snippet from this thing:
Rajon Rondo’s agent says his client isn’t listening to the wayward words of those who believe the Celtics will actually be a better team in the long run without their All-Star point guard. But the representative knows what’s being discussed by some of the team’s followers, and he dismissed such talk decisively yesterday.
“I don’t really have a reaction to that,” said Bill Duffy. “But if those people think they can win a championship without him, I think that’s shortsighted.
“I mean, this is the regular season. This guy’s a playoffs superstar. So I think you can take a lot of what happens in the regular season with a grain of salt.”
I don't like this because if the agent is saying this it almost makes me feel like RR is saying this. It's like saying the Celtics are nothing without Rondo. It's rubbed me the wrong way and I kinda hope we win it all without him now.
I've never necessarily been a RR basher but at what point is EVERYONE going to be realistic. We won a championship in 2008 with rondo playing pretty regularly. His averages aren't anything to crazy about. Maybe a couple great games...but are you all really saying we don't have the talent on our bench? They can't find something dip within them?
And at what point are these regular season wins going to MEAN something? I just hate that notion. If we go 10-0 or even 15-0, we will still be saying it doesn't mean anything?
Why is the realism for Rondo so totally skewed and overrated? He's a great ball player and I hope he can adapt to this system we have. He has ONE ring when he avged 10.2pts/4.1rebs/6.6assists on 40.7% shooting in 32 minutes. Really?
http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2013/02/rondo_agent%E2%80%99s_not_sold_new_celtics
The bolded part is a good point, BUT - if one looked closely in that clinching game 6 vs LA in 07-08, Rajon Rondo flirted with a QUADRUPLE double in that game - 21 pts, 7 rebs, 8 assists, SIX STEALS, only 1 TO. Perhaps the one bad was 8-20 shooting, but everything else points to, to me at least, a VERY under-rated performance.
We had KG, Ray and Paul and those three were still very close to their primes, so I can understand a bit why Rondo's performance could be overlooked.
As for his agent? Well, I'd say he's doing what any good agent would do - protecting his client.
My observation in regards to the win streak w/without Rondo? It should be looked at both ways, here - Rajon Rondo DOES dominate a the ball A BIT...as a maturing player, I'd hope he realizes this and perhaps consult with Doc, KG and Paul and continue to become a better player.
But we must NOT blind ourselves, here...my opinion is that - based off of how we've played since Rondo got hurt - there IS an extremely small shot at getting to June 2013 without him...part of that is my Green Koolaid I drink often, and another part is the fact that the team IS playing VERY WELL right now...beating MIA, Lakers (still a dangerous team), a revamped and better TOR in TOR, plus I think we've gotten sharper defensively.
Having Rajon Rondo opens that window up a bit for us.
He WILL be missed dearly...."How" much is dependent upon how this team continues to play without him and how much they "want" it.
We DO, IMO - Need Rajon Rondo going forward. The only player I'd perhaps trade him for is Chris Paul.
He is - IMO - "That" good.