Grin&MartyBarret said:
It's worth mentioning a couple of things: First, those big 3 teams never finished in the top half of the league in points per 100 possessions, and second, the year that Rondo tore his ACL, the C's offense improved substantially post-injury.
There's always a tendency to ascribe Rondo with the ability to run an offense well because he does traditional point guard things, but he's never actually been part of a really good offense, and one of those offenses improved when he was injured.
Ultimately, the conclusion seems to be that Rondo isnt a max player worth building around, but because of his unique skill set, you have to build a particular sort of team around him to be successful. Thats a pretty odd combination, and I dont think ot bodes well for his next contract or the C's trade prospects.
These are valid points, but I've got 3 counter points.
1) From an offensive efficiency standpoint, during the Big 3 era there has almost always been a significant gap between our defensive rebounding and offensive rebounding. While Tibs was here, it seemed the philosophy was to protect the rim, which meant getting back on defense which meant not putting too much effort into offensive rebounding. During this era we were also great on defense and I really wonder how much practice time they devoted to offense, I genuinely wonder if this was an organizational philosophy thing. A table is below with the rankings. Now this wouldnt skyrocket their offensive efficiency numbers but it would certainly help.
2) Rondo has never (and Brick's going to chime in that he has walked the ball up in recent years) but he has never been on a team where the goal was to run. I dont think this was ever a goal for the Big3 years, and I'll argue that this would be the best way to showcase Rondo's best skill which is his speed. Having said that, I really cant say how much interest Rondo has in actually doing this.
3) There are the total offensive numbers, and there is the 'taking over of games'. On the whole Rondo might not lead the most efficient team ever, but there is no doubt (in my mind) that he has the ability to take over games and thats a skill that is very rare in the league. This brings up the issue of Rondo turning it on and off, which is value.
Overall, what I am getting at is I think there is a guy who in the right circumstances could justify a max contract. However, those circumstances seem to be so unique that the chances of him really justifying a max deal are probably like 10% at best. And thats what brings up this debate, that somewhere in there a max guy does exist and we have seen some flashes but only in flashes.
I dont want to give Rondo a max deal, absolutely not. But for the reasons I mentioned, I can totally see a team who cant really attract free agents give him one because there is at least a debate on this and while it might be an overpay its still justifiable for them because they have no chance of attracting a 'real' max guy.
[tablegrid= Rebounding ]
| Def Rebound Rank | Off Rebound Rank |
| 2008 | 23 | 9 |
| 2009 | 21 | 7 |
| 2010 | 30 | 25 |
| 2011 | 30 | 13 |
| 2012 | 30 | 15 |
| 2013 | 30 | 13 |
[/tablegrid]
