Posted by Kevin Arnovitz
Rajon Rondo - 2009 All-Star? Call it an insurgent campaign, but the platform for Rondo, the Boston Celtics' third-year point guard, has a lot of appeal. The pro-Rondo camp puts forward an impressive case. How many 6' 1" point guards hit more than 52 percent from the floor? How many average nearly 5 rebounds per game? [Answer: Two. Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo] Rondo has seen his assist rate skyrocket, and his FT/game number increase at a 50% clip.
Naysayers dismiss Rondo as the basketball equivalent of the #6 hitter with inflated RBI numbers because he's batting behind a couple of on-base machines. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen are always in scoring position, so why the fuss over a guy who's more of a facilitator than a playmaker?
The numeric résumé and rebuttals aside, what else does candidate Rondo bring to the argument? Let's take a look at his point guard qualifications against a struggling Washington squad Thursday night. Rondo's primary matchup is Washington's Juan Dixon.
• Drive and Kick: Rondo sparks the drive-and-kick offense, just one facet of Boston's versatile arsenal. He does it by controlling the "T" area of the halfcourt composed of the paint and the baseline. At the 10:41 mark of the first quarter, he blows by Juan Dixon with a left-handed drive along the far side of the lane. As he's met by Jamison down low, he swings a baseline pass to Ray Allen in the left corner. Allen flirts with the shot, but Deshawn Stevenson closes quickly [a nanosecond later, and Allen has his first three-point FG of the night], and Allen dishes it off. Ultimately, the Celtics convert on a Garnett tip-in, largely because the Wizards' defense never recovers after the Rondo blowby. At 7:15, Rondo initiates a similar set, penetrating into the lane with the help of a high Paul Pierce screen. He drives all the way to the rack before swinging a baseline pass to Allen, who nails the three - and one. There's a beautiful play at the 1:40 mark of the first where Rondo, like a back in an "I" formation, gets a running start from up top. He takes a little snap pass from Pierce, then glides with a show-and-go motion through the lane in traffic, wrapping the ball across his body to hit Perkins beautifully underneath.
Rajon Rondo: Is this man an All-Star?
(Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) |
• Know Where Your Shooters Are: Even Rondo's supporters concede that he's no more than the fourth or fifth option in the Celtics' offense. That being the case, Rondo's primary function is to distribute. By and large, Rondo's primary spot-up target, Ray Allen, will have only split-second windows when he's legitimately open. To be in a position to capitalize on these snapshot opportunities, Rondo must have a strong intuition of where Allen is on the court at every moment. Rondo demonstrates this at 5:45 in the second quarter when he knocks the ball away from Nick Young, then stumbles into transition without full control of the ball. Once he picks up possession, Rondo gathers himself, then begins his drive toward the hole. The Washington defense isn't set. As he reaches the paint, Rondo sees in his periphery Ray Allen spotting up alone beyond the arc on the weak side. Rondo threads the needle through two Washington defenders with a perfect bounce pass. Allen misses the shot, but if the Celtics replicate that sequence 10 times, they come away with 21 points. A couple of minutes later at the 3:05 mark of the second quarter, Rondo finds Allen in a much more structured set. Rondo dribbles up top with Allen to his right. Allen takes a full lap, curling around a Garnett baseline screen, landing at a spot on the perimeter to Rondo's left. Rondo's pass is perfectly timed. He hits Allen in motion so that Allen never has to break stride from the moment he clears the screen to the moment he lays the ball in. Hitting a guard coming off a screen seems simple, but a less precise feed breaks the flow of the play. Allen might have to slow up to receive the ball, allowing the lock-and-trail defender to catch up to him. The pass might be too high, denying Allen the angle for that easy drive. It might be too early, which would let Caron Butler, the nearby help defender, to step out on Allen. With Rondo, Boston rarely sacrifices precision.
• Feed Your Bigs: Just before halftime at 0:58 in the second period, Rondo has the ball up top. Garnett wants to set up at the left elbow, but Caron Butler decides to play in front of KG. There's instant recognition on the part of both Rondo and Garnett. Rondo leads KG with a perfect lob pass over the top of the defense. Garnett grabs the lob pass with two hands, puts it on the floor once, then goes up for a lay-in, plus one.
• Don't Take Any Bad Shots: Rondo takes seven shots in 24 minutes of action. Five of the seven are in the paint; the pair of 19-footers are wide-open looks he has to take to keep the defense honest. He goes one for two on the long shots, and three for five on the close-range shots. One of Rondo's makes comes on a zippy coast-to-coast drive in transition just before the four minute mark in the first quarter. He splits a pair of Washington defenders at the foul line before elevating for a reverse layup. On a couple of occasions, Rondo fails to finish at the rim. At 3:46 in the first, he comes up short on a scoop layup after weaving through the Wizards' defense in transition. Then again just before halftime, he barely misses the finish on a break after beating the backpedaling Wizards transition defense. He leaves his feet a little too early. Rondo has improved greatly finishing around the basket since his rookie season...and he'll improve some more.
• Move Off the Ball: In their second possession of the second half, the Celtics work the ball around, and ultimately go into Garnett in the post off the right block against JaVale McGee. Garnett drives left, drawing Dixon off Rondo, who stands at the top of the key. The second Dixon commits, Rondo dives to the hole, where Garnett finds him for the easy layup. A few possessions later at the 9:10 mark, the Celtics are in transition. Pierce rushes the ball upcourt. When Rondo recognizes that Dixon got caught guarding the ball on the break, he immediately cuts to the hoop. There's instant recognition by Pierce, and Rondo gets another easy two. Rondo has the benefit of working with the best passing forward tandem in the league. He also shares the floor with guys who constantly demand double-teams. Still, Rondo displays a knack for finding space on the floor -- usually a spot a help defender has vacated -- where Garnett and Pierce can find him for an open look.
• Protect the Basketball: 24 minutes, zero turns tonight, though one item for Rondo's to-do list is to nudge his turnover ratio of 12 down closer to 10.
Defensively, Rondo applies his usual pressure, and collects three steals. At times, he disrupts Dixon [1st, 9:00] and forces a turnover. At other times, he overplays Dixon out on the perimeter, and gets beat [3rd, 10:53]. Rondo plays only 24 minutes, and we don't get to see him defend the pick and roll -- something he does exceptionally well -- because Washington doesn't run screens with Dixon as the ballhandler all that frequently.
The casual fan may be dimly aware that Rajon Rondo is a championship point guard. There are a bunch of Eastern Conference guards with superior statistics - though only Devin Harris has a higher PER at the point. Cynics might argue that Rondo is the lucky beneficiary of three hall-of-fame teammates. But it's impossible to offer any serious appraisal of his team's success without recognizing that Rajon Rondo makes the Boston Celtics a more efficient team on both ends of the floor. Whether that means Rajon Rondo is an All-Star really depends on how you define your criteria.
