I am disappointed in Rajon Rondo

[MyInsatiableOne]

I just read in the Globe Rondo leads the team in FG%!!????

[bruno sundov]

I would like to see him have a game soon where he takes 30 shots. Everyone else does everything they can to get him the ball. Lets see what happens.

[Tricky Ricky]

your ridiculous whats it been 8 games???? I remember you moaning about something everyday during the playoffs last year, Rondo could be a hall of fame pg and you would still be dissapointed.

[Tricky Ricky]

I agree either Rondo needs to start TAKING the J when it's there or he needs to work on it more. But he's starting to do what drove me NUTS about him in the playoffs last year, and that's pass up open jumpers or layups to make a more complicated pass to someone for a lower-% shot. ARRGGHH!!

And don't get me wrong, in every other aspect I love the kid, but this needs attention pronto

Ya watching him in the Lakers series until game 6 was painful.

[MyInsatiableOne]

I agree either Rondo needs to start TAKING the J when it's there or he needs to work on it more. But he's starting to do what drove me NUTS about him in the playoffs last year, and that's pass up open jumpers or layups to make a more complicated pass to someone for a lower-% shot. ARRGGHH!!

And don't get me wrong, in every other aspect I love the kid, but this needs attention pronto

Ya watching him in the Lakers series until game 6 was painful.

It was...but overall he's great.

[DieselCeltic]

If he can give us 8-10 assists per game I don't care how he shoots.

[PPAW4Life]

Rondo mainly needs to get better from the foul line. I don't care if he shoots under 40% from the field on jumpers because you know he will drive and get a few layups to make his FG% respectable. I do want him to TAKE open jumpers because he has to be a THREAT out there.

[UGA Hayes]

^ it not his fg % that matters but his true shooting percentage that includes FT and 3 pt shots. Even if he has a high FG % he is acutally hurting the team quite a bit by going to the line and missing.

[return2glory]

Right now we are a bad offense team. With Rondo on offense it's like playing 4 on 5 on the floor. Our chance on winning another championhip is very slim if Rondo doesn't play better than this. I'm just glad we won a championship last year.

[ryaningf]

It's way to early to be making any substantial pronouncements. Rondo will be fine and he'll start taking and making the jumpers he's given as the season wears along. Right now, role #1 in Rondo's mind is to get the Big 3 their shots and that's what he's doing. He's a pass first, second, and third point guard right now.

If I was Rondo, I'd be working on recognition, because often Rondo has an easy layup but passes it out for a 3. The more layups he starts shooting, the bigger the passing lanes will open up when he goes for the kick out. Right now, every penetration is for a kick out and there's no diversity in his offense. Again, though, it's only 10 games in. Players will make adjustments and I feel a 20 point outburst is in the offing for Rondo. Doc needs to get it in Rondo's head that there are parts of the game where he can really take over with his ability to penetrate and while it's nice to get the Big 3 going, he also needs to recognize that the best way to get them going is to sometimes get himself going first. Again, we're only 10 games in and Rondo's just taking his time. But I really don't see any cause for worry. We have a lot of options on this team and Rondo's only sin is that sometimes he defers too much to those other options.

[Man_Up]

I'm also disappointed with Rondo's play. What annoys me isn't his inability to make shots, but his reluctance to take them. I think he was a pretty good jumpshooter(from inside the arch), last season. His unwillingness to take a jump shot hurt the team more then him taking and missing them last year, and even more so this season. Jason Kidd isn't a good shooter, but his willingness to take an open jumper makes defenders play him honestly.

It's not just the jumpshot with Rondo either. He's a relucant shooter in general, he passes way too much. He still kicks it out when he's right under the basket every now and then. He doesn't do it as much as last season, but he still does it. Last night he had a wide open shot under the basket, but instead kicked it out for a missed 3pt attempt by Pierce.

I think the fact that he averages so many assists is amazing. If I were a defender I'd play him for the pass 70% of the time. Rondo as an offensive player is simply not a threat this year.

[Slartibartfast]

It's more like 3 on 5. Perk has an even less effective role on offense than Rajon. He's not really a threat unless he's wide-open in the key. That wouldn't be much of a problem if Rajon wasn't a negative threat on offense, but having two Ben Wallaces out there is hurting us.

We're a lot like the Spurs of the past few years. We go three-deep offensively, and everybody else is a role player. Unfortunately we have two players in the starting line-up occupying the 5th option role and neither has a money spot. At least Bowen has a corner 3 to provide some offense.

The dilemma is who to sub for either Perk or Rondo. Ideally you want to sub for Perk, because Rondo's the better overall player.

Posey allowed us to keep Rajon as a legitimate 5th option in crunchtime situations last year, but no one on the bench has really shown the ability to fill that role. Recently Doc's been toying with Eddie at the 2 with Paul at the 4 and KG at the 5, but that line-up has little chance of working defensively. Paul's pretty versatile, but neither Eddie nor Ray are great options defending the other team's best wing.

Powe's best suited as a scorer against back-up big men, but perhaps he should be given a chance to roll with the starters. He might at least be a threat on the pick and roll. But his lack of a jumper doesn't help much, nor does his limited passing ability. He also doesn't help KG much defensively. If Baby could ever master his midrange J, he might just be able to do the trick. He would be able to take the beefier big guy and allow KG to roam defensively. Yet his jumper has been poor so far and he fouls a lot.

It's a tough problem to solve. If McDyess were available, he would be a gift from heaven. Strong, good shooter, tough rebounder and lengthy enough to contest shots.

[MoBSTa]

For those of you that disgrace the name of the Celtic's and the defense that Rondo brings to the game.

