Rondo Found A Jumpshot

Not to be argumentative, but I don’t think Rondo ‘owns’ his new shot quite yet. In the crucial last minutes of the loss to the Magic, Rondo had a wide own jumper on a kick-out from a driving Pierce, and choked on taking it. It caused a three second violation on his teammate. So I think this jump shot is still on a ‘rent-to-own’ status.

Yes Rondo did hesitate on that pressure time jumper, but he did show a confident technique otherwise that was missing from his game. Congrats to him for the work on it. Let’s hope it wasn’t a one game thing.

Tony allen played well despite missing the bunny at the end. The only question I would make re. Doc was that substitution. Tony is so prone to mental errors. He didn’t miss the layup due to no lift. He missed it due to the yips. He’ll be fine in time and maybe this is part of Doc’s plan for getting him there. I was actually expecting him to dribble it off his foot and then slap himself on the side of his head. But when he gets it all together, we’ll have one helluva sub.

I think Doc learned too that Pollard is ready for some of Scal’s minutes. I’m a Scal fan but when he’s bad, he really isn’t “helping in other ways”. Scal was wide open on Pierce’s last shot but I wouldn’t have gone there either.

I don’t think Rondo suffered a lack of confidence on that shot he passed up. He suffered a lack of recognition. He up faked for a closer shot but didn’t recognise his big men were down in the paint for too long and it cost them a violation before he got his next attempt off.

Rondo’s shot has looked very fluid so far.

Well, I’m not that surprised that Rondo didn’t automatically shoot it. When was his last shot attempt before that play? The 2:55 mark of the third quarter. Yep. Doc pulls Rondo. Seemingly forgets that he’s on the bench and leaves him there until the 5:28 mark of the fourth quarter. Then he barely gets to touch the ball after that while Pierce and Ray Allen are actually the ones running the offense. This Rono we are talking about. His improved jumper has been a godsend, but what his forte is penatration into the paint and ball distribution. Somehow, though, Doc thinks that Rondo is a spot up jumpshooter now. Not really a surprise, though, considering that Doc has never understood how to use a point guard and EVERY point guard who Doc has coached to this point, other than Rondo, has hated him with a passion. I think I’ll start a thread on this.

Not to be argumentative, but I don’t think Rondo ‘owns’ his new shot quite yet. In the crucial last minutes of the loss to the Magic, Rondo had a wide own jumper on a kick-out from a driving Pierce, and choked on taking it. It caused a three second violation on his teammate. So I think this jump shot is still on a ‘rent-to-own’ status.

I didn’t watch the game but I heard this on the commentary. It is interesting, because Rondo hit a simlar jump shot in crunch time with very little space (Williams was closing in on him pretty fast).

rondo is fine. i semi agree with the assessment on perk. pollard is ok but we need a rebounding force backup c.

I love this kid. He has improved his shot 1000%. The next part is getting him to look for it more. I really think he is the key to this team. If we can get to the point where Rondo is trusted enough to run this offense, and create opportunities through penetration, then the sky is the limit. He hustles, rebounds well, is a good defender, and obviously has identified his weaknesses and is working on them. Danny made the right call on this kid.

Rondo’s form is better, but he’s also getting more wide open shots. If Delonte West were playing the point on this year’s team he’s be shooting 70%. It would be like playing horse.

He’s definitely more confident in his shot & his hitting it more consistantly. He seems 1000% better than last year. Props to Rondo for working on it.

I wouldn’t get too drunk on that FG% though… A lot of his shots are layups. I have seen him hesitate on wide open jumpers when he was the first man up the floor, and then pass to teammate when the defense was set. Some of that is have 3 All Stars to pass to and PG instincts, but he needs to shoot that more often than not.

It’s good his shot is coming around because his defense is incredibly overrated.. Where are you points per 100 possesions stats now Mike?

I disagree with the Perk comments. If a team decides to build around three max players, with none of them a center, does Thorpe expect an all star caliber center too, at a bargain price? Perk is no worse than some of the centers on the Spurs last two championship teams, for example.

The Cs are a better defensive team with Perk on he floor, and defense is how this team is going to win a championship. The Cs lost to the Magic for a few reasons. First, the Magic got a tom more FTs, and second, KG played horribly (for him) leading the team with a -11 and not getting to the line once.

No big deal however. The Cs can’t win 100% of their games, and the fact that they had a last shot to win a road game against a good opponent on a night where they played lousy should be comforting to Cs fans and scary to future opponents.

It will be interesting to see if Delonte gets more rotation time down the road in Seattle. He’s doing better than Gerald Greene in Minny but not much. Maybe we did overrate them and maybe Danny knew what he was doing holding onto Rondo and Perk.

Now, where did he put that free throw…

I wouldn’t trade Perk or Rondo for Delonte and Gerald combined. (And doubt any GM’s would either!)

