my thoughts - and I preface this by saying Rondo is a great player one of the handful best play makers in the NBA but he is not going to make this team much better than it is right now. First, he is coming off a knee injury, look at what's going on with Rose in Chicago? There is a reason people say it takes a year of playing before you get back to the level you were at before the injury. 2nd he was surrounded by two sometimes three HOF's who were great shooters. He doesn't have any of that now. Too think that Rondo is going to come back after taking 10-12 months off from playing professional basketball and be the same guy is just unrealistic and unfair.
On the other hand, Rondo is eager to play, playing 3 on 3 for example without being cleared by the doctors, while Rose was afraid to even practice even after getting the go ahead by the doctors...
Different set of circumstances, injury, mental make-up, and players.
Rose was afraid to practice? I haven't seen that anywhere.
I will say that Chicago's medical staff and front office have given a few reasons why they're not to be trusted in regards to their injury clearance.
Rondo will be back when he comes back. He will make the team better by virtue of being on the floor, and I suspect he'll be back in playing shape and playing at a high level by the time the 2013 season is in the books.
I don't believe that we can win a title or seriously contend in the playoffs when our best players are Rondo and Jeff Green.
As for making the playoffs--it really depends on when he comes back and how the rest of the team plays for the duration of his absence. If we're still hovering around .500 after the All-Star Break and the trade deadline, it's certainly possible that we sneak in to one of the lower seeds--playing .500 ball got us in to the 7th seed last year, after all.