Rondo never lost that game last night, Doc did that makes me sick to think Doc had more faith in House and BBD over Rondo and powe or POB for that matter not to mention walker has earned more of a right to play than BBD this year.


What has BBD or eddie done to get more PT over Rondo or Powe or POB for that matter...

Yeah maybe the C's Dont take plays off, But what good does it do you to not only to give up a layup but the foul as well?


BBD omg, I would rather have Scals defense in the game at least he does play good defense and will rotate on defense.

House and BBD are nothing but role players that substitute bench players having a bad night...


My Gawd free Perkins will you Doc?
Let the kid play some mins....

[Red2]

I gotta say that rondo has not impressed me this year. he continues to play matador defense when he should be able to easily stay in front of his man with his speed/ On Offense he's snot penetrating enough and he's not finsihing when he gets to the rim. I thought his game would go o the next level this year but if anything it looks like he's regressed

[rambo_ortega]

rondo is great being himself. his game didn't change and his passing improved. Nevertheless i agree that he has to be more willing to step in for those J's. But with us playing close games all the time, i don't think he'll get his jumpshot confidence if we're not playing well as a team. he will have the tendency to take shots that he's comfortable with and that's definitely not the jump shots.

[TheSheriff]

Rondo has been terrible this year. He is not taking shots when they are open (see getting the ball wide open, under the hoop, last night and kicking it to Ray for a contested three right away). his defense has seemed to take a step back. The only jump shots he seems are three pointers in crunchtime, which he of course misses horribly. He cannot he a freethrow to save his life.

BTW: How does a point gaurd play 36 minuets and only take one shot?

Doc did say Rajon has been playing with an injury all year, so hopefully once that heals his game will start to improve.

[Red2]

doc was on him last year about letting him man beat him. Rondo loves to play behind his man and then tries to poke the ball away from behind. that is a really risky way to play D and so far I would say it's not working. Luke Ridenour should NEVER be able to get past rondo nor should chauncey. It's one thing if they post him up but they should not be able to drive on him. At times I wonder where his head is. Last night on the final possession in regulation he inbounds the ball to eddie house when Pierce was the one he HAD to pass to. Pierce was guarded but he's still your best option. ROndo makes me nuts when he drives to the rim and then kicks it out . C'mon dude finish the play or at least try to make the layup and get to the line. he spends way too much time on the floor and way too much time coming out of his sneakers. Lace those bad boys up dude. There is something about him that makes me think he's not really there a lot of the time. One of the reasons we've been getting off to slow starts is because rondo is walking the ball up the court and is content to make one pass and then sit back. he needs to penetrate from the get go and pressure his man. If he continues to play the way he is right now his minutes are going to go down. As it stands Doc can't play him at the end of games because his free throw shooting is so bad. We're fortunate we won a title with him last year because so far this year he's underperforming

[buckner1976]

It's more like 3 on 5. Perk has an even less effective role on offense than Rajon. He's not really a threat unless he's wide-open in the key. That wouldn't be much of a problem if Rajon wasn't a negative threat on offense, but having two Ben Wallaces out there is hurting us.

We're a lot like the Spurs of the past few years. We go three-deep offensively, and everybody else is a role player. Unfortunately we have two players in the starting line-up occupying the 5th option role and neither has a money spot. At least Bowen has a corner 3 to provide some offense.

The dilemma is who to sub for either Perk or Rondo. Ideally you want to sub for Perk, because Rondo's the better overall player.

Posey allowed us to keep Rajon as a legitimate 5th option in crunchtime situations last year, but no one on the bench has really shown the ability to fill that role. Recently Doc's been toying with Eddie at the 2 with Paul at the 4 and KG at the 5, but that line-up has little chance of working defensively. Paul's pretty versatile, but neither Eddie nor Ray are great options defending the other team's best wing.

Powe's best suited as a scorer against back-up big men, but perhaps he should be given a chance to roll with the starters. He might at least be a threat on the pick and roll. But his lack of a jumper doesn't help much, nor does his limited passing ability. He also doesn't help KG much defensively. If Baby could ever master his midrange J, he might just be able to do the trick. He would be able to take the beefier big guy and allow KG to roam defensively. Yet his jumper has been poor so far and he fouls a lot.

It's a tough problem to solve. If McDyess were available, he would be a gift from heaven. Strong, good shooter, tough rebounder and lengthy enough to contest shots.

I know we're talking about Rondo here but I actually disagree with this. Unlike Rondo, I actually see improvement in Perk's game already at both ends. He appears to be an even better shotblocker this year. He's showing more touch down low around the rim on post ups. Quicker gather on dump-offs and even showing willingness to take the occasional 10 fter on the baseline or the surprising foul-line jumper. Unlike Rondo, I am fairly pleased with Perk's development.

As others have noted, it's not the actual missing of jumpshots, but his overall poor recognition of when he should be taking z shot and where his open shots are. Being aggressive doesn't simply mean taking the ball to the hole everytime. It also means recognizing that when someone kicks the ball out to you and you're open it is your DUTY to take the open jumpshot miss or make. The fact that in the Denver game Billups did not even bother to guard Rondo is of great concern to me. I get the whole wanting to keep the Big 3 happy thing but if defenders cheat off you all game and you do nothing to make them pay for it you're a liability out there.

[MyInsatiableOne]

I agree with the poster who said it is Perk's offensive retardation that really hurts us. At least Rondo can drive and hit the occasional J. Perk has NO SKILLS whatsoever and continues to be a disgrace by trying to dribble and put the ball on the floor. All he should do offensively is catch and go up, instead of all this dribbling which invariably leads to him: a) promptly being swarmed, b) getting stuffed, or, c) getting stripped or d) losing the ball out of bounds

ARRGGHH!!