2nd - a lot of people have a pretty short memory about how much 'heart' Rondo showed over his career with the C's. Just check out the video tribute if you need a refresher. It seems like literally thousands of fans at the game tonight didn't feel like they got kicked in the balls by Rondo. I know I didn't.
I get it. "Heart" is something that you show only when you feel like it. Like when your team is good. Otherwise, it's ok to loaf around and pad some stats.
Padding stats generally means a player that you don't like is putting up numbers that don't really fit your narrative.
I just realized this was addressed to me. I will leave aside the phenomenon of passing layups to give people long jump shots. That's well-documented and topic of a different discussion.
Well documented here doesn't really imply accurate.
The 'stat-padding' in this particular case consists of playing 10 feet off his man on defense to fish for rebounds he has no business getting. It is specific for this season, and I thought that was a new low even for Rondo.
From what I saw (especially after the first 8 or so games) the "10 feet off his man" is an exaggeration. Also, I think you'd have to consider the fact that Stevens seemed to want the guards to do more of the rebounding, so you should probably think about blaming him for the "stat padding" and the "new low". It's also worth pointing out that the Celts were an above averaging rebounding team before Rondo left and have (from what I read) only outrebounded 1 team since he left. Go figure.
