Rajon Rondo Traded To The Mavericks.

[Fencer reregistered]

If Bogart had acting deficiencies as blatantly egregious as Rondo's offensive liabilities & inability as well as lack of desire to score (in particular, his career long, absolutely ABYSMAL FT & 3 point shooting & his unfortunate complete offensive meltdown post ACL), he never would have been selected to act in Casablanca & To Have & Have Not, & Lauren Bacall would not have asked Bogie if he knew how to whistle.

You're wrong, because the two professions are quite different. Bogie got roles he would excel at. In sports such as basketball, however, there's typically an opponent who's trying to push you into attempting things at which you are bad.

[DoubleHappiness]

Interesting you bring up Pierce. I love me some Paul Pierce determination. But to compare them is not really fair. I can't say anything bad about Pierce, dude is my favorite Celtic of all-time. But he an Rondo are so different.

Pierce (and most forwards who age gracefully) are usually blessed with somewhat of a bangers body. By this I mean, Pierce has superb upper body strength. Even when he is slow, he is not relegated to becoming a jump shooter the way some forwards do. He relishes contact. He can finish through contact. He understands angles to get to spots on the floor to absorb contact. His FTs attemped have always been an insane booster to his efficiency and for good reason. Even when out of shape, he is strong. Understanding angles and having good upper body strength is huge.

I think Rondo's upper body strength is holding him back. Whether that is because of genetics, practice, or a lack of weight room practice, I don't know. But Rondo can't fight through pick and rolls at all. He stopped trying to draw contact a while ago. People forget, in Rondo's rim attacking, junkyard dog, badassery days, he would get flung to the ground with alarming regularity. Watching the Rondo dunk mix makes me cringe. It's amazing he hadn't had a major injury before this. I am actually surprised it was a knee injury, But such is the fickle mistress of sports. But Rondo could never really absorb contact, and his FT issues don't help any.

Look at another point guard in John Wall that this board used to hate on a bit. He is jacked now compared to what he used to be. The development of his upper body is obvious to anyone who has followed the league for a bit. Wall drives and slashes. He absorbs contact. And is just generally a physical beast now. It shows this year. He's balling.

Jimmy Buckets on Chicago rented a house with no internet, no nothing. He just ate, slept, and worked out. And his body can do it night in and night out now. He's having the banner year.

I'm not sure if it's effort completely with Rondo, although it's obvious he has complacency issues sometimes. But his body couldn't take the toll it would require for him to play that way all the time. He gets hit in the air. He's going down. This led to passive old man YMCA spin ball Rondo sometimes.

Still I think it's a great trade for the Mavs. Anyone who thinks Jameer is a better choice is...well...I wonder how Jameer and Avery are getting along. Jameer is probably complaining about Avery's 2K game or something.

[Andrew McCeltic]

If Bogart had acting deficiencies as blatantly egregious as Rondo's offensive liabilities & inability as well as lack of desire to score (in particular, his career long, absolutely ABYSMAL FT & 3 point shooting & his unfortunate complete offensive meltdown post ACL), he never would have been selected to act in Casablanca & To Have & Have Not, & Lauren Bacall would not have asked Bogie if he knew how to whistle.

You're wrong, because the two professions are quite different. Bogie got roles he would excel at. In sports such as basketball, however, there's typically an opponent who's trying to push you into attempting things at which you are bad.

This is a totally bonkers analogy, but I want to seize the moment to speak up for 'The Big Sleep' and 'In A Lonely Place', the two best Bogart films (Howard Hawks and Nicholas Ray directed) hands down.

[exculpatory]

If Bogart had acting deficiencies as blatantly egregious as Rondo's offensive liabilities & inability as well as lack of desire to score (in particular, his career long, absolutely ABYSMAL FT & 3 point shooting & his unfortunate complete offensive meltdown post ACL), he never would have been selected to act in Casablanca & To Have & Have Not, & Lauren Bacall would not have asked Bogie if he knew how to whistle.

You're wrong, because the two professions are quite different. Bogie got roles he would excel at. In sports such as basketball, however, there's typically an opponent who's trying to push you into attempting things at which you are bad.

This is a totally bonkers analogy, but I want to seize the moment to speak up for 'The Big Sleep' and 'In A Lonely Place', the two best Bogart films (Howard Hawks and Nicholas Ray directed) hands down.

Fencer & Andy: The analogy to Bogie is, on second thought, kind of bonkers. I was attempting to extend the Bogie analogy made by Ryan - to whose post I was responding.

