So… What Happened To Rajon Rondo In Dallas?
Less than five minutes into game two of the Houston-Dallas playoff series, Mavericks point guard Rajon Rondo ambles forward with the ball at the start of a possession. Under no pressure at all, Rockets guard Jason Terry slowly moving backwards about two or three metres in front of him, repeatedly glancing up at the scoreboard like a nervous tick. A whistle blows, eight second violation. Houston rush the restart while Rondo yells at teammates, his coach on the sideline looking dumbstruck. Jason Terry slips free as Rondo and Monta Ellis mix up their coverages and he nails a wide open three pointer.
About 40 seconds later, Rondo was benched. He’d play less than 10 minutes in the whole game, just 34 seconds in the second half. He left the arena without speaking to the media and the next day was ruled out indefinitely with a mysterious back injury.
Embarrassingly I wrote this about the Rondo trade back when it happened. Back in those naïve times of optimism. A “perfect fit” I though then, fair to say that was far from the case. Rondo’s genius for distribution comes at a cost. He’s a terrible shooter, worse than I was willing to admit. Other teams will happily leave him open and guard the lanes to the basket, or take another shooter out of the mix. It more or less killed the Mavs’ spacing and had a big effect on Monta Ellis’ numbers especially, who was coincidentally Rondo’s best bud in the locker room.
Rondo had that famous spat with coach Rick Carlisle earlier in the year. He’s been a tough fit in Carlisle’s system and the two have clashed personalities too. The hope was always that the mythical Playoff Rondo would show up in the postseason but despite flashes in game one, his game two antics (where he immediately got in foul trouble as James Harden dominated him) put an end to those dreams. His shooting is one thing, but with his careless turnovers and lacklustre defensive effort, it got to the point where Raymond Felton was a better option in that game. Ray Freakin’ Felton. The next time you see Rajon Rondo on a pro basketball court, expect him to be wearing purple and gold.
Where did it all go wrong though? Firstly, it’s a not-so-well-kept secret that Rick Carlisle was never all that keen on Rondo from the start. He’s the coach, he had a fair idea how risky the fit might be. But the Mavs were also not gonna win anything with Jameer Nelson. They lost a couple handy bench players in Brandon Wright and Jae Crowder, though not much else. They never really use the draft anyway, Crowder was the last guy of any note that they picked up there, so the picks they gave to Boston weren’t a huge factor. Crowder’s 3&D minutes went to Al-Farouq Aminu (who was Dallas’ best player in game two vs Houston), while Wright was eventually replaced by Amar’e Stoudemire. It wasn’t a huge price to pay, even for a rental, and a worthy gamble to make on Mark Cuban’s part.
Except it wouldn’t be a gamble if it didn’t have a chance to fail. Rondo’s defence had been criticised his last while in Boston, as had his effort levels and his attitude. The fact is now becoming clear that he simply isn’t the player he was before his ACL injury. Whether he gets back to that level or not in the future, he isn’t there now. Not even close. And he’s fallen out with every single coach he’s ever had in the NBA. At some point that’s not a coincidence.
Plus let’s not forget that peak Rondo of the Boston Celtics was surrounded by three of the greatest players to ever play the game in Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. In his four All Star seasons in Boston, from 2009-10 to 2012-13, he averaged 12.4 points, 10.8 assists and 4.7 rebounds a game. He shot 48% from the field, 22.8% from 3pt and 60.8% from FT. Even at his best he was a shooting liability. You cannot deny Rondo’s many transcendent moments, like the time he dominated LeBron James in LBJ’s last playoff series in his first stint in Cleveland. You also have to wonder if maybe – even at age 29 – those days might be behind him.
I’m not quite ready to go that far. The dude’s got plenty of time to reinvent himself somewhere else, it just probably needs to be somewhere where he can call plays and be a leader, as opposed to trying to slip into a veteran-stacked Mavericks side already established in how they like to play. If you didn’t catch the hint 450 words ago, Rondo’s a 90% chance to play for the Lakers next season. They, like the Knicks who’ll also be sniffing around, enjoy themselves an old fashioned offensive vehicle and they’ll gladly offer Rajon the keys. Although in the last six months he’s blown his chances at a max deal.
Anonymous sources say that Rondo hurt his back a few days ago and thought he could play through it. Then he tweaked it again guarding Harden. That seems mightily convenient.
We all know what this is, it’s a mutual severing of the ties. Rondo was brought in with the knowledge that he’d bring a hit to a flowing, record-paced offence, though his defence was meant to balance that out. A worthy gamble, it just didn’t work - Cuban put his money on red and it came up black. In two games against Houston, Dallas has been absolutely slaughtered with Rondo on the court and with their season now hanging by a thread, there’s no more time to make it work.
Best to just cash out and go home.