Squaring Away Rondo's Shooting

[GreenDreamer]

The way that I see it, the only way this team is going the distance this season is if Rondo starts looking for and hitting shots from 5 feet out and farther. The kid CAN do this, but he is obviously having a lot of issues with WANTING to and knowing the best way to go about it. I honestly don't know why some of these issues haven't been addressed already, as it isn't rocket science. Someone on the coaching staff should have spotted these long ago. They are simple to fix.

1. Rondo's floater - honestly, I think this one is THE most important issue with his scoring game. With his speed and drving ability he should be able to set up a good floater with ease, but his technique is AWFUL.

Note: A floater is not the same thing as a runner. A runner is a running jump shot - two hands on the ball, just like a regular jumper, shot on the move off of one foot, a la Steve Nash and Jason Terry. A floater is shot with one hand, and SHOULD be shot off of two feet, clsoe together, a la Tony Parker and Derrick Rose.

I love Parker's floater. He gets it off in a blink of an eye, skipping into it with two feet, and with a high finish which deadens the ball on teh rim. Tony's floaters rattle in far more than they swish in, and that is because of his good technique. Having both feet close together is EXTREMELY important when shooting this shot. I know this, the floater was my #1 weapon from 15 feet in when I played. Two feet give stability to the shot.

Rondo shoots his off of one foot, and tries to put a high arc on it. That is bad, bad BAD. Very difficult to range the shot then, and forget about getting it to die on the rim. Sometimes he shoots it off of two feet, but they are too far apart, and he doesn't get the lift on it that he should. Those shots almost always come up short. When he hits his floater shooting in these two way it is 100% luck. He's basically flinging the ball at the hoop.

Every now and then, though, he does shoot it with the proper form, and it generally goes in when he does. The coaching staff needs to run him through drills to get him shooting this shot with the proper form EVERY time. They obviously have not been doing this.

2. Using the backboard on his midrange jumper - Rondo should be taking a page out of Sam Jones handbook, and should shoot his midrange jumper off the glass whenever possible. It is simply easier to go glass, when you are 12-16 feet, then shooting it at the hoop. If you all have noticed, Eddie goes glass almost everytime that he can. There are a lot of players who do, including D Wade and Kobe.

I have noticed that he does attempt to do this on occassion, but he shoots the ball too hard when doing so. Instead of taking an easy stroke, he is too focused on hitting his spot on teh backboard and puts too much zip on it. Rondo can get this shot a few times a game, and should hit it at a high percentage. I would especially like to see him take a 12 foot backboard shot when he has the angle instead of "being aggressive" and flying into waiting shot blockers. Tim Duncan never would have blocked him if he had just done this. An open look from that range on a backboard jumper is the next best thing to a layup, IMO. This needs to be addressed.

3. On his jumper he often waits until he is on his way back down before he shoots the ball. This is BAD NEWS. It is simple physics - his body is being accelerated by gravity towards the ground. The ball is still attached to his body until he shoots it. Shoot on the way back down, and you are imparting to the ball that downward movement (along the y-axis). To compensate players generally shoot the ball harder at the rim (along the x-axis). The result is a flatter tragectory, and weird backspin on the ball which causes it to rattle out.

The number #1 offender of this was David Robinson. He used to drive me nuts with his funky jumpshot. He's jump way up there and the ball wouldn't leave his hands until he was halfway back down. The result being that just about anytime he caught rim his jumper would rattle out.

4. The kid simply needs to understand that it is his RIGHT to miss HIS shots - By this I mean that as long as he is taking a shot which is a good shot for him, and nobody else has a better one, that it is OK if he misses it. It isn't the end of the world. That it is far worse to turn these shots down than it is to miss them, because if you miss it - hey at least you might get an offensive rebound, and if not it was just one trip that didn't work out. If you don't take it, now you are setting yourself, and your team, up to be manipulated by the defense again and again.