Do you guys remember the scene where Lauren asked Bogie if he knew how to whistle? It was the 1940's "verbal equivalent" of the overt sex scenes we commonly see in many R-rated movies today.

[Fencer reregistered]

Well, it was at least a fairly direct promise of sex.

[Andrew McCeltic]

I do, that's a great movie. If I remember right, Hawks made it on a dare because Hemingway said it was impossible to film?

The Big Sleep is even better- it doesn't have any iconic moments like that, but the whole thing is perfect.

[31to6]

well, this thread ended up the way we all knew it would!

[JohnB]

Just finished watching the Mavs Lakers game, man did rondo look good. I'm glad we at least traded him west so he can't haunt us down the line. That mavs team is fun to watch, rondo and Tyson Chandler are a great combo. To everyone here who has been saying he sucks I think his play is going to prove you wrong.
Sadly the end result is looking like it wasn't his problem it was ours.

[sam_I_am]

Mavs are now 2-0 against the quality West teams they were 0-5 against before the trade (although both times opponent missing best players). Overall record 3-2 against 4 good teams. Jury is still out for Dallas. For Boston it is clear that team is hemoraging without Rondo but this could be a morale issue so far.

[mwhis21]

Eh, the trade ended up exactly how you thought it would.

The C's are terrible, and it's quite clear that Rondo was the best player on the team by light years. Rondo practically shut Westbrook down last night, but Bradley helped, wait no he didn't he's on the C's. But we'll give the credit to him anyway. Rondo's only going to get better for them, can't wait to watch him cut the hearts out of many Celtics "fans" in the playoff.

Our offense is in shambles, and now the game thread is complaining that our PGs can't pass lol.

We have 15 average to below average role players, and a bunch of picks that we're all hoping will be useful and not bottom 20 picks.

Those that longed for the excitement of being a perennial "up and coming" team, the NBA 2k15 fans on the board have got their wish.

The whole Rondo thing was bungled by Ainge IMO...from the start.

[KGboss]

I think its pretty obvious Rondo was mailing it in this year and playing pretty selfishly in Boston. He def. wanted out and just watching him in Dallas makes you happy he is doing well, but it pisses me off personally how he just didnt give it his all this year while he was here. Heres to hoping we land Okafor huh?

[pac213up]

I think its pretty obvious Rondo was mailing it in this year and playing pretty selfishly in Boston. He def. wanted out and just watching him in Dallas makes you happy he is doing well, but it pisses me off personally how he just didnt give it his all this year while he was here. Heres to hoping we land Okafor huh?

Playing selfishly would have been jacking up 20+ shots a game to ensure the biggest possible contract. Expectations start at the top. When an organization is not committed to winning it is hard to expect the players to buy in. Watch this team on the defensive end, they are coasting a majority of the time, the effort is just not there. This is a byproduct of "tanking" unfortunately.

[KGboss]

I think its pretty obvious Rondo was mailing it in this year and playing pretty selfishly in Boston. He def. wanted out and just watching him in Dallas makes you happy he is doing well, but it pisses me off personally how he just didnt give it his all this year while he was here. Heres to hoping we land Okafor huh?

Playing selfishly would have been jacking up 20+ shots a game to ensure the biggest possible contract. Expectations start at the top. When an organization is not committed to winning it is hard to expect the players to buy in. Watch this team on the defensive end, they are coasting a majority of the time, the effort is just not there. This is a byproduct of "tanking" unfortunately.

You dont have to jack up shots to play selfishly. Playing half assed waiting to get traded is also selfish. You arent thinking about the team youre playing for, youre thinking about where youre going to be in 3 months.

I'm not convinced they are tanking. Im convinced the coach is throwing away the seasons playing geek-boy doing is analytic crap waiting for the next year and the players aren't buying in to that type of thinking at all. If the coach would try and put a winning philosophy on the court this team is actually good enough to win some games.

I'm frustrated with the whole situation.

[pac213up]

You dont have to jack up shots to play selfishly. Playing half assed waiting to get traded is also selfish. You arent thinking about the team youre playing for, youre thinking about where youre going to be in 3 months.

I'm not convinced they are tanking. Im convinced the coach is throwing away the seasons playing geek-boy doing is analytic crap waiting for the next year and the players aren't buying in to that type of thinking at all. If the coach would try and put a winning philosophy on the court this team is actually good enough to win some games.

I'm frustrated with the whole situation.

I think most of us share the frustration. Unfortunately I do not think it matters what the coach does. The players can see what the GM is doing. None of them feel confident about the direction of the team or their role in it. The majority of the team is playing half assed. This is on Ainge right now IMO.

