The path to growth will always require some form of destruction. When you want to grow muscle, you have to lift enough weight to actually destroy the muscle itself, so it can come back bigger and stronger.
To grow a forest, leaves and animals have to live and die to feed the overall growth.
To grow a basketball player, he has to fail, so he can learn from those mistakes. His game has to be destroyed in a sense. And so is the case with Rajon Rondo. Kelly Dwyer has this observation on Ball Don't Lie.
And the Celtics lost again. Rajon Rondo had another tough night, only contributing five points and five assists (just one turnover) and failing to pull in a rebound. He's playing scared, nervous to make a mistake.
With Rondo falling to earth, the Celtics have essentially traded an All-Star for a below average point man, and that's significant. They're losing, but they're only losing by a few points every time out, and we know that Rondo has a little All-Star in him. Get the licks in now, NBA.
The current destruction of Rondo's game involves bigger players. It started in the Lakers game. Rondo had been on a huge "get to the basket at will" bender. But the Lakers, with their length, stuffed him a few times on drives, and he's been tentative ever since. The moment he sees a 7 footer down there, he dribbles through and gives the ball up. Now, big guys are playing Rondo straight up, and floating away from him so they can double team and let Rondo shoot.
What's the fix? I don't know. It could be as simple as going right at the big guys and trying to foul them out. It could be a tinkering or overhaul of his jump shot. I'm not sure. But I do know that this type of step back, while frustrating, is natural. We know Rondo is good enough to get past this and grow as a player. When he does, we'll be happy he went through it.
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