When Rondo steps into his shot with confidence, he generally shoots decently. Nothing great, but not bad either. You can tell just by the way he shot it if he WANTED to take it. When he doesn't want to take it, he radiates negativity. I think that the Celtics fans here know what I'm taking about. Simply accepting that sometimes it goes in, and sometimes it doesn't would do wonders for the kid. Not having Doc stab him in the back when it doesn't wouldn't hurt either.

Honestly, I wonder what Doc says to this kid. I "fondly" remember back during Bassy's time with us, when Danny sat in with Mike and Tommy during a game. Bassy was knocking down mid range shots behind picks, and Danny made a comment that he's like to see Telfair take 10 of those every game. Bassy ended up having a decent game..... After the game Doc blasted Telfair for "settling for jumpers". Danny was lauding him for taking the EXACT same shots which Doc publically blasted him for.

I hope that Doc isn't so stupid as to say ANYTHING negative to Rondo with regards to his jumpshot selection. Seriously, telling a dude like him to "not settle" is the equivalent of saying "don't shoot them at all". Doc doesn't need to worry about him settling, because Rondo isn't going to shoot enough of them anyways. His first and second choices will always be to drive and pass, but we REALLY need him to shoot them when he is supposed to. The problem is that I suspect that Doc has been sending mixed signals with regards to this, and that is not good.

[billfromBoston]

Good post...

[ryaningf]

Hey GreenDreamer,

You should go to Rondo's blog and post this, especially the bit about jumping off two feet when he's shooting the floater. He'd at least read it, which is all you can ask.

[goulardi]

I think he needs to straighten out his elbow when he shoots....it sticks out to the side not in front of him.

[nasbahceltic]

Great post man, well thought out and informative. Lets hope Rondo develops all these things as time goes on and his offense becomes more of a necessity.

[MyInsatiableOne]

Rondo's shooting (or lack thereof) is killing the team and it really is inexcusable that he came into this season without having worked on it or addressed it at all (the same way I will always be pissed at Big Baby for not coming into this season in better shape)...

With the starters right now we are playing 3 on 5 on offense and that ain't gonna cut it deep in the playoffs...

[GreenDreamer]

Rondo's shooting (or lack thereof) is killing the team and it really is inexcusable that he came into this season without having worked on it or addressed it at all (the same way I will always be pissed at Big Baby for not coming into this season in better shape)...

With the starters right now we are playing 3 on 5 on offense and that ain't gonna cut it deep in the playoffs...

Rondo is ranked second on the Celtics in defensive AND offensive rating. At least with regards to those who play significant minutes. His lack of shooting is an issue, there is no doubt about that.
The thing is that his PASSING and his ability to convert the shots that he does take at a high percentage really helps this team out a lot.

Did you realize that Rondo actually leads this team in points in the paint? That he leads the team in assists for close shots and dunks by an ENORMOUS margin? He gets about as many of those by himself as the Big Three get put together. Take the Spurs game for example, he had 16 assists - 9 of the 16 were for layups and dunks. We are one of the top, if not the top, teams with regards to inside scoring, and Rondo is the guy who makes that happen. Hell, Rondo IS Garnett's inside game. He hardly gets a close look at the basket that Rondo didn't set him up for. He also happens to be Ray's offensive lifeline. Kind of funny how Ray's "acclimation" to to team just happened to coincide with Rondo's ascendancy.

Then there is his offensive rebounding. His offensive rebounding rate is 5.2 while Kevin Garnett's is 5.5. Rondo is just about as good an offensive rebounder as our All-Star PF who a foot taller than him. Offensive rebounds lead to a lot of easy points.

So saying that we are playing 3 on 5 offense with him in the game is beyond absurd. I could throw plenty of more stuff out there regarding his assists rate (which is on pace to shatter the team record), or his assist to turnover ratio, but why bother? The stuff in the paragraphs above is heavy hitting enough.

