Let me start by stating the obvious: Rajon Rondo is off to a blistering start with the assists. His 15.1 assists per game is far outpacing Deron Williams (2nd, 10.2), Chris Paul (3rd, 10.1) and Jason Kidd (4th 10.0).
So I figured I'd take a little bit of a closer look at the numbers (via hoop data & basketball-reference).
Rajon is finding guys all over the court, but his favorite spots to hit teammates are at the rim, or behind the arc. 5.6 of his assists per game come at the rim. 3.2 of Rajon's assists per game are from 3. It's a fair bet to assume most of those assists go to Ray Allen… since EVERY one of Ray's 3's has been made off an assist.
Rondo's assist rate is 50.09%. That means about half the time Rondo has the ball, it will end in an assist.
Rajon is also on the longest streak of 10+ assist games in his career. The Memphis game was his 8th straight 10+ assist game… beating the 7 he had last February into March. He averaged 12.6 apg in that 7-game stretch. In this 8 game stretch, he's averaging 15.6… helped in large part by the 24 dime game against NY.
Kevin Garnett is Rondo's favorite target. They've hooked up 44 times this year. He's hit Ray 36 times and Paul Pierce 29 times. That's 109 assists to the big 3.
So if you took only the assists to the Big 3 and eliminated all of his other assists… Rondo would still lead the league with 10.9 assists per game.
Rondo's #1 non-Big 3 target is Glen Davis… who's gotten 21 buckets courtesy of Rajon.
That's the in-depth look at Rondo so far. Pretty impressive stuff.
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