Danny also declared yesterday that no one on his team was “untouchable.’’ In case you were wondering. So he’s completely covered if and when he risks alienating his fan base by trading away a charismatic young player, the specific likes of which we’ve never seen before. That’s textbook GMing, if you ask me.
So what is it with Rondo? Isn’t he coming off a postseason in which he was quite often America’s No. 1 day-after water cooler topic? Didn’t we see him “elevate his game’’ by averaging 16.9 points, 9.8 assists, and, amazingly (well I am taller than he, and I’m only 6-1), 9.8 rebounds per game? Didn’t we see him put up highs of 29 points, 19 rebounds, and 16 assists during the course of a 14-game postseason? Wasn’t all this supposed to signal the arrival of a major young star?
Or were we all hallucinating?
Well, no, we weren’t. Rondo did all of those things. Fans and media gushed and slobbered and raised glasses and composed sonnets to this astonishing 6-foot force of nature. But as impressed and pleased as Ainge often was, he apparently took pains not to get carried away. His job is not to be a fan. His job is to construct the best possible basketball team. Rajon Rondo, he has decided, is far from a perfect ballplayer.
Rajon Rondo still has technical flaws. Start with his basic jumper, which, though significantly improved, is still a frequent liability.
“As we saw in the Orlando series,’’ Ainge says, “they left him wide open. His presence hurt us in winning right now because his man went and doubled onto Ray [Allen] and Paul [Pierce] and made it difficult for us.’’
He also remains a very disappointing free throw shooter. Someone with the capacity to get to the hoop and draw as many fouls as Rondo does has got to be an 80 percent foul shooter. Rondo isn’t anywhere near 70.
But these things are correctable. There appear to be other issues that involve more than merely getting into the gym.