I find it very interesting that people just can't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that "Stopping Rondo = Stopping the Celtics" is the natural extension of how GOOD Rondo is, rather than the other way around. Stop K.G.? OK. Stop Ray? We can live with it. Stop Paul? We had a 19 game winning streak where Paul took an oncourt vacation for half of the games.

Stop Rondo?

DEFCON 5!!!! The sky is falling!!!!!

Just look at his season splits. The kid plays great in our wins, on the average, and like crap in our losses. If he is off, we tend to lose. What makes you think that putting someone else out there will make things better? What happens to the Cavs when LBJ plays like crap? They lose. What happens to the Lakers when Kobe plays like crap? They lose. What happens to the Hornets when CP3 plays liek crap? They lose. Well, on this team the guy whose performance most truly dictates our team result is Rondo.... and you evidently think that he HURTS the team. What a joke. Did it ever cross your mind that if we DID NOT have him that then we actually would be screwed?

I think that a lot of this misundertanding stems from the FALSE notion that Rondo was not a good player his rookie season. That Paul, Ray, and K.G. suddenly made a garbage player look like he was decent or good. The reality, which the stats very clearly show, is that Rondo is a VERY important and productive player for this team, and you aren't likely going to find anyone to replace, or come near to replacing, what he does for this team. Especially at the COST. He gets paid 1.3 million dollars to RUN this team. Look at the deal that the Bobcats are willing to do to bring in Tinsley. That is how hard it is to come by a good point guard, and Rondo is ten times the player that Tinsley is.

[humblebum]

GreenDreamer, you are MikefromDNPCD or whatever it was from Celticsblog, correct? Anyways great posts man your "Rondo insights" are always a good read and if your not who I think you are then at the very least you share a likeness with him.

[MyInsatiableOne]

I think a LOT of people don't dig deeper on Rondo's high FG%...most of his shots are around the rim. His shooting from, say, 5ft and further is **** atrocious, I'd bank on it. That's inexcusable for a PG...

[dinoz]

Bill Russell once said that he had trouble shooting because his hands were too big. For guys with huge hands, shooting is like trying to throw a softball through a hoop. Rondo can palm the ball rather easily. It is possible his hands may prevent him form being a point-guard-like shooter.

[MyInsatiableOne]

I have big hands and can palm the ball quite easily and I'm a good jump shooter. Granted I never played a level above high school but I played **** of pick-up ball all the way through grad school and am still a good shooter. So I don't buy the big hand theory...

[GreenDreamer]

GreenDreamer, you are MikefromDNPCD or whatever it was from Celticsblog, correct? Anyways great posts man your "Rondo insights" are always a good read and if your not who I think you are then at the very least you share a likeness with him.

I am one and the same.

[ryaningf]

GreenDreamer, you are MikefromDNPCD or whatever it was from Celticsblog, correct? Anyways great posts man your "Rondo insights" are always a good read and if your not who I think you are then at the very least you share a likeness with him.

I am one and the same.

Welcome to RealGM then. I remember enjoying your posts from the Globe's message board last season. It's good to have you here.

[GreenDreamer]

GreenDreamer, you are MikefromDNPCD or whatever it was from Celticsblog, correct? Anyways great posts man your "Rondo insights" are always a good read and if your not who I think you are then at the very least you share a likeness with him.

I am one and the same.

Welcome to RealGM then. I remember enjoying your posts from the Globe's message board last season. It's good to have you here.

Thanks, Ryan. I've seen some other Globe message board guys bouncing around here, like Kylecleric. Good people... let's just hope that Oldschool and Dudder stay there.

[ryaningf]

.....
Welcome to RealGM then. I remember enjoying your posts from the Globe's message board last season. It's good to have you here.

Thanks, Ryan. I've seen some other Globe message board guys bouncing around here, like Kylecleric. Good people... let's just hope that Oldschool and Dudder stay there.

Yeah, that Globe message board is like the ghetto of message boards--80% flame wars mixed in with a one or two well-reasoned ideas. It made me feel like it was 1995 again, when all message boards were about was flaming.