Rondo

[Eric Albert]

>"dforant1" <dforant1 at nycap.rr.com> wrote:
>
>I agree his % is great. How much of that is from lay ups? Those from his 
>drives and speed. I agree as assets. However, we've had a fairly light 
>schedule feeding on the less fortunate. I'm not a statistic digger. Do you 
>have stats to show he's holding his own compared to the other points he's 
>played against?

I just posted this info. I post it again below. Rondo seems to be holding his
own in terms of shooting, and, I'd say, more than holding his own in terms
of defense.

It's true Rondo probably gets the best looks of any point guard in the
league, but that's how this team is constructed, and the only requirement
for him is that he knock down the open shot when it appears. He's been
doing that, at a 46% rate. One bad shooting game (the most recent)
doesn't mean much.

His point guard skills are improving quickly, and noticeably. I've said it
before: if Ray Allen hit anything like a normal percent (for him) of the
incredibly open shots Rondo gets for him, Rondo would be one of the
top assist men in the league. It *really* hurts a point guard when he has
to find lots of shots for his best shooter and that shooter keeps missing
them, which is what Ray has done in almost every game this year.

If Ray was doing his job, Rondo would be a high-assist point guard 
shooting the highest percentage in the league with speed to burn and
excellent defense. Just what more do you want from a guy starting
his second year?

[stats below]

-- Eric

If there's one thing Rondo can do, it's finish. Just
watching him, he's got to be one of the top guards
in the league at this. And the numbers back it up;
he's shooting 65% when he's close to the hoop.

His jump shot's gotten respectable, too: he's
shooting 46% on two-point shots away from the
hoop. Isn't that more than enough to keep the
defense honest?

Rondo gets blocked 18% of the time when he's
close to the hoop. I think that's somewhat high,
but not awful. Garnett, for example, gets blocked
12% of the time in close.

The above data is from 82games:

    http://www.82games.com/0708/07BOS1A.HTM

    (Note that, since Rondo hasn't shot a 3-pointer
    this year, his eFG% is the same as his FG%.)

For comparison (all using eFG%, because 3-point
shots score more):

  Rondo: close to hoop: 65%; jump shot: 46%
  Billups: close to hoop: 63%; jump shot: 47%
  Kidd: close to hoop: 56%; jump shot: 42%
  C. Paul: close to hoop: 55%; jump shot: 50%
  B. Knight: close to hoop: 56%; jump shot: 36%