You make some fair points, and I know switching isn't ridiculous but it was happening all too often last season. The constant PG switching is what got me, it seemed like the players didn't fight through them because the coaching staff just told them too switch.
As far as Rondo's effort in Boston I can't really comment. I will certainly take your word for though. If it is indeed a problem of being lazy then that is something to consider for sure.
At this point though, who are you going to get that is better than Rondo? Conley would be an upgrade but aside from that I don't see too many players likely to come here.
Indeed. Our PG's and Willie looked like they were switching on purpose all the time. Is this a coaching thing or the players not executing properly? We all don't know it for sure. One thing I remember was Karl mentioning, that his players didn't switch the way he wanted them to switch. Maybe a hint - maybe not.
So there is a chance that Rondo's defense will improve with a new coach. I won't doubt that.
Is there a chance, that he will become an aggressive defensive player again, giving effort all the time and leading our perimeter D? I highly doubt that.
And because we have no Tony Allen or Avery Bradley and we most likely won't aquire a player similar to that, this is exactly what Rondo needs to become in order for us to make the Playoffs.
Rondo is a special player, meaning that with Rondo you play "Rondo-Ball".
But "Rondo-Ball" means him dominating every possession, it means the ball stuck in one place, while a play develops.
I personally admired Rondo's style of play for a very long time. But last season changed my mind a bit. I personally think, that it's easier to create good looks for teammates when the ball moves. The whole Bellinelli curling of screens thing reminded me a lot of the way the Celtics used Allen. Now when you have an elite shooter coming of a screen and letting it go off balance it might be a good shot. For the likes of Bellinelli or McLemore it certainly wasn't a good shot.
Our offense once forced into the halfcourt was uninspiring and looked not terribly effective the moment Cousins had a tough matchup.
Of course not everything is Rondo's fault, but I think he certainly played his part in this.
Now we all agree, that with an elite defense you can overcome offensive shortcomings. So all comes down to the question, if Rondo can be part of an elite defense again and if Rondo is good enough as a player to try to hide him on the defensive end.
I doubt that and I think all the stats are a bit misleading on this point. I mean a PG like Rondo, who grabs a lot of defensive rebounds, most of them uncontested, to push the pace is a great thing, but this will also bolster any stat based on his box score. Is he a better defender because of that? I don't think so. A guy like Rondo, who plays his majority of his minutes with the starting 5 has plenty of help on the defensive end. Is he a better individual defender, because his teammates back him up a lot? I don't think so.
I want to see Rondo pressuring the ballhandler. I want to see him down in a good defensive stance. I want him to fight through screens. Because that's what good perimeter defense is.
It basically looks like this:
or this
When anyone can convince me, that Rondo can play defense like this, I will be all for resigning this guy.
With the way he played last season, I'm worried to see the Kings hand out a big paycheck to Rajon Rondo.
But ultimately I agree - we don't have many options other than resigning Rondo. And Rondo certainly isn't a bad player. I just fear his flaws are too much to overcome for the Kings.
