Local sportscaster Gary Tanguay saw fit to disagree with our take on notorious Rondo-hater Jeff Goodman on Comcast Sports Net tonight. While we appreciate the mention, we take exception with a few of his points.
Ok, all of his points. So let’s take this point-by-point, shall we?
“Rondo is not as popular as fans want to believe. Doc Rivers just didn’t want to coach Rondo anymore.”
Doc Rivers doesn’t like Rondo? Yeah, he hates Rondo so much that the two still talk all the time:
It’s not unusual for the two to talk, even with Rivers now coaching the Los Angeles Clippers. They have history, with Rivers coaching Rondo from 2006-07 until last season.
“I speak to Doc all the time,” Rondo said. “I’ve talked to him on the phone. I’ve talked to him after games, text-wise. He gives me advice all the time.”
This particular chat, Rivers recalled, focused on a theme that Rondo has heard plenty about lately: patience during a rebuild.
“That’s all it was about,” Rivers told the Globe. “I said, “You’re going to have to have patience.’ ”
And then there was this moment after Rondo’s ACL tear where the two clearly just dislike each other immensely, right?
I don’t see what the big deal is, right Gary? I mean… it was just an ACL… no biggie, right?
@JDolan1282 For a half. An ACL does not cause immediate pain
— Gary Tanguay (@Gary_Tanguay) July 17, 2014
Stop trying to pin Doc leaving on Rondo. Doc left because he didn’t want to go through a losing season. THAT is why he left. He wanted to go coach a winning team, and the Celtics weren’t going to be one for a few years. THAT is why Doc left. Don’t give me this revisionist history bullshit.
“last year, his teammates liked playing with Phil Pressey more because Pressey didn’t hold the ball for 15 seconds”
Last season, Rajon Rondo was 2nd in the NBA in total passes per game (73.4). He was #1 in assist opportunities per game, or passes that would have been assists had his teammates finished the play. He was second in points created by assists. He was 3rd in “Free Throw assists”… assists that led to free throws.
Rondo passed the ball more than anyone per game in the NBA except for Kemba Walker. He led all of the NBA in giving his teammates an opportunity to score. He was third in the NBA is getting his teammates a chance to get to the line.
Gary, stop perpetuating the myth that Rondo is a ball stopper. He passed it more per game than Chris Paul. He passed it almost 2o times more per game than Tony Parker. He moves the ball more than almost everyone at his position.
“These fan websites get press passes to go to games and pretend to be media, which they are not”
Aren’t we all high and mighty?
Goodman goes to games, talks to GM’s and players, and all that. That’s great. He otherwise does a fine job with his work. But with Rondo, he’s behaving like a guy with a vendetta. Today’s shitstorm was created by his casual tweet to Jeff Clark at CelticsBlog that players he’s spoken to don’t want to play with Rondo. As Chuck said in his post, if that was an actual scoop, that would be a hell of a story to break and publicize for precious web hits. The headline “NBA players don’t want to play with Rajon Rondo” would be HUGE story. Skip and Screamin’ A could go nuts about it on TV. Local radio would salivate over it.
But Goodman dropped it once in a tweet and let it slide.
If –I– had done that, Tanguay would rip my balls off, and rightly so. To casually tweet something so inflammatory and not follow up with quotes or names (or at least some semblance of a source’s identity like “Eastern Conference All Stars I spoke to” or “several soon-to-be free agents told me” or SOMETHING) just screams that the sources themselves aren’t really worthy of such mention.
Goodman knows how it works. And Goodman also hates Rondo so much that he’d probably get stiff just THINKING about writing that story. But he hasn’t. So if Goodman himself doesn’t think enough of these players to drum up an anti-Rondo story of this magnitude, then who are these players really?
It’s like a right-wing blowhard casually tweeting “oh, no one wants to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate. I talked to a bunch of people and they told me so”…. but then not writing about it AT ALL. Wouldn’t Fox News eat that up? Wouldn’t his base go nuts for it?
Goodman’s story is nothing. If it was something, he’d have written it by now.
As for us being media?
Sorry Gary. Blogs are media. We’re not a bunch of 15 year olds in our moms’ basement. Bloggers have become mainstream media, and in many ways are infinitely more relevant than your local cable 6:30 time slot.
“The ‘Red’ in Red’s Army… is that Red Buttons or Red Skelton? Let me tell ya, with the way Rondo has behaved, Red Auerbach would have sent his butt to Ft. Wayne a long time ago.”
First of all, great current reference. Red Buttons? Red Skelton? C’mon man…
As for Red Auerbach and Rajon Rondo…
It’s so hard to put thoughts into the heads of the dead. All we have is guesses. But let’s look at Red for a minute.
Red was an instigator. He was notorious for pushing people’s buttons and pissing them off. The man super-heated locker rooms, turned off hot water, and LIT A FREAKING VICTORY CIGAR ON THE BENCH just to piss off his opponents.
And you think he’d have a problem with Rondo? Are you freaking kidding me? If anything, I can see Rondo and Red laughing in his office after games when they recalled all the ways their antics pissed their opponents off.
Red coached and loved some of the leagues greatest assholes, and won their love and respect. And I hate to keep invoking the name of Larry Bird in these conversations, but Larry Bird was every bit the prick Rondo is (and he admits it)… he just happened to play before the age of social media and a gazillion outlets. Red loved Larry, and Larry loved Red.
Larry is obviously a better player than Rondo, but their competitive spirit and dogged determination to win at all costs is the same. Red loved that type of spirit, so I can only deduce that Red would have loved Rondo.
Look Gary, stop with the irrational Rondo hate. I’ve been told that the guys in the locker room love him, and when you look at guys like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and their continued affinity for him, I can only come to the conclusion that the Rondo the guys see is not the Rondo the media sees. Rondo’s a prick to them, and they’re, in turn, sometimes a prick to him.
Goodman is a guy who’s carrying the anti-Rondo torch. We’re just here to call him, and you, out on it when we see it happen.
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