[KGboss]

It could be for sure. if he trades green and bass away for peanuts Philly style then yes this is on Ainge and be ready for 6 years of nothing minimum.

[pac213up]

It could be for sure. if he trades green and bass away for peanuts Philly style then yes this is on Ainge and be ready for 6 years of nothing minimum.

Despite the frustration I am giving Ainge some time to work this out. Really he will have no excuse going forward. Some OK young talent, cap space, and a bunch of picks. If you cannot successfully build with that then it is time to move on.

Trading Rondo assured me this was going to be a longer process than I had hoped. Ainge tried to get some talent with Rondo but no one was buying the crap he was selling and would not be anytime soon. I expect the same for Green and Bass, really no reason to keep them. It sucks and is not fun to watch (especially without the young elite talent).

[VeryMuchWoke]

Eh, the trade ended up exactly how you thought it would.

The C's are terrible, and it's quite clear that Rondo was the best player on the team by light years. Rondo practically shut Westbrook down last night, but Bradley helped, wait no he didn't he's on the C's. But we'll give the credit to him anyway. Rondo's only going to get better for them, can't wait to watch him cut the hearts out of many Celtics "fans" in the playoff.

Our offense is in shambles, and now the game thread is complaining that our PGs can't pass lol.

We have 15 average to below average role players, and a bunch of picks that we're all hoping will be useful and not bottom 20 picks.

Those that longed for the excitement of being a perennial "up and coming" team, the NBA 2k15 fans on the board have got their wish.

The whole Rondo thing was bungled by Ainge IMO...from the start.

What the hell is Ainge supposed to do if his only star post-big 3 is:

a) Recovering from an ACL injury
b) Not interested in playing hard or committing on defense
c) Not willing to step up his scoring game to instead pad his assist numbers.

Rondo looks good surrounded by offensively skilled players like Parsons, Chandler, Dirk, and Ellis just like he looked good surrounded by Pierce, Ray, and KG.

The only thing Rondo managed to prove post Big-3 is that he either couldn't or wouldn't be the alpha player we needed. Rondo appears to be an old school, team-first guy, but in actuality he's a lot like many of the other young stars in the game. He wants to be on a championship roster, and he becomes a petulant child when he is not.

The only thing Ainge possibly could have done better is trade the guy sooner, but if he'd done that before trading KG/Pierce he wouldn't have received much support. After the ACL tear I doubt offers were much stronger the the Wright/Crowder/#1 package.

[Captain_Caveman]

Eh, the trade ended up exactly how you thought it would.

The C's are terrible, and it's quite clear that Rondo was the best player on the team by light years. Rondo practically shut Westbrook down last night, but Bradley helped, wait no he didn't he's on the C's. But we'll give the credit to him anyway. Rondo's only going to get better for them, can't wait to watch him cut the hearts out of many Celtics "fans" in the playoff.

Our offense is in shambles, and now the game thread is complaining that our PGs can't pass lol.

We have 15 average to below average role players, and a bunch of picks that we're all hoping will be useful and not bottom 20 picks.

Those that longed for the excitement of being a perennial "up and coming" team, the NBA 2k15 fans on the board have got their wish.

The whole Rondo thing was bungled by Ainge IMO...from the start.

What the hell is Ainge supposed to do if his only star post-big 3 is:

a) Recovering from an ACL injury
b) Not interested in playing hard or committing on defense
c) Not willing to step up his scoring game to instead pad his assist numbers.

Rondo looks good surrounded by offensively skilled players like Parsons, Chandler, Dirk, and Ellis just like he looked good surrounded by Pierce, Ray, and KG.

The only thing Rondo managed to prove post Big-3 is that he either couldn't or wouldn't be the alpha player we needed. Rondo appears to be an old school, team-first guy, but in actuality he's a lot like many of the other young stars in the game. He wants to be on a championship roster, and he becomes a petulant child when he is not.

The only thing Ainge possibly could have done better is trade the guy sooner, but if he'd done that before trading KG/Pierce he wouldn't have received much support. After the ACL tear I doubt offers were much stronger the the Wright/Crowder/#1 package.

Spot on.

But don't forget d) Was about to go to LA for 18-20m a year.

[ILC]

Small sample size, but still.

[JohnB]

If there is a finger to be pointed, it's at rondo. Why couldn't he just sign that extension? I know he probably doesn't make financial decisions based on what team I like, but it still hurts. I rank rondo a lot higher than most everyone here.