I don't think Rondo's an alpha, not really.
Here's the thing, its the same reason I got Boogie from the beginning. Same thing I think goes on with Rondo:
An alpha, by definition, needs to dominate. Seeks to dominate. To be top dog. To lead and others follow. Two alphas together butt heads because there can only be one leader.
A beta on the other hand is willing to follow, may almost be relieved when an alpha is around to take on those duties.
And then there is us. And by that I mean people like me, people like Boogie and quite possibly from the description people like Rondo. Call us gammas. And what sets us gammas apart is this: we absolutely ferociously will take no crap from anyone. We respect nobody as our superiors, will follow nobody at all unless they beg us on bended knee. We are ornery and hard to deal with. We clash with alphas almost as hard as alphas clash with alphas, because alphas seek to impose their will, and we refuse to be imposed upon. But the difference between a gamma and an alpha is that we don't have the alphas drive to dominate others. We aren't glory hounds. We refuse to be dominated, but we don't need to dominate in return. And hence as long as people leave us alone, we're much easier to get along with than alphas. You stay in your lane, and we've got no problem with you.
That has always been my read on Boogie. Something I understood well. Kobe is an alpha. Boogie is a gamma. Westphal and his team made the mistake of trying to teach Boogie a lesson. Gammas don't take that well. We have problems with authority. We demand respect. Smart was just a weak leader. Malone got the formula right. He was a friend, an ally. He showed Boogie respect, said let's do this together. That's how you reach a gamma. And that is what I think Rondo may be. These stories of his wild spitting resistance to alpha types telling him what to do...but what I have never heard stories of him going around seeking to tell other guys what to do. Of me me meing. I think Rondo is a gamma. he wants to be left alone to do his thing, which like all gammas he absolutely fundamnetally believes is the right thing. But he's got no need to impose his will on anybody else. He's just not going to let you impose yours on him. And the good news is two gammas can work together. Neither one feels the need to try to boss the other around, they should in fact have some understanding of what it means to be surly and independent. I don't forsee Boogie and Rondo clashing, because why would they? I guess only if one of them saw the other as undermining the team's success, otherwise, no. But the trick is George Karl. He's more alpha than anything else, and is he going to have the brains to swallow his alpha pride with those two? Because you can approach a gamma, you can earn their loyalty. But you have to do it as an equal. I have no idea at all if George can suck down his pride enough to sidle up to them like that, or at least to back off and just let them be their own men.
