Let's talk about Rajon Rondo

Well, to be clear, I doubt anyone would be picking up Rondo for what he's done this year.

People would be picking up Rondo if they believed (hopefully through interviews and such) that he would return to the style of play he demonstrated for >6 years.

That said, didn't he average 10.8 Assists per game with the Celtics this year?

While I agree that Cuban's loyalty to Dirk is probably excessive, you have to admire his commitment. Say what you want about him, the only constant on that team is Dirk, and Cuban has torn the team down, and rebuilt it several times in the off season, and still made the playoffs, and in the process also won a championship. Something that hasn't happened in sacramento. So I'm not going to throw any stones at Cuban. As for Westphal, he divided every team he went to and eventually destroyed it, or was fired before total destruction happened. So what happened in sacramento was just another example of that. In Seattle Payton hated him, and eventually it got Westphal fired. He's just a poor example, and Carlisle is and entirely different coach. There were games where Carlisle gave Rondo instructions on what he wanted to do on the court, and Rondo would go out and totally ignore those instructions. What was Carlisle supposed to do. He had a major player on the team disrespecting him on the court.

I don't totally agree with your assessment of what Karl wants. I do think he tries to incorporate each players talent into what he wants to do, but at the same time, he puts a lot of emphasis on ball movement, and Rondo is a ball dominate player. The only way Rondo is effective is with the ball in his hands. That's the exact opposite of how Karl likes his team to play. Plus, if you spent any time watching Rondo play lately, he's definitely lost a step. He doesn't have the ability to blow by people off the dribble like he used to. Defensively, he's far from the player he used to be, and he still can't shoot. The reason he was ineffective in Dallas, was that he had a hard time getting into the paint, and he couldn't shoot when they played off of him. So you ended up with a player dribbling around on the perimeter eating up the shot clock over and over again. Sorry, five years ago, yes. Now? No.

I started off this topic questioning whether Rondo was done as a star player after the ACL injury and it's a fair question to ask I think with how he played this year. And I did say that we're better off with Collison than a hobbled Rondo who can't get to the basket or defend at a high level. I also don't think anyone comes back after a serious ligament injury and plays at 100% right away. Once the ligament is repaired, it takes time to get flexibility back. It's possible Rondo wasn't himself because he's not fully recovered yet. A fully recovered Rondo could be a steal at the price he's likely to command this summer. A hobbled Rondo could be a liability at any price. I agree that the Rondo we saw this season is not worth worrying about but I also really like how Rondo plays when he is healthy and I actually think a primary ballhandler who's that intelligent would only benefit us. All of the people who never liked Rondo are coming out of the woodwork now that he's struggling a bit. I can't argue against that, if you never liked him than nothing I say will convince you. For me, the only question is whether he can get healthy or not.

There was a time when I liked Rondo and thought he could be a good fit for the Kings. That time has passed. You're making a lot of hopeful assumptions that he'll return to being the player he once was. I think time marches on ... and Rondo's peak is behind him.

I'm not so much making hopeful assumptions as stating that it is a possibility. A lot of people seem convinced that he's done. I'm not going to dismiss him completely until I know. Healthy Rondo is one of my top 5 favorite players in the league so I suppose it's not surprising I would feel that way.

I'm certainly not saying he's done, but that he's risk, and I'm not sure this team can afford that kind of risk right now. Were going to have somewhere between 10 and 12 mil to work with in capspace, depending on what we do with some of our freeagents. It would take about all of our capspace to sign him. If we were to spend 10 mil a year on Rondo, and then have no capspace to sign anyone else of significance, and he ends up getting splinters on the bench, that would be a huge setback for a team that can't afford one. The one thing Rondo always had that set him apart was his defense. Harden made him look like his feet were in cement. Granted, Hardin does that to a lot of people, but were talking about the one player he shouldn't be able to do it to. More than anything, we need a PG that fits Karls system, and Rondo, even when healthy, doesn't fit that system. He's too ball dominate. Just my opinion... Hey, I like Myles Turner!

