The points of view on Rondo are in my opinion accurate and defensible but definitely on the negative end of the range of what could be considered as reality. It has only been one game but in that game, statistically, Rondo was about the same as he was here this season (and against the Spurs bench which no matter how you slice it is a pretty bad team by NBA standards). I did not see the game but saw comments that he was playing more aggressive defense.
I also found the comments about Nelson interesting. He was playing about 24 min and mostly just taking 3Pg shots (hitting I think around 37%). That is a pretty limited role for Nelson. He certainly has done more in the past but maybe that was the right role for him on that team. It is certainly not a role that Rondo can assume though.
I guess my point is that if they had Nelson sitting in the corner staying out of the way because that was all they felt he could contribute, then Rondo can expand the role. If they had him doing that because it was what was needed to give space to Ellis and Dirk, Rondo isn't going to be able to do that.
Based on that one game... Rondo was similar to his production in Boston... Dallas' offense was worse and less efficient. Basing anything on one game is silly, but based on that one game alone, so far all the points made in this article are accurate.
That game, although played against a depleted roster, was (from what I've heard) the first game Dallas has won against a WC team that made the playoffs last year. That's probably much more the reason they made the trade than trying to improve their regular season offense.
Jury is out whether or not Rondo is going to help them beat the better teams. Obviously last night didn't count. The champ's top 8 guys didn't play. That's like a team beating the Celtics right now and claiming they just beat the 2008 Champs.
Nice try, but it still counts, and for the record, the Dallas commentators said that that was the first time since 2012 that Dallas had beaten the Spurs in the regular season, during which time I'm sure that Pop rested his guys. Despite this, however, the Mavs were a tougher out than the Heat for the Spurs last year. Dallas had them. San Antonio was very lucky, in spite of their depth, which is pretty much equaled by the reserves of the Mavericks, and that's historically been a bad match up for the Spurs because of the problems posed by Dirk. Of course, he can't guard Duncan, either, so, yeah, haha.