Why Rondo believes he's the Best Point Guard in the NBA

Ah yes, EGO, the intoxicating fuel of professional athletes.


http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2012/10/10/irish-coffee-celtics-rajon-rondo-offers-insight-into-why-he-believes-hes-nbas-best-point-guard/#more-44517



After Rajon Rondo proclaimed himself the NBA’s best
point guard over the summer, the Celtics All-Star has been asked to
clarify at some point during almost every interview he’s conducted
since, except there’s no clarification.

He believes it, and he hasn’t backed down from it, as evidenced once again in Steve DeOssie‘s cover story for Boston Common magazine. While most people not named Rondo readily admitted they’d take Chris Paul over him a year ago — and maybe even Derrick Rose, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook,
too — the C’s floor general certainly closed the gap during the
playoffs. In fact, he might have eliminated the gap completely.

After all, Rondo led the league in assists by a full dime over Steve Nash last season and averaged almost three more assists than any other point guard in the postseason. Few outside of Magic Johnson
could replicate Rondo’s 44 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat. There’s more
to Rondo than meets the eye, and that’s what he believes separates him
from the pack.

In DeOssie’s piece, Rondo not only reiterates his claim to the throne, but he clarifies exactly why he thinks so:



Rajon Rondo

• “In some areas some guys might be better than me, but overall, if you lay it all out, I think I am the best.”
  
• “It’s always the whole package. Some fans look at a point guard and
  say he had 26 points, seven assists, and eight rebounds, and they’ll say
  he had a great game. But there is a lot of talent in the NBA, and
  eventually that talent catches up with you. The mental game is where
  it’s at. I would say the game is 80 percent mental and 20 percent
  physical, for me at least. What separates great players from good ones
  is performing consistently. I can dominate the game in any number of
  ways, not just with the numbers.”
  
• “My definition of what a good point guard is might be different from what some others might think. I’ll give you an example: If Doc Rivers
  gets thrown out, I can run the team for the rest of the game. I know
  what plays to call, what sets to call, or when to call timeouts. It’s
  more than keeping track of the score. There is so much more going on
  that you take for granted on any given night, and there are only so many
  guys who can run a team when you don’t have a coach. In that category I
  think I am the best at what I do.”
  
• “The Celtics and their fans don’t just want X number of wins and
  playoffs. We all want championships … and the banners prove that. For me
  it’s a good thing. There is a lot more pressure in Boston to win than
  there is almost anywhere else. I love it. I feed off of it.”
  

bob




.

On the nights that he shows up to play hard, I agree with him.

If you took the 5 best games of the season statistically for every PG in the NBA, Rondo's 5 would be the most impressive. He has better balance in his game and understand that the PG's job is to (as Paul Pierce likes to say) give the game what it needs.

If Rondo wants to take the next step in his progression, he needs to show up 82 times a season - like KG does. I think he is ready for the challenge this season.

Bob Cousy said, "I always wanted to be the best. It wasn't enough to be very good. I wanted to be the best."

It's one more thing they have in common.

Talking about all the hall-of-fame guards in the Cousy/Russell era, there was the transcendant moment in Cousy's final game when he sprained his ankle with a few minutes left and the Cs in the lead. That lead quickly evaporated, so Cooz came back in and steadied the team to win the championship. If Rondo can top that, he has my vote.

rickdavisakaspike wrote:

Bob Cousy said, "I always wanted to be the best. It wasn't enough to be very good. I wanted to be the best."

It's one more thing they have in common.

Talking about all the hall-of-fame guards in the Cousy/Russell era, there was the transcendant moment in Cousy's final game when he sprained his ankle with a few minutes left and the Cs in the lead. That lead quickly evaporated, so Cooz came back in and steadied the team to win the championship. If Rondo can top that, he has my vote.

spike,

We didn't win, but you do remember the Miami series where DWade took Rondo down and blew out his elbow and Rondo came in and played with one arm?


bob


.

No question Rondo has grande cojones, physical and mental. It's also fairly certain that he has more balls than brains.

