STANDARDS...then WHO else do you hold to this standard.....KO...not hardly, he played 3 games, and only when his father was there......and no one else on the whole team...for all those years....esp after KG was gone.....no effort by hardly anyone....so tell me where your STANDARDS begin, and who you hold to them..? Rondo came to play every night...went in hard for layups, got thrown to the floor....no call.....I do not recall seeing anyone else do that.....he led the team in rebounds more than not. He did more all around than anyone else after the big 3 were gone.

Surely you couldn't have been typing this with a straight face. lol "Rondo came to play every night...went in hard for layups, got thrown to the floor....no call.....I do not recall seeing anyone else do that....." Wow, I'm not sure what Rondo you were watching, but the Rondo the rest of the world watched didn't see this lol Why do you think the "Playoff/National TV Rondo" concept was born? It was born out of Rondo only showing up on those nights, and when we sucked without those nationally televised games he only showed up every couple of games.

[D.o.s.]

Here's the full quote:

What has it meant to Rondo to have such a defensive impact on Mavericks? Defensive numbers have been fantastic with him.

I haven’t played defense in a couple of years. I’ve been able to hide it a lot with Avery Bradley on the ball. He’s helped me out, the young guy. But here they expect me to play defense. And in the West, if you don’t play defense you’ll get embarrassed every night at the point guard position. I took it as a challenge (for) myself. It’s not just me. It’s my teammates. Our communication is getting a lot better and our coverages are getting better. So it’s the whole team concept, it’s not just me. Obviously people are going to look at the stats and say, ‘Since Rondo’s came there, they’re down seven or eight points or whatever defensively.’ But we still have a lot of room to improve and I believe we’ll still get better defensively.

To the surprise of nearly everyone involved, once you get the context the quote isn't nearly as agitational as the tweet would make it seem.

Shocking stuff.

Strange, the context doesn't change anything for me.

I don't know what's worse. Rondo finally admitting he didn't give a fart and throwing his former teamates and coach under the bus, or the apologists defending him. Nah, I think it's the latter.

What a little ****head.

Agreed on both fronts---the full quote doesn't alter anything for me, either. And, moreover, I don't quite see the appeal in defending a man who clearly didn't respect his teammates, his coaches, the fans, or our tradition.

Who's defending? I just think it's important to not succumb to  frothing idiocy.

With respect, I can't remember a thread filled with more double-talk, spin, and equivocating.  Would love for the 'Rondo can do no harm' folks to simply admit the comments were both indefensible and revealing.

They certainly are. I just don't think they're quite as [dang]ing as many people think. I wonder how many people think "I haven't played defense in a couple of years" literally means he never actively worked at all on a single defensive possession over a 700+ day span.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Not that I'm surprised, but that's disappointing to hear. His defense, pretty much after PP and KG got traded dipped, even though some nights he shows up, it's not really as close. Part if it is probably because he just lost interest after being dangled in trade blocks for years, but that's not an excuse IMO.

Whatever "context" you want to put it in, that's really something no player should probably say. 

[kozlodoev]

Not that I'm surprised, but that's disappointing to hear. His defense, pretty much after PP and KG got traded dipped, even though some nights he shows up, it's not really as close. Part if it is probably because he just lost interest after being dangled in trade blocks for years, but that's not an excuse IMO.

Whatever "context" you want to put it in, that's really something no player should probably say.

Fiction.

[RJ87]

Not that I'm surprised, but that's disappointing to hear. His defense, pretty much after PP and KG got traded dipped, even though some nights he shows up, it's not really as close. Part if it is probably because he just lost interest after being dangled in trade blocks for years, but that's not an excuse IMO.

Whatever "context" you want to put it in, that's really something no player should probably say.

After KG and Paul for traded, he was coming off of acl surgery. The drop in defense at that point likely had more to do with lateral quickness than effort.

[BballTim]

Why do you think the "Playoff/National TV Rondo" concept was born? It was born out of Rondo only showing up on those nights, and when we sucked without those nationally televised games he only showed up every couple of games.

  The "Playoff/National TV Rondo" concept was born during a game where they flashed a graphic about how the majority of Rondo's triple doubles came on national television. People who followed the team relatively closely were able to figure out that the reason that most of Rondo's triple doubles came on national television was because most of them were in playoff games, and all of those were televised nationally. The people who were unaware of this began telling everyone that would listen that Rondo tried harder on games with a bigger television audience and have been doing so ever since.

[jpotter33]

Why do you think the "Playoff/National TV Rondo" concept was born? It was born out of Rondo only showing up on those nights, and when we sucked without those nationally televised games he only showed up every couple of games.

  The "Playoff/National TV Rondo" concept was born during a game where they flashed a graphic about how the majority of Rondo's triple doubles came on national television. People who followed the team relatively closely were able to figure out that the reason that most of Rondo's triple doubles came on national television was because most of them were in playoff games, and all of those were televised nationally. The people who were unaware of this began telling everyone that would listen that Rondo tried harder on games with a bigger television audience and have been doing so ever since.