Rajon Rondo an All-Star

[rambo_ortega]

He looks like a legit all-star. He has carried this team in this current stretch and has played well against top guards in the recent games. Look at his numbers http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/players/p ... yerId=3026

did anyone ever imagine him averaging 8.5 apg and 1.9spg together with 12ppg this season? what progress. he's actually in chris paul's league being in the top 5 both in assists and steals average.

If he continues to play at this level when everyone gets healthy, we are raising #18.

[Bleeding Green]

Just 22 years old, too. I find it remarkable he's able to score so efficiently with such an ugly array of jumpers and floaters. If I were forced to pick a point guard I'd want for the next five years, Chris Paul is the only one I'd take over Rondo.

[handlethetruth]

The sky is the limit for him. Its insane to think how good he is going to be in 2 to 3 years, let alone five years. I am excited to see his progress as the years go on. I hope he is a celtic for life.

[Joekickass2008]

Just 22 years old, too. I find it remarkable he's able to score so efficiently with such an ugly array of jumpers and floaters. If I were forced to pick a point guard I'd want for the next five years, Chris Paul is the only one I'd take over Rondo.

Really like Rondo...he is a good player ina great line up......I'd take Paul, Rose before him.....eben Mayo could be ahead of him in terms of the next five years....but ur right, after that it gets slim...taking into account that Baron and Co are aging.

[Bleeding Green]

Mayo is a point guard? Maybe Rose will be better, but I don't think so.

There are plenty of good point guards in the league right now. Williams, Calderon, Harris, Parker, Billups, Nash, Miller. I don't think it's long before Russ Westbrook is awesome, either. But he might not be a point guard.

I put him in with Williams, Harris and Parker. I don't know who's best after Paul, but it's one of these four. And Rondo is the youngest, and has seemingly the most room for improvement.

[Cyclical]

I was going to post a "props to Rondo" thread but this will do. The kid is amazing. Who thought that in his 3rd year in the league, this relatively low draft pick who was passed on by the Suns would be:
5th in assists
5th in steals
4th best in AST/TO ratio
3rd best rebounding PG
3rd best FG% among PGs
a triple-double threat
a leader
a hard worker who's improved every single facet of his game.


Ridiculous. We're lucky to have him.

[Hemingway]

I wouldn't call his array of shots and floaters ugly. Maybe the shots, but Rondos floaters are amazing. When he gets in the paint or close to the basket, he makes opposing teams pay if they don't leave there man to stop him. Once he penetrates opposing teams are in real trouble. If they don't swarm on Rondo he scores if they do he gets the assist to KG or Perk or whomever.

[UGA Hayes]

Before this year Rondo's assists numbers were amazingly decieving. I'm still not sure how they were as low as they were last year given how pass minded he is.

[SuigintouEV]

Before this year Rondo's assists numbers were amazingly decieving. I'm still not sure how they were as low as they were last year given how pass minded he is.

he never really dominated the ball, I guess.

[3pt %]

Rondo's shot put floater is perhaps the ugliest efficient shot going at the moment.

[Mahoney_jr]

Before this season he hinted that he worked on his penetration and his finishing. That showed He's now a legit option and therefore is able to control the ball for longer periods, which causes higher assist numbers.

[Kefa461]

Just win and everything else will work its self out.....

[GreenDreamer]

I was looking at Kidd's numbers from his early years, and it actually turns out that Rondo's numbers from this season pretty fairly match up with Kidd's numbers when they were the same age. I'm not saying that Rondo's just in Kidd's neighborhood either, but that Rajon is about as close a match as you could find. Better in some areas as worse in others, but very similar overall.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... dja01.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ora01.html

Kidd had "big numbers" playing on a bad Mavs team in his second season, but it doesn't take a genius to see that he really just got to dominate the ball a ton, and wasn't all that good. He was much better a couple of years later with "lesser" numbers. I find it interesting, though, that when he played on a team with a lot of talent in his third and fourth seasons that his numbers matched up very well with Rondo, even though Kidd was a year older than Rondo when he came into the league.