Regrettably, what he's saying could be interpreted as kicking sand in the face of Rose and Paul and Nash and a whole leagueful of top talent at that position. Be that as it may, this is probably more of a self-challenge. He must know by now that first and foremost he has to overcome himself. He actually talked about "performing consistently", so his deficiencies are obviously on his mind.

It must have been hard for him to see that, while he can elevate his game into triple-double territory against Nash and Rose and Paul, he comes back down to earth when faced with the lesser opponents. That's probably why he's taken on the Supremacy - again, to challenge himself. It's really a very cheeky thing to do, taking over the unofficial captaincy the way he has, talking best point guard and championship right out of the gate.

It helps that the true captain, Paul Pierce, seems to have decided that his role on this team is to have as much fun as humanly possible. In Europe he was fast-breaking (holy mackerel, Andy!), dishing out advice, and sitting beside Rondo laughing. He made an unscheduled trip to visit the fans, attended events usually reserved for rookies, behaved like the elder statesman of the team, surrounded by his happy warriors. It's so nice to see him don't-worry, be-happy because Paul deserves this sparkling team, after the bitter struggles during the dark ages, after the heroic one on one battles with Lebron, after proving what he could do after waiting for so long.

You have to wonder if Rondo's first-quarter tactics in Europe - basically calling his own number over and over to get the team out to a quick lead - whether that's a strategy for the new season. It definitely addresses a deficiency of past years, the idea of getting out in front and making the opposition play catch-up.

It would also be nice if Rondo doesn't completely forget about defense, at least until Bradley returns. What he says about other ways to dominate games, let's hope that's what he means. It would be just like the old too-smart-for-his-own-good Rondo to overlook that his greatest strength, as well as his team's identity, is defense. The sixteen steals in the clinching game in 2008 were what originally put him in that rarefied atmosphere with names like Cousy and K.C. Jones.

Right now, it's fair to say that Rondo's as good a playmaker as any Celtic point guard since Cousy. He only has to lead the league in assists for five more years to catch the Cooz and be considered the best.

It's also fair to say that Rondo's as good a defender as any point guard since K.C. (and D.J.). There was never a better defender at the position than K.C. So for Rondo to be mentioned in the same sentence as Bob Cousy and K.C. Jones is incredible praise, even if there aren't many still alive who know why.

While Rondo will never be able to say that he's the best playmaker or defender in Celtics history, eventually he could reach a level where he's considered the best combination of offense and defense at the position. First, he needs to lead the team to a few more championships. Until that happens, he should make his game do the talking.

Just keep on nailing that jumper Rondo and with everything else you can do everything will fall into place.

I think this season he will show that he IS the best PG in the league. Consider the other elite PGs,they are either the focal point of the team or at least the#2 player on the team and get a free hand to run things. Rondo has had to cater to more established vets that are set in their ways,i.e. Ray Alllen, so Rondo has always had to adjust to cater to their styles. Now that we have made him the "leader" of the team I think we will see the beginning of a new Celtic modus operendi , which I predict will more resemble the style of the late 60s early 70s style. DA has set up this team with Rondos assets in mind. We will see a more motion oriented and fast paced offense and a ball hawking style of D. Controlled chaos as it were, especially when AB gets healthy we will have the ability to put out a lineup whether we go big or small that can run and run.

Rondo,

That's what a lot of us have been waiting for. Actually, it was the Celtics' offensive signature throughout the 50s and 60s as well as half of the 70s. I don't know which was more fun: watching the opponents get gassed by the third quarter or watching the sheer poetry in motion.

But it took far more than rebounding, speed and excellent passing for that style to succeed. Red believed in getting his teams much better conditioned than opponents; and, without that endurance and toughness, they probably would have worn themselves into the ground. Some people think that endurance and toughness are not athletic traits, but they were traits of those old, up-tempo teams far more than jumping or speed were.

Here's hoping that, along with having interchangeable parts in depth, this team will develop major endurance and toughness.

Sam