I agree with your observations on Rondo being better off the dribble, and when the shot clock winds down. He also seems to shoot better when he has more time to set up for a shot.

In any event, the next test will be when a team sticks a bigger defender on him, who can take away his reliance on drives for scores, ala LA Lakers (Kobe) and NY Knicks (Jeffries). I am shocked more teams have not been trying that method, as it was very effective. I hope his recent improvement in outside shooting will ultimately defeat that line of defense, but I think the jury is still out.

maybe he should take a dribble or 2 before he shoots a free throw. it is fun watching him develop. he just seems to be the player that will grow the most on this team.

What I’m liking from Rondo at the moment, is that not only is he shooting it when they give it to him, at times he’s looking to shoot the jumper, which to me means that his confidence in his game is increasing… to me that was always the biggest question mark with Rondo.

Another thought I had for Rondo is that they might want to try running some high screens for him so that he can dribble around the screen and go right into his shot. Often his defender is sagging and would go under the pick anyway, but using this strategy to get him into his shot off the dribble could pay off for him and help draw his defender closer and sometimes even go over the pick. If he can garner that kind of respect then he’ll help spread the floor more and also set up his dribble penetration drives because he is so quick to turn the corner on his man.

If not first, he must be close. That fact alone says his shot selection is great. We know without looking at stats that he must finish at the hoop as well as anyone. So he is fine ball handler, rebounder ,defender, and distributor. He may be the fastest player in the league on top of that. He may have the biggest hand to height ratio. I haven’t seen anyone else point it out but the kid is filling out too. His arms are getting bigger and shoulders more muscular.

There are only two things left to make him the greatest player ever: he has to grow 7 inches and develop a great jumper. He can only do one of those things(I think??). I hope he is listening to Doc, who wasn’t a great shooter coming out of MU either, and following Ray around in practice.

… Rondo’s been hitting his jumper at a rate of about 60% since the 2nd Nets game on Jan 17 (past 6 games). There was a news piece about how he’s been working on it with KG and others, taking extra time after every practice, etc. Whatever problem he had with his jumper in the beginning appears to have ended now. Rondo may turn out to be a GREAT jump shooter, with the turning point happening right before our eyes. Pretty interesting stuff in the middle of this otherwise kinda-boring blowout streak.

how Rondo would take a shot during the final seconds of a quarter, or that he shoots and makes it in most of the time when the shot clock is winding down. I thought I was the only one who noticed this, but apparently I am not. I first started assuming that maybe hes comfortable shooting under pressure letting the shot clock go down to 2 seconds, as that picture is showing. I remember clearly that he got that shot in, against Kidd…

Im happy that Rondo’s Jump shot is getting better, and now hes realizing that other teams are now going to dare him to shoot, so he has no other choice but to try his best to improving his shot. He also has been setting up a ritual of organized jump shot practice. He used to do it to play around, but now hes actually working on it in practice more often, and making it a ritual.

If he doesn’t make the all star team he should at least be in the skills challenge.