When it comes to DC, just not a fan of the style he displays. It's subjective, just don't really like the feel for the game and rhythm he shows. I think he too often displays a lack of vision. Forces shots at times he shouldn't. Don't like his midrange game and the runners he regularly looks for. Not good in the P&R. I'd prefer a PG who's better in catch and shoot situations and has the ability to break down his man and get into the teeth of the defense when needed and the latter I think is a real weakness of his. I don't see him creating many easy shots for guys, particularly Cuz. He's not the type who'll break down his guy and hit a Ben or Nik, or any other shooters we have yet to acquire for open looks. In the modern NBA you need one of your guards to be able to do that.

It's also fair to say can we get better? I don't think so. Not unless there's a trade out there I'm not aware of. I wouldn't move DC just for the sake of moving him. I'd love him as a backup.

Lawson is too similar when it comes to strengths weaknesses for me, worse defender too, and when considering he's at 12.4M next year and 13.2M the following, it's off the table for me. He's better than DC but not that much better.

You know, I don't know if it's an option but I'd try to pry Holiday from NO. I'm not a big fan of his but I do like his style of play more, love his defense. Think there's more upside with a guy like that if we're getting into the 10M+ PG category.

I don't think he'd be as bad a fit here as some are making it out to be. Nor do I think what happened in Dallas is a true representation of what he'll be next year. If you commit to a guy like Rondo you must commit to letting him run the offense. Karl allows his PGs to do that. Carlisle had him walk it up the court at a slow tempo and called out almost every play. Can't do that with a Rondo type.

A problem is our roster doesn't appear to fit Rondo all that well. Rudy isn't a good spot up shooter, Ben/Nik still have a lot of growth they need to exhibit and we don't have a 4 who can hit jumpers. I have no idea where our spacing would come from. If we could get Rondo/Cuz into P&Rs and space the floor with yet to be acquired shooters, there is some upside to that idea.

That said, he is friends with Cuz and Rudy. Karl is a creative coach. If Rondo wanted to come here and checked his attitude, I'd be hopeful. I do have quite an issue with him quitting on his team though. If it was a situation of offering Rondo 10M/Y or taking on Lawson and his atrocious contract, I might have to side with Rondo. I wouldn't be all that happy with either though and in general, with all the good PGs in the league today I find our PG situation to be depressing. And I know some want more a role playing PG and to upgrade at the 2. I understand that argument but my preference would be to upgrade at PG as that position generally has a severe impact on a team's ceiling unless you're putting a ball dominant Kobe/Wade/Harden out there at the 2. With the modern day lack of elite SGs, that's a tougher blueprint to follow.

Ideally I'd have Cuz be the 1st option, our PG be the 2nd, Rudy the 3rd with 3&D role players around them. None of the names being thrown around accomplishes that.

I think people are really over rating how he's actually played over the last two years. Can't shoot and won't drive. He rarely drives to the basket any more ... and if he does everybody plays him for the pass because he doesn't want to embarrass himself at the line. He's B- on defense. He's a good passer, but he needs to dominate the ball to be effective with that aspect of his game.

He's no longer a key piece to any team's puzzle. Because he's such an odd shaped piece, you have to alter your system and/or player to accommodate him.

Celtics got better after he left. Mavs got worse when he arrived.

The team signing him is going to pay him assuming he bounces back. If he does, he's still not a good fit here. If he doesn't, it's a train wreck.

That being said, I think we'll chase him if his price stay at 9-11 million.

Any guard who can't shoot is not going to be a good fit here. If you think IT was disruptive you ain't seen nothing yet with Rondo.
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We were not prepared to pay Evans between 11-10 million dollars a year to play for the Kings because he wasn't sufficiently well rounded, a very odd shaped piece that would require a lot of other moves to construct a winning team, and based upon all of the relevant factors not a good investment. (If that's not your take, that appears to be the Kings decision and/or narrative.)

While they are different players, the many of the same factors and perhaps price are in play for Rondo ... except he might be physically limited, falling off fast, and worse than Evans at this point.

Nothing would surprise me with this team, but the notion of passing on Evans in 2013 because he didn't fit at 11 per year and signing Rondo in 2015 because he's a missing piece at 11 million a year or more ... that would be a serious turn for the front office.

