Rajon Rondo retired: Pure point guard era, echo of the shutdown

Rajon Rondo has officially announced his retirement — and it's the second anniversary of his last NBA game in a week: playing for the Cavaliers against the Bucks on April 10, 2022.

A point guard with a four-time All-Star, a three-time assist king, a one-time steal king, and two championship rings.

Fifteenth all-time regular season assist. Seventh all-time playoff assists.

Nine teams were changed in the last eight seasons. Two years without a contract.

The times closed the door to him, he retired, and he can be regarded as a point guard of this type, the era is over.

Before the 2006 draft, I looked at four players who were not expected to be drafted with high picks: Rondo, as well as Ronnie Brewer, Marty Collins, and Thiago Split.

Brewer, who shot in an odd manner, later went to the Jazz and defended Kobe Bryant all year round, Collins is probably best known for being beaten by melons, and Split later moved to the Spurs and won the 2014 championship.

Rondo notes I made at the time:

拉简·朗多(Rajan Rondo)

6'2", 171 lbs., point guard

Born on 2/22/1986

Graduated from Mount Oak College High School. At an exhibition game in Europe at Mount Oak High School, he scored 55 points and dished out 17 assists. He broke the all-time record for the legendary high school at Mount Oak College with 27 assists in a single game, and then set a new record of 31 assists.

Sophomore at the University of Kentucky, 2005-06 stats: 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.8 steals.

NBA Template: Mulkey Blaylock.

Lightning-fast point guard with incredible speed, explosiveness, agility and bounce. Incredible body control, extremely sharp layups for a defender.

He is good at giving subtle passes when dribbling to the basket.

Many believe he was the best player on the high school team — his high school teammates included Josh Smith, who was drafted by the Hawks in 2004 and went on to become the dunk king.

A natural steal master.

It is necessary to increase the awareness of the whole audience and increase the muscles.

His perimeter shooting has improved, but it's still not consistent, and long fingers can affect his shots.

You must learn to control your emotions better.

You also have to learn how to be a more pure playmaker, so that every teammate is integrated into the attacking system and dominates the situation on the whole court.

He entered the NBA in 2006. A year later, as we all know, the Big Three came.

Rondo became the young lightning outside of the Big Three.

Notes from the time:

The Celtics' 21-year-old starting point guard, Rajon Rondo, played 31 minutes per game in November without shooting from beyond the three-point line. He's content with baseline open jumpers, or meekly handing the ball to the Big Three after a quick push to the frontcourt. And when you're entangled with Jamal Nelson, you get the illusion of a fat koala clinging to a young tree...... But every time the Celtics' opponents fast-break the frontcourt, they'll see this kid quickly get back to their three-point line, and when you're at the top of the arc, the occasional distraction will make him into the tent like a fierce dog and steal your talisman.

How did the Celtics lead Denver 77-38 at halftime in November? A: After Allen Iverson was twice — again, twice — when Rondo interrupted the ball from his hand and scored on a fast break.

Not far away shooting + lightning steal + pushing counterattack, this was Rondo's business card at that time.

The Celtics, who won 66 in the regular season that year, were dragged into Game 7 by the 37-win Infinity Rotation Eagles, and then won 99-65 to advance. In the first quarter of that game, Rondo, the shortest player in the game, had two frontcourt rebounds.

In the Finals that year, the Celtics vs. the Lakers. Whenever Coach Rivers made a mistake, he replaced him with the old Sam Cassel. In the sixth game, the Lakers put Rondo's jump shot, Rondo shot 1 of the first 5, and the Celtics shot 2 of the first 13, but Lao Li did not replace Rondo this time, allowing Rondo to push the rhythm and let the Celtics lead the score to 22-19.

In the second half of the second quarter, Rondo led the rhythm and ran a wave of 13-2 to break the tired Lakers. At the end of the first half, the Celtics were 58-35.

Rondo scored 10 points in the third quarter. Rondo had 21 points, 8 assists and 6 steals, including 15 points and 7 assists in the second half. In the end, the Celtics defeated the Lakers 131-92 to win the championship.

