I thought we won in spite of him.
That's just not true, and I think you know it.
When Rondo plays well, the Celtics play well, and that's the way it was all last season. Being the pure point guard that he is, he is an expert at controlling the pace of the game, and getting others involved. And don't underrate what controlling the pace of the game, one of Rondo's best skills, can do for a team. This year, many of Rondo's problems appear to be mental:
- Not confident enough finishing on his drives
- Not confident enough taking his jumper
- Gambling too much on defense
But keep in mind that Rondo is most likely hampered by his injury right now, and that could be the cause of most of his problems, mental and physical.
The way people treat Rondo on this blog is riduclous. There seems to be a group of people who love this kid, and a group that's very anti-Rondo. Whether that's actually true or not, all I know is that when Rondo is playing well, people act like he's the best point guard in the league, and when he's not, people are practically ready to bring back Marcus Banks and Orion Greene to replace him. Steve Weinman made a good point - don't forget that he's only 22 years old! Let's try not to get too emotional about this, whether you like Rondo or not, and remember that there's still a lot of time for him to mature into the point guard that we all think he can be. For a guy who's only playing his second full year in the NBA, he's pretty [dang] good.