Rajon Rondo is a hall of fame player without a consistent jump shot – he would not have won his first ring if not for Kevin Garnett.
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Back in 2006, the Boston Celtics drafted a scrawny, unassuming kid called Rajon Rondo as their third-string point guard. In front of him were Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair. While making the trade with the Timberwolves to bring Kevin Garnett in, Rondo was included in the list. Rondo feared the worst because he was being axed almost immediately after entering the league.
But as fate would have it, Rondo had caught the eye of the Timberwolves star. He had watched him play against the New York Knicks in his rookie year and wanted him to stay. He thought that he was African because of Rajon’s unusual name. It was Garnett’s request that may have ultimately kept him on as a C. They traded Telfair instead, and the rest is history.
The big names were Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, but Rajon Rondo was the shadow man. Rondo was the Tetsuya Kuroko of the generation of miracles (fans of Kuroko no Baske will get the reference). He was never that guy to consistently give you 20 points a night, but he was the guy who gave you 20 assists instead. Infamous for not having a jump shot, he made up for his inability to shoot with his ability to provide laser-guided passes instead.
Ben Simmons should learn from the veteran guard. For all the hype around him not being consistent, he’s still elite in the rest of his abilities.
Rajon Rondo may be marred in controversy currently – but that should not take away from what a player he was
Rondo is in rarified air, having won a championship with the Lakers and the Celtics. It’s him and Clyde Lovellette. That’s it. The now-veteran guard was a revelation when he played for the Celtics, and even rival fans could not help but admire his play. He played with tenacity, verve and vigour. All qualities that were important for the 2008 super team to function the way they did. LeBron James could beat 3 people, but Rondo was just too much of a wildcard to handle.
His court vision is off the charts, running the role of a floor general to the T. Whenever he was on the court, you already knew the players were ready for a perfectly orchestrated basket. A pick and roll here, a shimmy there, and then all of a sudden, you had a man completely open. He played like he had a 360-degree vision camera strapped to his brain.
Players of such quality are far and few these days. Facilitators like Rondo are what makes basketball fun—otherwise, everybody would be a James Harden. Until he left the Celtics, he was by far one of the best point guards, along with his bitter rival Chris Paul. While Chris may have a couple of legs up on Rondo in terms of overall quality, Rondo has a couple of rings over him.