I know that people have made Kidd comparisons to Rondo before, and I really didn't put too much into that. I actually thought that Rondo had more in common with Tony Parker, and with regards to his scoring game he still does. It is very intriguing to me, though, that Rondo does bear such a close resemblance to Kidd statistically. Not Kidd in his prime, but the younger Jason. Case in point, Kidd didn't put up a better PER than Rondo is this season until he was 25 years old. Rondo just turned 23.

When I think of Kidd I think of a guy who was the ultimate wheel greaser type of player. The kid of player who focused his game on playmaking and defense, and enabled others to score points more efficiently. It isn't just a matter of skill sets, it is a matter of mentality. Kidd really doesn't care if he scores a lot of points, and neither does Rondo. Rondo, like KIdd, is concerened with other areas of the game. He LIKES playing that way, as does Jason.

There are some who have the mistaken attitude that Rondo is a product of the Big Three. I think that misses the mark by a lot. Personally I think they need him a hell of a lot more than he needs them. That isn't to say that they are inconsequential to the team's success, or that Rondo is better than them. I'm strictly talking about Rondo's game. He is a low volume, high efficiency scorer, and was that way in college, and was that as a starter in his rookie season. The Big Three help him get baskets, but he would still be a hiogh FG% guy if he was surrounded just by lower level guys who could shoot. What they do is give him good targets to pass to, but even then I think that only Ray and K.G. have an effect on Rondo's assists. I'd be willing to bet that Rondo has far more assists to Perk this season than he does to Pierce. In fact, Paul probably greatly reduces Rondo's assist numbers due to his need to have the ball in his hands to be effective, and his unwillingness to shoot on the catch. That isn't to say that Rondo doesn't help Paul, because I have found that Paul really needs Rondo to get him the ball in the spots that he likes to work from to be at his most efficient. Paul certainly helps Rondo with the attention that he attracts, and the Rondo/Pierce pick and roll is one of our most effective plays. I'm strictly talking about "numbers" here.

The whole "The Big Three needing Rondo" thing is most conclusively displayed in the following stats.

http://www.82games.com/0809/COM1S3.HTM

http://www.82games.com/0809/CSORT3.HTM

I don't know about you, but Rondo having an almost identical plus/minus, vs. the top third of the league, to LeBron James certainly means something to me. That he leads the team, by a healthy margin, in plus/minus vs both the top 3rd in the league, and in "clutch" plus/minus also means a lot to me. The kid is not just some sidekick to these guys, he is really important to this team being a winner. AT LEAST as important. Bad things happen when he's off the court, especially when we play the best teams.

I think that the mind block with Rondo and people actually giving him the respect that he deserves is that there was an ignorant misconception that he was "trash" before the Garnett and Allen arrived. That was most certainly not the case. I think that those guys have helped to accelerate his development as a player, and have been good role models and mentors for him, but Rondo was a very talented and effective player before he ever played a minute with them. Quite frankly I think that he's a basketball whiz, and has the highest BBIQ on the team by far. The only one who is even in his zip code when it comes to an inherent understanding of the game is Garnett. He's just an older, more experienced basketball whiz, while Rondo is young and still learning. The kid is a great athlete, but it is his mind which is his greatest weapon. That is an area where he and Kidd have A LOT in common.

[campybatman]

Actually, Rondo's twenty-three years old.

I think Rondo's the most important player on this team other than Garnett. Boston has shown this season that they're still a capable team without one. But, if both are out... They'll struggle mightily.

Pierce is always an important piece to this team's success. However, you want to have Rondo and Garnett healthy entering the playoffs.

Scalabrine, Powe and Davis have played admirable in Garnett's absence, albeit inconsistently at times. You would like to see Marbury turn the corner sooner than later in order to add that different dimension off the bench backing up Rondo. But, I'm willing to give him some slack. I expect better things from him in April. If not, I would be concern with the playoffs forthcoming.

I've said it recently, and I'll say it again. I believe Rondo and Harris will run the eastern conference in the foreseeable future. So, I've to believe too that he'll get his All-Star nod eventually. Perhaps, as soon as next season. And I do feel it won't be his last.

Other young point guards who'll further distance themselves from the rest of the pack are Rose, Calderon and Stuckey. And Chalmers might be another one to keep an eye on as well.