Rajon Rondo the mecurial genius

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12587848/old-questions-surface-new-dallas-mavericks-point-guard-rajon-rondo


Good read on the riddle within an enigma wrapped up in a mystery that is Rajon Rondo.

A floor general who's allegedly a ball distributor first but who's lousy with people?  Who's he passing to—monkeys?  If he's so frequently two or three steps ahead, does his instinct for forecasting incorporate an empathic, teammate-oriented element, or does it stop at the door from his own brain?

News flash, Rondo.  There are a lot of smart people in the world.  And even those who are not necessarily super smart can have their moments of inspiration.  By self-glorifying your own mentality at the expense of others, you're underestimating the vast intellect that pervades the general population and the basketball-playing population.

Sooner or later, that self-congratulatory attitude will backfire on you and will leave you extremely frustrated because you've probably never questioned or moderated it.  Maybe you're already in the throes of that unhappiness.

Lately, I've described you as a devoted team player as long as the team is Rondo-centric in its approach to playing basketball.  I see nothing in this article that makes me alter my own sad journey from regarding you as my favorite current Celtic to realizing that your shortcomings are only magnified by KG's nickname for you.

Sam

Not letting a sick kid win a game of connect 4 in a hospital?? Ever??

Think that bothered me as much as anything.

Nice that he went there for sure but any parent knows you have to let the kids win once in a while. They need to learn how to lose but also how to win. Rondo for as smart as he says he is, hasn't learned very much.

beat

Sam, I think you nailed it. What's that line from the Bible? Pride goeth before the fall? And in the case of Rondo in particular overweening pride and an ACL injury.

Sloop,

I loved the kid from that very first long transition bounce pass on the money, and I recall deflecting his lack of shooting ability and then being so happy when he showed signs of snapping out of it.

Apparently, he was out of it all right....but in a very sad way.  Very possibly my greatest disappointment in 64 years as a Celtics fan.  (Sidney Wicks and Curtis Lowe don't qualify as disappointments.  The term "disappointment" would be too good for them.

Sam

sam wrote:A floor general who's allegedly a ball distributor first but who's lousy with people?  Who's he passing to—monkeys?  If he's so frequently two or three steps ahead, does his instinct for forecasting incorporate an empathic, teammate-oriented element, or does it stop at the door from his own brain?

News flash, Rondo.  There are a lot of smart people in the world.  And even those who are not necessarily super smart can have their moments of inspiration.  By self-glorifying your own mentality at the expense of others, you're underestimating the vast intellect that pervades the general population and the basketball-playing population.

Sooner or later, that self-congratulatory attitude will backfire on you and will leave you extremely frustrated because you've probably never questioned or moderated it.  Maybe you're already in the throes of that unhappiness.

Lately, I've described you as a devoted team player as long as the team is Rondo-centric in its approach to playing basketball.  I see nothing in this article that makes me alter my own sad journey from regarding you as my favorite current Celtic to realizing that your shortcomings are only magnified by KG's nickname for you.

Sam

There may be some truth to what you said, but let's not forget this a writer's depiction of Rondo, not necessarily how he thinks of himself. I have never heard Rondo declare himself a "genius" or say that he is some sort of visionary.

As for the article, it might be better written than some others, but it is still a rehash of cliched anecdotes. Its an easy story for a writer to spew out because it is a simple stereotype everyone is familiar with. I would have been more impressed if the writer had actually interviewed Rondo and managed to elicit some quotes that either supported this portrayal or provided some sort of insight into Rondo's character and/or thinking process. All I read was stories I have heard before and a cliched and most surely flawed mythology.

The whole thing seemed lazy and cliched to me. I'm sure Rondo is a bright guy, but being able to do high school algebra and winning at connect four are not necessarily indicative of genius. Its not like the guy is a chess champion or contributing to quantum mechanics.

For a few years, Rondo was a great fit for the Celtics and contributed significantly to their success. He even had his moments of brilliance. Later, he was not such a great fit. Maybe his skills (or confidence) also diminished. It happens. Sometimes people never realize the potential others endow them with. I see no reason to turn on the guy.

Although it makes me throw up in my mouth a little to say it, the best thing for Rondo might be to sign with the Lakers. Byron Scott's team plays a style more suited to his strengths - such as getting easy shots for players like Kobe. Rondo is also stubborn enough to stand up to Kobe. If the Lakers sign Rondo and another decent free agent, and if Randle pans out and Kobe returns to even 75% of his former self, they are a playoff team again. Couple this with the narrative of Rondo as a villain, and you have something interesting...

Shamrock,

As I stated in my earlier post, Rajon Rondo was my favorite current Celtic from the time of his very first preseason game throughout the time of the Three Amigos and even as the Three Amigos left town.

I focused my attention on Rondo's game and pretty much compartmentalized all the other stuff I gleaned from what I heard, read, personally discussed with members of the media, and even observed (e.g. his body language in huddles and coming out of huddles).  I reasoned that all he owed the public (including me) was to do his very best to help the Boston Celtics win.  As I've stated until even I'm sick of hearing it, "It's all about the team."