Isaiah Thomas has never posted an assist rate higher than 33% in his career until the last 21 games of this season after the trade to Boston where he was at 35.2%. Rondo's career assist percentage is 41.4% and his last 5 seasons were: 47.1%, 52.5%, 49.3%, 47.7%, 39.3% (which was actually 49.3% before he got to Dallas). These two players are not even in the same league as playmakers. Also, Rondo's usage percentage is consistently in the 19-21% range and IT's is in the 26-30% range. I don't think people would have had a problem with Thomas dominating the ball if he was racking up assists at a rate of 17 per 100 possessions like Rondo was. The problem is he was pounding the ball in order to look for his own shot. I also don't see a lot of people complaining that John Stockton and Steve Nash dominated the ball. Because that's what a PG is supposed to do.

Rondo made sense in Malone's style and with the place we were in. Things changed, and frankly Rondo's attitude is a bigger problem for us. He did not want to play here before and I don't see that changing. Now we know how he deals with being on a team he is unhappy with. I have moved on.

You misunderstood what I was talking about.

IT's problem was pounding the ball, yes. Rondo will have no such problem, but he is a disruptive force in the locker room and he basically drove Ray Allen away from the team and he is doing it again in Dallas.

That's what I meant.
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Rondo is already good friends with Gay and both he and Cousins seem to have a mutual respect. If those three get along, I don't see how Rondo would be disruptive in the locker room. I don't think he drove Ray Allen away from Boston either -- according to Paul Pierce, he still keeps in touch with Garnett, Rondo, and Perkins but Ray Allen doesn't talk with any of them. Seems like that's an issue with Ray Allen more than Rondo. What I've read about Rondo in Boston is that he put more time into preparing for games than anybody else on the team, he knew the plays better than the coaches, and he studied other teams to the point where he could call out their plays on defense. Isaiah Thomas was a distraction because he put himself before the team, that's a whole other issue. Rondo just wants to win.

You also have to remember, he didn't pick Dallas. He got traded there. When it became clear that Rick Carlisle had no interest in letting him play PG in the manner that led him to 4 consecutive All-Star appearances, he probably could have done what Tyreke Evans did and reluctantly play off the ball to the detriment of the team, but Rondo doesn't have Evans' low key personality. It's no secret that Dallas isn't a championship threat without Rondo. They're going to win games when Ellis, Dirk, or Parsons get on a hot streak but all jumpshot heavy offenses are inherently inconsistent. And as much as people want to dump on Rondo for quitting on Dallas, Carlisle quit on Rondo before the playoffs even started. He should have found a way to re-work his offense around a more ball dominant PG and give his team an actual chance to win but he's obviously not capable of doing that.

Sure Carlisle won a championship in 2011. But look at what Dallas did in the playoffs that year ... Dirk shot 46% from three, Jason Terry shot 44%, DeShawn Stevenson shot 40%, they picked up Peja mid-season and he shot 38%, Jason Kidd shot 37%. Aside from Peja, all of these guys shot way over their career average from three point range in the playoffs that year. That's a complete fluke. Look at the last 10 years -- other than 2011 he's won 2 playoff series in 9 tries. In the past 8 years, Rondo has won 11 playoff series in 15 tries. Put yourself in Rondo's shoes for a second. Would you let Rick Carlisle tell you that your way of playing PG is wrong?

Rondo isn't living in sacramento no matter how close he is with Gay or respects cousins.

Man, you are really prepared to die on this Rondo hill. Rondo was the problem in Dallas not Carlisle. Those two didn't get along. If I'm an owner or GM and we need to decide between: (1) pushing my coach, who has shown he can flat out coach offense, to rework his offense late in the season (because they reasonably tried and filed to integrate Rondo first) to accommodate a non-top 10 point guard in Rondo; and (2) having Rondo (who they've known for a while they aren't bringing back suck it up and run the team's offense (like the other non-top 10 point guards in the league). I'm picking Carlisle 100 times out of 100.

Dallas made the right choice. When Rondo, who hasn't been good in over two years was put to that choice, he flat out quit on his team. He quit in game two.

Ray Allen isn't tight with any of the Boston guys, but he was tried of Rondo's crap. That's clear to anybody being objective about this. Rondo has been a pain at time for year. He arrived later that the time to report for a couple of playoff games in Boston. His moody and prickly personality and flawed game are something you can live with when he's a top 10 point guard. He's no longer that guy. He's just littered with red flags.

