After Rajon Rondo’s career-revitalizing stint with the Sacramento Kings, he now finds himself fading out of the spotlight with the Chicago Bulls. Rondo started off the New Year being benched for two weeks in what maybe was a surprise to all except those who know about his immature antics in Boston, Dallas and Sacramento.
His passing is elite and he has a championship resume, but what does that all mean to the head coaches and general managers of today’s NBA mixed in with his past actions? Maybe nothing? I believe that Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg is giving Rondo his first post Celtic humbling.
After a rollercoaster year with the Celtics and Mavericks, he finished averaging 11.9 points and a league high 11.7 assists last year with the Kings. One would assume that Rondo would have nothing but love for his ex teammates in Sacramento, but he had other thoughts.
In what has been an okay year for Rondo statistically, it has not been a great year for Rondo mentally 42 games into the season. So far this NBA season, we’ve seen the Bulls issue a suspension towards Rondo, a two-week benching from coach Hoiberg and an on going, un-coachable mentality in which has stuck with him for years.
Rondo who is believed to be the unselfish type, which correlates with his assists, has turned into the selfish type in his recent interview with David Aldridge of NBA.com. When asked about why he has been struggling team wide with the Bulls this season, he had some harsh words for his old friends in the purple and white.
“It’s just, maybe, the personnel in this situation,” Rondo told NBA.com. “I mean, last year – I hate to keep talking about last year – but you couldn’t name three people on my team, the Sacramento Kings, and I led the league in assists. You know? I don’t know. I believe so (that his skill set still has value), given the right personnel and the flow of the game.”
If the personnel is the core issue in Rondo’s time with Chicago, then why would he be gloating about leading the league in assists a season ago with his so called nameless teammates in Sacramento?
He’s forgetting that the “no name” teammates that he had in Sacramento were good for an NBA third best in points per game and ranked 13th in offensive efficiency during the 2015-2016 season.
Where would Rondo have been statistically without the likes of an All-Star named DeMarcus Cousins and another prolific scorer in Rudy Gay? Not to mention one of the best back up point guards in the NBA in Darren Collison.
So my question now is, what is wrong with the Bulls personnel?
The Bulls offered Rondo the ability to play with a soon to be hall of famer in Dwayne Wade (who is surprisingly at a stand still with father time) and with a probable All-Star starter in Jimmy Butler.
What more can you ask for as a point guard? Maybe to play with the best big man in the game in DeMarcus Cousins? But wait … He did.
It was with the Sacramento Kings where Rondo’s stock grew so enormously from where it was a year ago and it was with the Kings where he had an opportunity to set himself up financially with a two-year $28 million contract with the Bulls.
If the Bulls organization along with his current teammates do not want these belittling headlines to be about themselves in the near future, then maybe a trade is necessary for the volatile guard.
Leaving an organization in free agency is one thing, but as soon as you forget the men that helped you get to the point where you are now, you’ve reached the non “assistful” state of mind.
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