But, at some point in the past couple of years, I began to suspect he was not doing his best to help the Boston Celtics win.  Some people termed him "inconsistent."  As I reexamined the compartment I had shunted aside earlier, I tended to lean more toward the theory that Rondo was being petulant.

The only reason I care about what some ESPN guy named Baxter Holmes theorizes about Rondo is that it squared almost perfectly with the collective items in my personal compartment.  

As long-time members of the board know, I have a theory that, once one witnesses a player doing something on the court, it usually represents proof that the player is capable of that action.  It them becomes a matter of honing the skill and becoming more consistent at performing it—which may often be more difficult than learning the skill in the first place.

In Rondo's case, in the past couple of years, there were often wide swings in Rondo's game, and those swings suggested to me that his petulance was controlling his game—often to the detriment of the team that was depending so strongly on him.  Even if I don't know this Baxter guy's credentials, it makes sense that he wouldn't falsify a published report of an interview in which KG basically corroborated my petulance theory. And my theory made even more sense when I recall that his career (until the recent trade) spanned three eras:

1. His early history with the Celtics when he was just another player in competition with guys like Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair and Rajon had to focus on succeeding rather than allowing his inner feelings to govern his actions

2. The Three Amigos Years, when KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen (who really took Rondo under his wing at the beginning and, ironically wound up at odds with Rajon) kept him pretty much in check.

3. The post-Amigos Years, when he was anointed King of the Hill in Celtics Land and felt freer to express himself in a sort of "You need me more than I need you" way.

Frankly, I have no idea whether Rondo is a villain or a victim.  However, I tend to lean strongly to the latter.  Perhaps he's been the victim of his own intellect.  Perhaps he's been the victim of unrealistic expectations of one or more coaches in his career.  Perhaps he's been the victim of playing with inadequate teammates.  (I really doubt that one.)  Perhaps he was victimized by being expected to become a team leader almost overnight and he became Exhibit #1 of the Peter Principle by being forced into a role of which he was incapable.  Whatever the nature of the victimization,  for a smart guy with mountains of basketball, it makes sense to me that he has been victimized or is still being victimized in some manner.

If he goes to the Lakers, who knows what will happen?  Perhaps the presence of Kobe will moderate Rondo's volatility as the Three Amigos did.  Perhaps the honeymoon will last only until Kobe leaves.  Perhaps Rondo's and Kobe's egos will clash  (Kobe is no stranger to situations as Shaq will tell you.)  I won't be surprised if the Brilliant Rondo surfaces every time the Lakers play the Celtics.  Frankly, anything that puts both the Celtics and the Lakers on a path to compete for the championship is fine with me.

I wish Rondo the best.  I just hope he'll learn that, when he scans his list of enemies, he doesn't forget to include himself.

Sam

Rondo was and is one of the most confusing players in the NBA. And Sam, I think that he is much more the villain than the victim.

He has gone from a guy who you would have thought to be a max salary type of guy who leads his team above most others to a guy who has seemingly ruined his chances of achieving such lofty goals on two different teams in a very short time span.

Certainly, every other team in the league has seen Rondo fall flat on his face and as a result will have to approach the idea of signing him very carefully.   Any angle any team takes with this guy is going to create a high risk which will most likely reduce the salary they will be willing to offer.

I was one of the first on the forum to suggest that Rondo could be traded and that the team would be better off, but it is too bad that this guy has self crumbled in such a short time.  Right now, I see the Celtics as huge winners in the Rondo trade even if it had been just straight up for Crowder.

Hard to know about the victim/villain thing, Clyde.  I keep a copy of the book, "Blaming the Victim" in every room of our house because I believe it's so important to keep reminding ourselves about the insidious ways in which victimization can fly under the radar to the extent that it's overlooked when negative symptoms emerge.  I also have this thing about the blame game, which too often takes unfair precedence over ramifications that are more important.  

The fact is that, for one reason or another, Rondo's future is much more in doubt than it has been in the past.  In people's haste to blame him, I haven't seen any conjecture as to whether the serious injuries he incurred have rendered him less capable of consistently achieving what he was capable of in the past.  I have no knowledge that they impaired him to any extent, but I bet they didn't help.

Sam

Sam

Sam,

I would also think that any/all of Rondo's injuries have probably hurt his performances to at least some degree.

But, I would have expected to hear of some of these injuries as the reason why he is not the same player that he was.
I have not heard of the injuries hindering him in any way.

Last season, he seemingly did very little for the Cs in all of their games that could have been wins in the fourth quarter. This season he seemed to want to dribble holes in the floor instead of jumping in with Stevens' "move-the-ball" thoughts. He stopped driving to the hoop apparently to make sure that he would not get fouled. He also never took charge of this young team which I thought was clearly his responsibility as captain, and then when he admitted to not playing any defense for the Celtics he was done in my mind as a Celtic.

Not everyone is a villain, but this guy could have done much more for himself and his team. I am glad that he plays for someone else, and hope that Ainge never even considers re-signing him.

Now he has had problems in Dallas, and I think that I will eat my hat if he gets a max contract this summer.

I hope Raion finds the right team mix somewhere that emerges as a runnerup to the Celts for a championship.