I don't think Rondo arrived in Dallas and ruined a good playoff team. Dallas was always going to lose in the first round. Cuban knew it, that's why he traded for Rondo and signed Stoudamire. If they never intended to bring Rondo back, they wouldn't have traded a future first round pick for him. If Cuban knew Rondo would be a terrible fit (which, reasonably, he should have -- Ellis is even more ball dominant than Rondo and worse from outside) he would have just stuck with Jameer Nelson. Just think about this for a second. Take off the "I hate Rondo" glasses and look at the situation objectively. Rondo was brought in because he's a 4-time All Star and a proven playmaker. He was nearly averaging a triple double with Boston this season. Cuban thought this might be an opportunity to push his flawed team further into the playoffs. The fact that it imploded as completely as it did is partly Rondo's fault but is it entirely Rondo's fault? Don't you think there's some responsibility on the coach and GM to know who they're acquiring and allow him a chance to succeed? Am I going to sign Steve Nash and make him a spot-up shooter? Am I going to sign J.J. Reddick and ask him to run the offense? Everybody talks about Rondo quitting on the team as if it's some unforgivable sin or it came out of nowhere. Rondo and Carlisle have been pushing each other's buttons for months. It never should have even got to this point. Rondo knew he was joining a playoff team and he talked about re-signing with Dallas. He has every reason in the world to play the best basketball of his career from February to May. If not Carlisle, why do you think his attitude changed so dramatically from when he first arrived in Dallas to now?

What's most telling to me is that despite two months of coach and PG butting heads, a team-imposed suspension, and at least one on-the-court shouting match, they still chose to roll with Rondo as their starting PG in the playoffs. If a player is that big of a distraction you bench him. If you need him to win, you find a way to make that relationship work. Are coach's immune to criticism? Is Rick Carlisle automatically right? He coached one of the most one-dimensional teams in the league this year. His offense is good enough for a first round playoff exit most years. Red Auerbach he ain't. Not to mention, we've seen Carlisle do this before. We have a PG right now (Collison) who Carlisle benched halfway through the season because he didn't like how he was running the offense. At some point I think it's fair to question whether Carlisle's "my way or the highway" approach to team building is part of the problem.

You either misread me or propped a straw man to knock it down. They were losing in the first round either way, so the traded for Rondo hoping he's be good on defense and they could mold him into what they were doing on offense. He wasn't that good on defense, didn't mold, and didn't even run the stuff he likes on offense that well.

I'm responding to you casting blame on Carlisle in the last sentence of paragraph two of post 75. They've known since March that it wasn't going to work and they wouldn't pay what Rondo was then worth. You said that "He should have found a way to re-work his offense around a more ball dominant PG and give his team an actual chance to win but he's obviously not capable of doing that."

I'm assuming that's what you meant. In March, when it became apparent that Rondo couldn't assimilate into Dallas' system that Carlisle should have rework the offense to accommodate his perhaps 4th best player who would be gone in 4 weeks. To me, that's borderline nuts.

If you are saying they should have changed their offense before the All-Star game to conform to Rondo, IMO you are wrong. Dirk, Parsons, and Ellis should play the way Dallas plays. They need movement, pace, and space to be most effective. After 6 weeks, they are going to throw their previously effective system in the dumpster to accommodate a non-top 10 point guard. I wouldn't do that.

It doesn't matter that he was formerly a 4 time all star and a proven play maker. He hasn't been a top 10 point guard for 2 years. He hasn't. Frankly, I think you are just arguing at this point.

There was definitely tension between Ray Allen and Rondo, even Allen admitted as such.
http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2012/07/ray_allen_talks_about_leaving.html

There was also reported tension between Doc Rivers and Rondo.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-fight-doc-rivers-during-celtics-team-meeting

I can understand a player not liking the way he was used, but what Rondo is doing went WAY beyond reason:
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/2015...-had-second-exchange-in-the-locker-room.html/

Even his team's owner once questioned if he is coachable.
http://www.boston.com/blogs/sports/...rajon_rondo_stubborn_uncoachable_celtics.html

Even his college coach hated coaching him.
http://www.celticslife.com/2013/07/espn-writer-rips-into-rondo-hes-highly.html


So to sum it: this is a PG who is despised by at least one of his star players, disliked by his coaches, turn off his owner, and has coachability question dating back to his college days.


