Woj on Rondo

[bdm860]

It would be something if Jae Crowder gets a bigger contract than Rondo this summer.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Rondo seems like a guy who poisons every well he drinks from, eventually.

Seems like he's got issues. Needs to get some help to learn how to deal with other people.

Looks like he's joining the long list of NBA players whose personality caught up with them once their talent was no longer big enough to make putting up with them worth it.

I think the talent problems, and adjusting to a new team/coach, are making the attitude problems a lot worse.  Every player slows down sooner or later, from injury or age; some put their egos aside and adjust to their limitations, and some rage against the dying of the light.  Rondo's in the Dylan Thomas category.

I'm not sure that sulky rage was what Dylan Thomas had in mind. 

I feel bad for how things have gone with Rondo, and for Dallas, because I'd love to see the Rockets eliminated. But I think Rondo's brought a lot of this on himself.

That said, I don't want to see him sign with the Lakers—not just because he was a Celtic, but because I have a bit of fear that he'll experience a resurgence and actually help the Lakers.

[mahonedog88]

The guy seems to have grown into a toxic player wherever he goes.  I'd have to think about it, but off the top of my head, I honestly can't think of another situation like this with a player of his caliber falling off like he has.  Stephen A. said this morning he's predicting that Rondo may have cost himself as much as $40 million this summer.

As defiant and mood swingy as he can be, if he were actually PLAYING WELL, teammates can put up with him.  But the fact is, I'm really starting to wonder if Rondo will almost slowly go away in the next couple of years, maybe even play overseas.  Because when you look at the landscape of the NBA today, how teams play, how opposing defenses prepare...you HAVE to be able to at least somewhat consistently hit a jump shot.  And he can't do it.  So drive to the rim to get to the line?  Uh, no, considering he might be worse than DeAndre Jordan at shooting free throws.

It's almost like the entire league has figured Rondo out, and with Rondo not being able to hit a jump shot, there's nothing he can do about it.

[slamtheking]

what this thread is showing me is that the people who didn't like him when he was here are reveling in what's happening in Dallas.  For those that liked him here or were ambivalent about his Boston game seem disappointed that Rondo has become a shell of his former self and seems to be having real difficulties fitting into the Dallas scheme.

I wish him the best but at this point, I think he's going to take one hell of a financial hit on his next contract.  may be looking at something as low as MLE based on how things are going.

[apc]

It would be something if Jae Crowder gets a bigger contract than Rondo this summer.

The Lakers will give rondo a big contract in my opnion, he will have Kobe on his side pushing the Lakers to make the deal 

[Granath]

It would be something if Jae Crowder gets a bigger contract than Rondo this summer.

The Lakers will give rondo a big contract in my opnion, he will have Kobe on his side pushing the Lakers to make the deal

I agree that this is likely. If Kobe wants to play with Rondo, the Lakers will spend the money to make it happen.

However, I would not be surprised if Rondo took a 1 year deal next year to prove himself and attempt to set himself up for one last large contract in 16 when the cap is expanded.

[Chief Macho]

whatever. he'll still get a ton a money and be rich as Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline..

[mef730]

The guy is gone. Why so hateful? Let him go. Stop bashing. Just forget him.

Oh wait! Who cares about an idol? We can have an athletic big, oh-my-god-he-can-dunk, as dumb as a doorknob, functional illiterate like WCS, McGee, Sanders or Upshaw. They are beloved around here, not Rajon. That explains a lot about some people.

The guys who are beloved in Boston are the guys who play their butts off, even if they are not the best on the floor (or field, or ice, as the case may be). 

Mike

[Tr1boy]

It would be something if Jae Crowder gets a bigger contract than Rondo this summer.

The Lakers will give rondo a big contract in my opnion, he will have Kobe on his side pushing the Lakers to make the deal

Naw it wont happen.

Rondo should of agreed to the kings trade last year. He should of signed the 2 year max extension by the Celts. Now he might be playing in China next season. 

[Eddie20]

Tim MacMahon, ESPNDallas.com

HOUSTON -- Rajon Rondo looped around the media horde surrounding his stall late Tuesday night in the Toyota Center visitors' locker room and darted into the trainer's room.