Rondo is a prairie fire. Frontcourt rebounds, backcourt steals, fast advances.

The next year, the 2008-09 season, saw the Celtics and the Chicago Bulls battle off seven games without KG, one of the most brilliant series in history. Derrick Rose, who will become the regular season MVP in two years, scored 36 points in the first game at Boston Garden.

In that series, Rondo averaged 19+9+12 per game, and Rose averaged 20+6+6 per game.

In the sixth game against the Bulls, Rondo had 19 assists, a playoff record in Celtics history. After that, he had to have 20 assists per game against the Knicks, a new team record.

The pinnacle of Rondo's career came the following year. The Celtics entered the Finals to play the Lakers again, and the Celtics led 3-2 at the end of the first five games. Fourth, fifth, consecutive steals in the final moments.

Rondo had a triple-double in Game 2 of the Finals: 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. He led the Celtic assault, and that day he fought like a magician sawing off 20 centimeters tall. At the end of the second game, when the old fish thought he had shaken off Rondo, he received a block from behind Rondo, and then Rondo cut off Kobe Bryant's ball and scored the 95th point of the game with a mid-range shot.

That's when he's KC Jones' defense + Cousy's fast-break playmaker, plus a little bit of Archibald's breakaway and Dennis Johnson's nonchalant but ruthless provocative response, or, a mini version of Magic.

If the Celtics win the championship, he could be the Finals MVP.

Of course, after Perkins was injured in Game 6 and the Lakers won the championship, all this is needless to say.

Yes, the Celtics still had a big three in 2010, but on the highest stage, Rondo was the one who shone brightest.

Two years later, he won the assist title, ranked eighth in the regular season MVP vote, and had three teams in the league for the first time in his career. This is his peak, but it is also his end.

In 2014, the era of the Big Three came to an end, and so did Rondo's peak.

Since 2014, he has been traveling in various teams. Except for the Lakers, they didn't stay with a team for more than one season. He accepted bench treatment with the Lakers and won the 2020 championship, but no team was willing to keep him for long.

Why?

On the one hand, there is his character. Rondo has an extremely stubborn personality, which is also the norm for many small defenders. Both McHale and Nance Sr. had elaborated:

The big guys are used to waiting for the ball since they were young, so most of them are depressed and stuffy gourds (except for the Sharks and McHale), and the small players are used to directing and settling on the field, and basically have a loud voice. So after retiring, it is easier for a point guard to be a coach than a big man to be a coach, because small people have a tough personality and can shout.

But small players are prone to extremes, such as the Spurs' 1999 championship captain Avery Edward, the short-tempered personality of the young general, who was unbalanced in the later stage and fought with his teammates in the locker room, so the Spurs hired him and let Parker be the point guard, and Duncan became the locker room boss, and a new era came.

Similarly, Rondo has a tough personality. He and Ray Allen's feud is well known, Kentrick Perkins even said that they came to the stadium with boxing gloves and fought at least two rounds in front of their teammates—— This story sounds tough and pretty scary.

And Rondo, by and large, has such a character. Coupled with his style of play, it could also explain that he didn't spend more than a year with any team after leaving the Celtics — except for the Lakers.

But another point, the way of playing.

Times are different.

2014 Notes:

Looking at the league, Rondo is probably the player with the most obvious strengths and weaknesses.

We know he's incredibly fast, he's got a lot of vision, he's got a good nose for rebounding, and at the end of every third quarter, everyone thinks "he's going to have a triple-double tonight" We also know that he can almost let go of the mid-range and close-range (the throwing and signature high-friction layups have regressed in the past two years), he can be air outside the three-point line, and the only threat is the free throw line further unguarded fixed-point shots, and we also know that because of this, he must always hold the ball, because when he is not holding the ball, his own offense is four to five.

His temper is inversely proportional to his size: his personality is as fierce and fierce as his style and competitiveness.

Presumably, Rondo needs a system that revolves around him, plus a lot of pick-and-rolls, ball screens and counter-attacks, and he constantly finds open teammates in the movement.