I highly doubt Carlisle quit on Rondo seeing he also approved the trade for him. The thing is, Rondo wants to dominate the ball in Dallas even though they have far superior players; and it would have been stupid if Carlisle were to allow it to happen. Carlisle won an NBA Championship. It's not like he doesn't know what he is doing.

What makes you think Rondo wouldn't demand the same on the Kings? What makes you think Karl would allow that to happen?

And I leave you with this from the article:
I'm not completely against getting Rondo but he should be someone you bring in AFTER you've established a hierarchy, a good locker room, veteran presence, and a coherent unit that can absorb a hot-head like Rondo. Bring in such a guy when the team has gone through the turmoil of last season and is still in disarray is asking for trouble.

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Top 10 in some order

Curry

Westbrook

Paul

Irving

Wall

Lillard

Connelly

Lowery

Teague

Parker



2nd Tier Down in some order

Rose

Dragic

Lawson

Rondo



Third Tier Down in almost random order

Bledsoe

Jackson

Holiday

MWC

Walker

Williams

Rubio



Probably another tier down

Jennings

Knight

Collison

Schroder

Hill

Thomas

Beverly

And so on …


As a preliminary matter, I'm sure folks will spend their time quibbling on the ranking above and who is or isn't a point guard. Whatever, that's not my point. All-Star Rondo is gone. He's been gone for two years. He couldn't bring that guy back for his last contract drive. He had every reason to do that in both Boston and Dallas and he failed. But, he's going to work, try to score, and listen to his coach AFTER he gets his last big contract and bring Playoff Rondo and Big Game Rondo back from the dead? Doing all of that probably on a losing team? I don't see it.


Rondo is not in the top 10. He hasn’t been there for 2 solid years. If his knee is ok, is willing to start driving to the basket trying to score and/or shoot free-throws again, and he can retrieve his head from his rear end, he back in the 2nd tier as reflected above.

If he plays like he has for the past 2 seasons … he’s in the third tier. Flat out, that’s where he’s been for both Brad Stevens trying to win games with Rondo and pump up his trade value for Boston and Carlisle trying to accommodate his game into what Dallas needs to run to advance in the playoffs.

If Dallas traded for Bledsoe or MWC and he didn’t fit, I don’t think you’d be claiming that Dirk, Ellis, and Parsons all needed to sacrifice the best system from them so the team could cater to a point guard that is around the median for NBA starter quality.

Sorry, but when you have MCW at 3rd Tier, no need to pick on anything else.
And yes, no-explosion Rondo is not a starting PG for a winning team in the NBA.

Thanks for the opinion. I agree with a lot of what you say. Don't completely agree on his midrange shooting. I think his midrange shot is his strength, however, I don't consider anything within 10 feet of the basket midrange, and within that range, his offense is poor. He has no floater to speak of, and he's not a particularly good finisher. But I'm nit picking. I agree that he's more of a shoot first PG, very similar to I. Thomas, but he doesn't possess the ball as much as Thomas does. I also agree that for the price, I don't see Lawson being that much of an upgrade, and he's certainly a worse defender. I think Collison is a good defender until he has to defend a much taller PG that can post him up. But he always puts in the effort.

Will Collison be better in Karls system? Don't know, but I guess, barring a trade, we'll find out. I do think he'll be better than McCallum in the starters role.

Okay, there's a lot to respond to so I'm going to take these one at a time.

bebop, the links you're posting don't actually support your argument.

Let's start with Ray Allen. In the article you posted, this is what he said about Rondo:

No less an authority than Ray Allen himself said he didn't leave Boston because of Rondo. And Doc Rivers backs that up:

(link)

So Ray Allen says it wasn't about his relationship with Rondo and Doc Rivers says he's the one that pushed Rondo into more of a leadership role even though he knew Ray Allen felt marginalized in the offense.

Your source for Doc Rivers leaving Boston on account of Rondo is a blogger. He doesn't even have a quote from Rivers, just a lot of locker room hearsay and speculation and because he's a blogger, nobody is going to fact check him and hold him accountable. Let's look a little deeper.