A couple of minutes later, Rondo emerged with headphone buds in his ears and ignored the handful of reporters who attempted to ask him questions as he walked toward the arena's exits, his eyes never shifting from straight ahead.

The whole scene didn't last much longer than Rondo's 34-second stint on the floor during the second half of the Dallas Mavericks' 111-99 loss to the Houston Rockets, who will head up Interstate 45 with what seems like a 2-0 stranglehold on the series.

We can only assume how Rondo, a proud point guard with one championship ring, two trips to the Finals and 10 career postseason triple-doubles, felt about playing single-digit minutes in a playoff game.

Actually, judging by his body language, Rondo looked like a dude just waiting for his inevitable divorce from Dallas to happen. Unless the seventh-seeded Mavs pull off a miracle, Rondo won't have to wait much longer.

Did Rondo really even care about riding pine for most of the night?

"You have to ask him that question," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said, not exactly offering a ringing endorsement for the four-time All-Star point guard the Mavs acquired from the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster December trade. "All I know right now is that we need everybody at their competitive best.

"This isn't about one guy who did or didn't play. This is about everybody pulling in the same direction for the organization. That's what it's about."

Rondo certainly didn't come close to his competitive best during the nine minutes, 55 seconds that he wasn't on the bench during Game 2.

A little more than four minutes into the game, Rondo nonchalantly walked the ball up the floor, getting whistled for an absolutely ridiculous eight-second backcourt violation with the Rockets not even applying pressure. He was pulled for J.J. Barea 40 seconds later -- after Rondo wandered aimlessly on defense to let Jason Terry hit a wide-open 3 -- and Carlisle didn't call for Rondo again until 5:30 remained in the second quarter.

Few would have blamed Carlisle for opting to start the second half with Barea -- or even rarely used Raymond Felton -- in Rondo's spot. It might have been an easy decision to bench Rondo had reserve point guard Devin Harris not been inactive due to a toe injury.

After all, the Mavs have been outscored by 36 points during Rondo's 37 minutes on the floor this series. His plus-minus was negative-25 in 27 Game 1 minutes and negative-11 in Game 2. Scoffing at the small sample size? Well, Rondo also had the Mavs' worst plus-minus in the regular season.

At this point, Carlisle really has no motivation to massage Rondo's ego. They won't be together much longer before they reach a mutual decision to part ways this summer, when Rondo enters free agency. Carlisle can only care about giving Dallas its best chance to pull off an upset in this series, and the overwhelming evidence from the first two games is that Rondo isn't part of the solution.

But Carlisle gave Rondo one more chance to prove he deserved minutes with Dallas' season on the line. Rondo responded by committing two dumb fouls on James Harden and picking up a technical for holding and shoving the Rockets' MVP candidate after the first whistle, the basketball savant packing all that stupidity into 34 embarrassing seconds of action.

Playoff Rondo? Puh-leeeeese.

Perhaps surprisingly, there were no postgame fireworks between Carlisle and Rondo, multiple sources told ESPNDallas.com. The coach and point guard had infamous expletive-laced exchanges on Feb. 24, the first occurring during a timeout after Rondo walked the ball up the floor and ignored Carlisle's play call midway through the third quarter, the second coming in the locker room after Rondo watched the rest of the Mavs' comeback win over the Toronto Raptors from the bench.

In this instance, however, Carlisle simply called the team together in the middle of the locker room and said a few quick words. Rondo and Carlisle didn't say a word to each other.

There was no outright hostility. Just a lot of awkwardness.

Kind of like Rondo's fit with the Mavs, especially in the Dallas offense, which has been dragged down from the best in the league to average since his arrival.

For all his X's and O's brilliance, Carlisle hasn't been able to figure out a way to hide Rondo's biggest flaw -- his inability to force defenses to respect him as a perimeter-shooting threat. As a result, Rondo's presence on the floor screws up the spacing for the rest of the Mavs. And Rondo isn't a good enough defender at this point of his career to make up for the messes created by having him run the Mavs' offense.

It's a minor miracle that the Mavs managed to make Tuesday's game competitive for more than three quarters, considering that Dirk Nowitzki shot 3-of-14 from the field, Rondo really contributed nothing and two key Mavs (small forward Chandler Parsons and Harris) were sidelined by injuries. Parsons might be out the rest of the series due to a sore knee that refuses to heal.