He's been one of the best passers in the league and is unbeatable on the counter-attack. It's like a miniature version of Kidd in every way.

But 2014, not 2008.

In the 2015-16 season, Rondo averaged 11.7 assists per game with the Kings, the league's assist leader. But no one seems to think that he was the league's top offensive playmaker that year, right?

That year, Rondo was sixth in the league in minutes per game, averaging 12 points, 12 assists and 3.9 turnovers in 8.1 minutes per game.

Paul averaged 8.5 minutes per game, 20 points, 10 assists and 2.6 turnovers that year.

LeBron, the MVP of the Finals that year, averaged 5.3 minutes per game and 25+7+7 per game. One hegemon in the east.

Curry, the regular season MVP that year, averaged 5.8 minutes per game and averaged 30 points and 7 assists per game. The team won 73.

At that time, there was even a word in the English forum, called Rondo Assist.

Finger: Pass to a good singles teammate, or to a cut-out teammate and get an assist.

— But the ball carrier doesn't disrupt the defense.

That's Rondo's problem: he passes well, he finds teammates, but after 2014, what ball carriers need is not just "finding open teammates", but "creating chances with individual attacks".

In fact, Rondo (which also includes the old fish, Conley, Meno and late Kidd) is among the players who "have a much higher assist count than they create chances".

Both Rondo and Kidd are known for pushing counter-attacks and taking advantage of fleeting opportunities, which they are very good at, but they are still a little short of creating their own chances out of thin air.

Kidd was notoriously offensive, but he actually brought to the New Jersey Nets in the finals, and he was still the team's leading scorer in the playoffs, even if it wasn't efficient, but he was only able to win the championship when he was with Dirk.

Conversely, in the 2015-16 season, Curry averaged 7 assists per game, but he created nearly 16 times per 100 possessions.

Similarly, Harden and Westbrook in 2017, Nash in 2007-10, Paul in 2008, and Curry in 2015 and 2016 are all leaders in this area.

Peak Rondo – 2011-13 – 16 assists per 100 possessions, 6 baskets, 3 three-pointers, and the rest are mid-range shots.

During the same period, Paul had 14 assists, six baskets and four three-pointers per 100 possessions.

During the same period, LeBron had 9 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 three-pointers per 100 possessions.

In the same 2010-12 season, Nash had 17 assists, eight baskets and four three-pointers per 100 possessions.

It's not that assists have to be on the ball, it's more because Rondo doesn't have the ability to directly disrupt opposing defenses and feed baskets and open shooters like Nash. His passing is always top-notch, but chances have to be created by individual attacking power – he can't.

In 2015-16, Rondo was the assist leader with 12 assists per game, while Curry was the scoring leader in the same year, and he also relied on his offensive threat to lead the Warriors to 73 wins.

Who represents a more advanced offensive direction, at a glance.

A great passer doesn't have to be a great offensive creator – Rubio, Ben Simmons, TJ McConnelle all that.

Rondo wasn't that extreme, but when he won his first championship, he had three big guys around him, and when he won his second championship, he was the coordinator of the Lakers' second team. He needs the ball, but he can't be the main attacker.

Come to this era.

The top eight assists per game so far this season, Haliburton, Luka, Jokic, Harden, Sabonis, LeBron, VanVleet, Cunningham, and the lowest scoring average per game Harden all have 17 points - of course, Harden holds a three-time scoring title, and no one will question his offensive ability.

The closest to a pure distribution of assists like Rondo is probably the two Jones of the Wizards and the Spurs - the Wizards are the bottom two in the East, and the Spurs are at the bottom in the West.

In this era, guards have to be able to disrupt defense with the ball and score threes without the ball.

Splitters who hold the ball for eight minutes, assists and turnovers add up to more points than they score are getting harder and harder to mix in this day and age.

Veteran setters like Lowry and Conley have been able to find their own teams everywhere, and they have also practiced a 40 percent three-point basket with the times.

And Rondo's two seasons without a contract are the echoes of the traditional point guard's closing the door.