Here's what Rivers himself said at the time Rondo was traded to Dallas:

(link)

Here's more on the topic of feuds with Rick Carlisle:

(link)

Does that sound like a bitter coach who left because of a feud with a star player? It sounds to me that both Rondo and Doc Rivers could see the beginning of a long rebuild in Boston and that's why they wanted out. Rivers is in a good situation in LA and Rondo thought he was going to one in Dallas, it just didn't work out.

Or what about what Rondo has to say about Doc Rivers:

(link)

This is after Doc Rivers left Boston. No doubt it sounds like a difficult relationship. As a coach it's probably uncomfortable having a player question everything you do. The difference is, Rivers was willing to work with him and they still have a relationship because of it. Carlisle wasn't and Dallas lost their best shot at a title this year because of it.

The next thing you did was link to an article supposedly pointing out how bad of a teammate Rondo is, but the accusations this guy is making are dubious at best. He has no sources other than himself and how he perceives the relationships in the locker room. Jeff Goodman says nobody likes playing with Rondo. Good for him. Let's ask the players themselves.

Paul Pierce:

(link)

Strike one.

Kevin Garnett:

(link)

Strike two.

Avery Bradley:

(link)

Strike three. I'm pretty sure Goodman doesn't have a leg to stand on with this claim. If anything, it sounds like Rondo refused to have a relationship with the media and that's what has played into this perception that he's a locker room malcontent. Most of his ex-teammates have very positive things to say.

What about this comment from Paul Pierce:

(link)


What about Rondo coaching his friend Rudy Gay through a tough situation in Toronto last year?:

(link)

I'll address this more as I respond to Larry David's comments, but it bothers me the way that a narrative gets started in the media like "Rondo is a bad teammate" and then gets parroted around from one pseudo-news source to another so it looks like multiple sources are corroborating it but it's actually just a lot of cut and paste. It's unfair to the players. I'd rather lean on comments from the players themselves. I'm sure there's somebody somewhere who doesn't like Rondo very much, but in general it looks like he's well-liked by the players who know him the best.

To echo another poster, Rondo would have been a better fit in Malone's system than Karls. Whether you, I , or anyone else likes it or not, Karl is the coach, and he demands certain things from his PG. One of them, is the ability to shoot the ball. The other, is to not dominate the ball. Rondo violates both those things. You say that IT pounded the ball. That's true, but so does Rondo. They just do it for different reasons. I don't have a crystal ball, so I don't know if Rondo will return to his old self or not. I just don't want to gamble. Do I think that Collison is the total answer for the Kings? No, I don't, but at the same time, I don't look at the PG position as a weakness, just that it could be better. I do look at the PF position, and the backup center position as a huge liability by comparison. That's where I'm inclined to put my money if possible. Do you really want to use most, if not all of our cap space to sign Rondo?

To be honest, I doubt he'd want to come to the Kings anyway, so it's probably a moot point.

Where did I say Rondo is the SOLE reason Allen left? Where did I say Rondo is the REASON Doc left the team? Never said that.

But a picture emerges of a player who is difficult at best. You don't read this about say, Dirk or Duncan.

You are also not going to catch players talking smack about other players TO the media. When some players have issues with other players, you usually don't find out until they've retired, then sometimes the dirty laundry came out to the public. Like what Smush Parker said about Kobe. Even two players hate each other's guts, they still present their best faces forward to the media.

For some reason, you seem to be putting the blame squarely on Carlisle. Which is just wrong.

It is iron clad that even the Celtics' owner once questioned whether Rondo is coachable, and the owner would have the inside knowledge that make such a claim alarming.

It is also iron clad that Rondo is having issues in Dallas, just because you are sugar coating it, doesn't mean it's not a big deal.

