Rajon Rondo has had a rocky couple of seasons. Part of that had to do with all the interpersonal turmoil in Dallas and Sacramento, but it’s also clear that the NBA – particularly the point guard position – has evolved tremendously in recent years. A backcourt player with no outside range has become a liability due to the urgent need for spacing in contemporary offenses, and Rondo’s busted jumper has threatened to render his game somewhat obsolete.
Still, he’s one of the better playmakers in the league and has an uncanny knack for setting up his teammates for easy buckets. The Chicago Bulls are hoping that he can rediscover some of that elite talent that made him such a deadly threat during his glory days with the Boston Celtics., and new teammate Dwyane Wade is already paying lip service to that notion.
D-Wade on Rajon Rondo: "He's the best point guard I've ever played with."
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) September 28, 2016
True, he may have won championships with Jason Williams and Mario Chalmers running the point, but neither of those players ever made an All-Star team (not to mention the fact that LeBron James operated as point-forward for significant stretches of the Big 3 era in Miami). Goran Dragic probably comes the closest to claiming that distinction, but even at his best, he can’t approach Rondo at his peak.
The only problem is that Rondo is no longer at his peak. He’s also not a great fit alongside either Wade or Jimmy Butler. Wade has never been a good long-range shooter, and the two of them on the floor together would allow opposing defenses to wreak havoc on their spacing. To make matters worse, Rondo needs the ball in his hands to be effective, similar to Derrick Rose, which turned out to be a primary source of the chemistry issues with Butler, who’s emerged as the Bulls’ number one scoring option.
But for now, Wade is saying all the right things. He’s already publicly declared that the Bulls are Butler’s team, and his generous support for Rondo’s game should do wonders for his confidence as he continues to try to rehabilitate his reputation. But Fred Hoiberg is certainly going to have his hands full with figuring out how to make all these disparate pieces coalesce this season.
(h/t B/R)
