It's pretty crazy to me that half a season of .500 ball and a 5 game winning streak has turned so many fans against Rondo.
I will say I'm for trading him now, only because of his injury. But give me a healthy Rondo any day of the week and twice on Tuesday.
It's not the record that leads people to making these comments - it's the physical act of watching the games and seeing the team's interactions on the court.
Our defense has been outstanding (top 3 on the league if I recall) and there are statistics to prove that we are a better defensive team when Rondo is not on the court.
There are also statistics that show we aren't really any better offensively when Rondo is on the court, ultimately we are about the same.
So, when you put two and two together you get similar points scores, but less points allows - that means we are outscoring our opponents by more.
Next there is the fact that the overall spread of the scoring is more even. Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, Leandro Barbosa and Jeff Green are all scoring more now that Rondo isn't there, and that gives us a ballanced attack. It's harder to defend a team with multiple scoring threats then it is to defend a team with one or two scoring threats. If Rondo was an elite (i.e. 25 PPG) scorer on a consistent basis, then it would take scoring load off Pierce and KG and it probably wouldn't matter about the other guys...but Rondo scores about 15 PPG at his best, which means Pierce and KG still need to be the ones pulling all the load. If you have 4 or 5 guys scoring points each time (and 35-50 points from your bench) then those vets don't need to score quite so much.
Pierce had what, 12 points today? KG had abou 27, but then he had a quiet game a few back.
Everybody here knows Rondo is an elite talent, nobody is disputing that at all. What we are arguing is plain and simple - does this
team actually play better with Rondo than without him over a full 82 game season?
Yes he is dominant in the playoffs and in the occasional big regular season game, we all know that. But in all those other games when we get regular Rondo instead of super-human Rondo, is his presence benefitial to us?
Honestly I think he is an elite player, but I think his play has genuinely hurt us a little this season, made it difficult for the team to be consistent and dominant. I don't think that's all his fault.
I think we rely on him too much for example, and I think that hurts the other players on the team.
I also think he uses too much energy on offense, which I think hurts his ability to play solid defense.
I also think we play him too many minutes and should keep him down around the 32 to 35 minute mark - this would ensure that he has the energy to be 'playoff Rondo' all the time. I think it's hard to do that if you're playing close to 40 minutes per game.
I love Rondo, but I think the way he has played this year he has held back the team, and again I don't entirely blame that on him...but I do think some of it is on him.