And just because Rondo has friends in the locker room, that doesn't necessary means he won't blow up again. It's a team dynamics afterall. I think you are reading too much into things that don't matter.
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The title of this thread is "Let's talk about Rajon Rondo". I know because I'm the one who started it. Expanding the discussion from one specific incident in the playoffs to the entirety of Rondo's tenure in Dallas this season should be fair game I think. Perhaps I did misread you a bit. I took your comment "who they've known for a while they're not bringing back" to imply that they never had any vested interest in making it work with Rondo, which clearly wasn't the case. But even if you're just talking about the Rondo/Carlisle situation in the playoffs, I think I addressed that too. Marc Cuban isn't dumb. He knows he's not playing for the regular season. He's playing to extend his legacy, prolong Dirk's career, get far into the playoffs and compete for a championship. That's why you trade young players like Brandon Wright and Jae Crowder (who were playing well for Dallas this year) to get an experienced PG with a championship pedigree. If they were done with Rondo before the playoffs even started, they wouldn't have kept him in the starting lineup. If you know you can't win without him and he's not willing to play your way, you either need to swallow your pride and let him try things his way or stubbornly commit to your way and watch him implode. I don't think Carlisle made the right decision here because Rondo is done in Dallas now, they wasted valuable assets with no return, and they're still not getting out of the first round. That's a total failure on every level. Reminds me of what happened with the Oakland A's last year. Management completely misjudged their players and burned valuable assets for no reason.

Also, it's misleading I think to characterize Dallas' offense as an effective system when they haven't won a playoff series in 3 years. Sure they were racking up points and wins in the regular season this year. Educated observers (and that includes Cuban himself!) could tell they were headed for trouble in the playoffs if they didn't make changes. Teams don't win in the playoffs without effective defense, rebounding, the ability to get stops when you need them, and multiple layers of offense so you're not out of luck when the other team counters your first option. Dallas didn't have any of that this year. I agree (and have agreed all along) that the Rondo we saw at the end of last year and the Rondo we saw this year is still a long way from his playoff peak before the ACL injury. There's also a matter of playing style. So much of Rondo's game was predicated on knowing his teammates and knowing the sets inside and out and he had limited time to adjust to all of that with a new team. My point was that Dallas wanted to win in the playoffs this year, not just get there. Cuban thought switching up the offense to a more PG dominated style with Rondo in charge would help in that goal. All the right words were spoken at the time of the trade, with Rondo even giving lip service to the idea of playing out the rest of his career in Dallas. But the reality is, Carlisle did not adjust his offense for Rondo, he expected Rondo to come in and do what Jameer Nelson was doing, only better. That's borderline nuts to me. You can't trade for somebody like Rondo and not give him the keys to the offense. That should have been obvious. And that's where I think Carlisle needs to assign some of the blame on himself.

What this really comes back to for me isn't just a matter of me bending over backwards to play apologist for one of my favorite players. It bothers me that everybody is so willing to paint Rondo as the villain in Dallas. So willing to dismiss his career to date in Boston as the result of playing with more talented teammates. And so willing to call his career done after he suffered a torn ACL at age 26 and hasn't had an easy recovery period since then. I've read a lot of Rondo character assasination articles in the last week. Try to reconcile that point of view with the player described by Brad Stevens here:

(link)


Or the take-charge leader described in this article:

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/8510892/rajon-rondo-steps-shadows-boston-celtics-leader

The guy I read about there sounds like the perfect locker room guy doesn't he? So what's the truth? I'll let you draw your own conclusions. I will say that I prefer to take the word of players and teammates over bloggers or even accredited media personnel without named sources. And in general I hate the slash and burn firestorm that seems to follow every time the media decides to vilify somebody. Take a step back and see if what they're saying is actually true before you decide this is somebody you would never want on your team.

Read the articles I posted and get back to me.

I agree with everything except the part about Rondo not fitting Karl's system. If George Karl had success in Denver with Ty Lawson, I don't see why he can't have success with Rondo. Lawson is a better shooter, but he's also a ball-pounder (note that I don't see that as a negative for a PG ) Karl also took a Gary Payton led Seattle team to the Finals and Payton was a non-shooter. People are going to argue that this is a different era, which is true to some extent, but I don't think the game is all that different from the mid 90s really. Right now offense and three point shooting are en vogue, but it goes in cycles. Defense will come back, I'm sure of it. It's too fundamental to the game to be marginalized for long. Somebody is going to figure out how to exploit an over-eager offense and then everyone else will rush to catch up to them. One thing about George Karl that makes me optimistic, he's had success everywhere he's gone with very different types of players. He's adaptable. He's a coach who could find a way to make it work.

And I'm glad you're coming around on Myles Turner. Pretty slim odds he ends up on the Kings, but I feel good about his chances in the NBA.

The articles don't really prove anything.
.