Columnist Analysis 1: The Rajon Rondo conundrum (March 10, 2013)

(Link: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/03/10/the-rajon-rondo-conundrum/F5VdqLC6S4HFdvCce9RLDO/story.html)

In this column, Bob Ryan explains the quandary surrounding the Boston Celtics since superstar point guard Rajon Rondo tore his ACL in late January. Ryan explains that since the Celtics have a bevy of talented players, the team has been able to succeed without Rondo. This column is a feature because it focuses on one specific issue, the Celtics’ loss of Rondo. Ryan explains both sides of how the Celtics have been affected without their point guard, but then discusses the importance of the injury. He states that Rondo must change his ways because of how the Celtics have been able to perform without a true point guard who “pounds the ball for 20 or more seconds on the 24-second clock before perhaps taking it to the hoop in the hopes of an 11th-hour drive-and-dish assist, perhaps in a hopeless situation.”

Ryan is pessimistic about Rondo’s ability to change when he returns to the team for the 2013-14 season because Ryan continues, “The important question is this: What is Rajon Rondo seeing? Is he taking notes and preparing himself to make some major adjustments in his game when he returns? Or is he blind to all of this?” Ryan is successful in making his point that Rondo is most likely oblivious to his surroundings in this situation because he makes the reader ponder many questions at the end of the column: “Does he look in the mirror and see the man who was going to start the All-Star Game doing it His Way? Does he figure that when he returns, it’s everyone else that will have to change, not him? I’m afraid I know the answer. What do you think?” Ryan even involves the audience into the column asking for the reader’s opinion in his last line because Rondo is such a confusing player to be around.

I agree with Ryan’s standpoint here that Rondo needs to be aware of how this 2012-13 Celtics team has scratched and crawled to make the playoffs after having seen Rondo as well as Jared Sullinger, their best rebounder, go down with season-ending injuries. Without those two players, the Celtics are an interesting bunch of aged stars and young role players. If Rondo wants to mesh with next season’s squad, then he will need to change his ways. He cannot expect the rest of the team to cater to him because he controls the basketball for most of the shot clock. Ryan states, “A player can wrap up his identity in “assisting” to the degree that it can become counterproductive. He passes up shots he should take in the hopes of getting an assist. He will not make the proverbial pass-before-the-pass that would lead to someone else getting the assist.” Rondo cannot continue to be a selfish passer if he wants to continue progressing into one of the league’s best players.