Rondo is terrific for a 21 year old 2nd year point guard. Perk is doing well and Clifford Ray will have Perk playing better as the year goes on. The Celtics opponents defense as we know are doubling KG, Ray and Paul whenever they can and half covering Perk and Rondo. I would rather see Pollard start for the first 6 minutes of the 1st quarter and 3rd quarter and take advantage of his experience. The 2nd and 4th quarter start Perk because teams usually sit down their big men stars then and Perk can develop a back to basket offensive game. The end of the game if they haven’t fouled out I like House offensively/Rondo defensively, along with Ray, Posey, KG and Pierce for their experience. If the opponents press Rondo plays.

Rondo has great speed, and he can move the ball quite well. What I noticed last year is when Rondo was in the game with the second unit while Pierce was out, the second unit would do better than the first and that was mainly because of Rondo. If he can continue hitting open shots, then his passing game will be quite deadly. The other thing he needs to do is start making free throws for late game situations especially when the other team is trying to foul.

And Perkins looks like a new player this year. He is moving noticably faster, and compliments KG really well. Garnett plays better when Perkins is in and vice versa.

TripleOT: I was thinking the same thing how the Spurs didn’t have a dominant center for the past few years. But I would like to see another center, maybe another Perkins to help out on the big guy duties, and maybe who can log some bench minutes at power forward as well. Rumor has it that Chris Webber will want to come out of retirement and sign with the Cs soon, but I don’t know if they want to pay for the amount of cocaine and hookers that he is looking for either.

I must add, the only reason yesterday’s game was close was because of the great showings from Pierce and Rondo, and to a lesser extent, Tony Allen too. If Rondo missed or passed up all those shots, then the best Pierce would have been able to do is keep it to a 20 point game rather than bring them back in it and have a chance to win.

I was very happy to see Rondo getting involved like that.

Rondo also knows when to shoot. He came into the league knowing when to shoot pretty well, but this year he just improved that.

All this team needs is a couple of days off without back-to-backs and some practice time.

TripleOT, on the money, brother.

I think both of the Spurs centres are better than Perk by a clear margin.

But Perk certainly has made nice strides and closed that gap considerably this year. He’s going in the right direction.

Perk has made strides and he just turned 23 last week: still a baby by big man standards. He’s also less than 5 months older than Wallace, 14 months older than Big Baby and 18 months older than Pruitt. If he were on another team, we’d be coveting him for the C’s and imagining his upside.

Who, you would really trade perk for Elson or Oberto? I would say no way. Perk has been good on the boards and defending. He just doesn’t bring much of a one on one game and a jump shot offensively, something they don’t really bring either. Most NBA centers bring one or the other really.

I’d definitely trade for Oberto. I think he is one of the best passing big men in the game today. I love his movement off the ball. I love his versatility defensively. He makes excellent rotations. Fantastic on the pick and roll. So intelligent and like Perk a fantastic teammate. Brilliant under pressure also. And is quick enough to match up with almost every centre in the league. So I’d definitely trade Perk for Oberto.

Elson …. different type of player. I’d fear about putting Elson next to KG. I think Elson is better but that Perk is the better fit so I wouldn’t do that. Although I’m second guessing myself now … I might trade for Elson also. His help D, developing offensive touch and athleticism would be fantastic on this team. I’m hesitant because of KG. I like having a big burly centre next to him (Oberto just to good to pass on, don’t just look/trust at his stats … he’s quality)

i’m with galen.

Who, with all due respect, I think you’re focusing too much on Perk’s last game. Over the course of their wins—especially in the previous 3 games, when Garnett wasn’t playing his A game—Perk did some very nice things. Good D, nice passing, finished well around the hoop.

I love what Perk is doing and the strides he’s making. I’ve made several comments about that, especially his improved movement off the ball for easy baskets.

But I really do think Oberto is a vastly underrated player. People look at his stat line and say he’s no good, but he’s very important to what San Antonio do and a very solid player.

Elson is a judgement call.

I would like to see Perk rebound the ball better.

Yep one rebound every 5 minutes is terrible. Every 4 mins is good. 3 is excellent. By 4.5-5 you’re a poor rebounder. Above is atrocious for a big man. Perk is better than that so it should rectify itself but his rebounding has been poor.

I just wanted to belatedly second everything TripleOT said. I agree wholeheartedly. Great teams lose games just like good ones doâ€"great ones just do it less often.

His shot is developing defintly thousands times beter than last year. The shooting sessions with Ray have apparantly paid off! ;D

I believe the shooting skills coach is Kevin Eastman. Clifford Ray works with big men, not guards.

Oh you meant Ray Allen. Yes, he could teach Rondo alot. Ray Allen has a great realease and great form.

Rondo is athletic enough that once he is given proper shooting
fundamentals he can continually recreate the jump shot. With more game experience he will gain more confidence in his shot. I don’t think it helps any point guard to be yelled at during the game. It can’t be helpful to a players confidence. Especially the point guard, whose decisions are often so crtitical to the team’s success.