Dallas actually led early in the fourth quarter. And then the Rockets' highlight reel started, with Josh Smith suddenly morphing into a hyperathletic version of Magic Johnson and Dwight Howard looking to be every bit the dominant force that the Rockets and Mavs thought he'd be during their recruiting battle for him a couple of summers ago.

Rondo had a heck of a view from the bench, where he appeared to watch with as little interest as anyone in the rocking arena. He barely moved during the second half, getting on his feet only to offer halfhearted daps to teammates during timeouts.

Rondo's warm-up shirt read "WE ARE ONE," the Mavs' slogan this postseason. His face definitely didn't convey the same message.

"I'm sure it's a difficult situation for him," said Mavs center Tyson Chandler, who has had a trying season as a leader of a chemistry-challenged team. "He's a competitor. He wants to be out there. Sometimes matchups and all that other stuff, you never know what's going on.

"But we've got to all stay in this thing together. It's the only way we're going to have a chance."

The Mavs are one? More like one and done, just like Rondo's disappointing stint in Dallas.

[get_banners]

This is sad to see. Rondo was, at times, the best player on the court with LeBron, Wade, KG, Pierce, Bosh, Ray, Kobe, etc. I think the Dallas situation is a terrible one for him, honestly, b/c even if he's not physically what he was, nobody can call a game like Rondo. And yet, for a guy they acquired for the postseason, Carlisle has not given him the keys to the car. This is just nuts. Maybe playoff Rondo is gone forever (I still think he's got it, personally), but Dallas has used him terribly. Rondo should be running the show, not Ellis or Dirk or anybody else. None of those guys are remotely close to Rondo, even in his current state, in terms of running a team.

[cons]

my question is : Why would he want to play for the Lakers so badly? It seems obvious Kobe is very close to done, they just had a horrible season. there's minimal talent on the roster. and the pressure to win right away will still be huge.   On top of that, Rondo doesn't seem like a Hollywood kind of guy. His personality isnt exactly Magic Johnson or Shaq. He would strike me as being more comfortable in a more low profile city.
  Outside of being friends w Kobe, it's hard to see the appeal there, at least to me.

[Donoghus]

Sadly, the idea of "Playoff Rondo" seems like eons ago now. 

[the_Bird]

It would be something if Jae Crowder gets a bigger contract than Rondo this summer.

The Lakers will give rondo a big contract in my opnion, he will have Kobe on his side pushing the Lakers to make the deal

Naw it wont happen.

Rondo should of agreed to the kings trade last year. He should of signed the 2 year max extension by the Celts. Now he might be playing in China next season.

I think that's a bit of an overstatement...  but how many teams are going to be comfortable committing to Rondo on a long-term deal right now?  I mean, there's no more excuses.  He's beyond the injury, at least to the extent that he ever will be.  He's playing in the playoffs, so he SHOULD be motivated.  He's sulking and pouting.  Showed zero leadership with the young C's team that really needed it when he was here.  After lying somewhat dormant under Doc Rivers, his reputation as being uncoachable is back in full force.

Are you signing him to a four- or five-year deal and committing to Rondo being THE MAN for your team?  Even three years...  if those three years are like the last three months...

It's the Lakers or bust for Rondo...  which is great, because at this point in their careers a Rondo/Kobe combination is good for about twenty wins. 

[Fafnir]

Sadly, the idea of "Playoff Rondo" seems like eons ago now.

He summoned a lot of that energy in I think the second quarter of game 1.

The issue is he's no longer as lightning quick into the lane and also the team actively doesn't want him doing most of the stuff that "playoff Rondo" would thrive on.

They don't want him with the ball much, they don't want him crashing the offensive glass, and that Dallas team can't handle him roaming on defense creating havoc. Monta/Dirk have been awful this series and Rondo is going to absorb the blame and leave town.

Though his game 2 performance was absolutely galling, not sure what's going on with him at all other than he's checked out. I wonder if Carlise looked at the second quarter stint and basically made it clear don't do that again its out of my system. Because he was plenty engaged in game 1.