Rondo is only 28.
Rondo in what people consider a bad season while coming back from major knee surgery still had 12PPG and 10 APG and 1.4 SPG. That's 9.8 APG on a team devoid of great shooters.
I have all the confidence in the world that Rondo will return to his 14/11/5 with 2 steals self.
I have no such confidence that Smart will ever put up numbers like. I really hope he can and I actually project him to be a 18PPG, 8 APG, 5 RPG, 2 SPG type player in a few years. But I need to see him play and prove he can do that before deciding he can replace a player of Rondo's caliber.
I agree, I do too, have full confidence.
Rondo's production13-14: SPLITSPre-AS = 9.8/4.8/7.1 (10g at 27.2 MPG)
Post- AS = 12.6/5.8/11.2 (20g at 36.3 MPG)
*Note: Shooting efficiency seemed to decline after AS break, ironically FT% improved.
Monthly:JAN: 6.7/3.8/5.7
FEB: 15.3/5.1/9.9
MAR: 11.4/5.6/11.1
APR: 12.8/8.3/12.0
**Note: Stats suggest Rondo's production grew stronger as the season prolonged. (
Despite Rondo playing more minutes per game each month and playing more games, in total, after the AS break. (See above AS break Splits)
-If Rondo can improve his production while enduring more games played at a higher playing time rate....this gives
more evidence that Rondo was
positively recovering, healthwise.
12-13: SPLITS38g all Pre-AS at 37.4 MPG = 13.7/5.6/11.1
OCT: 20/7/13 (1 game)
NOV: 12.4/4.4/12.9
DEC: 13.3/5.7/10.1
JAN: 15.1/6.7/9.8
* Note - Games played by month along with MPG stayed roughly the same (36-38 MPG), no significant decline. Efficiency stats also were roughly the same each month, with the exception of maybe a slight decline in Rondo's last month of JAN.
This suggests that even an
injured Rondo was still able to perform productively
without terribly giving up efficiency!
This evidence suggests to me that injury did not have a greater effect on Rondo's efficiency versus the caliber of teammates Rondo had to play alongside. In laymen's terms, it is easier for a player to play efficiently when that player has better caliber teammates to play alongside.
11-12: SPLITSPre-AS: 14.8/4.9/9.5
Post: 9.8/4.8/13.2
Not going to post the monthly breakdown, just mention that each month shows the trend of increasing AST per game, with a decline in scoring + shooting efficiency.
*Note: Rondo's scoring production & shooting efficiency declined after the AS break. Rondo was aware of this by reducing FGAs from nearly 13 pre-AS down to 10 post AS. Rondo's FTA attempts per game also declined, nearly 5 FTA pre-AS versus 2.3 FTA post-AS. This is the type of recognition smart players like Rondo possess. Rondo was aware of this efficiency decline so he reigned in his shot attempts and increased his passing (notice the assists per game increase post-AS).
Celtic coaching staff also seemed to be aware of this too and reduced Rondo's USG% rating from 23.4 (pre-AS) to 18.9 (post-AS). I truly feel, that Rondo played a bigger role in this decline though.
An important point to emphasize is that Rondo had better options to pass the ball to back then, compare to his options last year (13-14) and the now/foreseeable future. This could explain last year's (inaccurate) impression that Rondo would pound the ball for 80-90% of the shot clock or whatever it was, but if Rondo held on to the ball and pounded the ball into the ground every game, how did he manage to improve his AST per game post-AS & each subsequent month?
If Rondo was voluntarily pounding the ball, I have a firm feeling that it was by Rondo's own basketball processing.....that he saw the defense and how they were playing us. And Rondo saw how his own teammates were running the offensive plays or
not running the offensive plays as well as Stevens had drawn up?
Let's keep Rondo, the other young players will need to wait their turn, just as Rondo waited.
It's not that easy to throw the young players to the wolves, so to say. They learn bad habbits or a sense of entitlement.
I saw Toine an Pierce play well as young players, but it was tough for both of them to break the "me me me" - "superstar" attitude and to break bad habbits, chucking too many 3's or difficult long range fadeaways (neither of whom were Larry Bird for Heaven's sake).
I don't want to instill this type of mentality to our young guys. Having a Captain in Rondo's caliber of a player will help them, will help us.
Did Danny hire Stevens to be the "fall guy" like John Carroll (remember him?). I don't believe so.
Give Stevens a legit hand to implement with. Not saying Danny has to give Stevens "pocket Aces" (trading for Ray Ray, Big Ticket), but I mean at least allow Stevens the continued option to play a "King/Ten" or "Queen/Jack" starting hand.
Keep Rondo....allow more time for Sully, Oly & even Jeff Green to be more familiar with playing together & playing for Stevens.
Every recent season just seems like a "do over year" or a restart/reset year. There just hasn't been any sembelence of positive fruitfull continuity.
The only continuity we've experienced is consistent shakeups & injuries. Sully's back, Green's heart, Rondo's knee, Doc's departure, Steven's arrival, former Superstars as teammates & now as opponents.
Keep Rondo.