Boston Celtics: Now Is the Time to Lay off Rajon Rondo
The 2012 season has been one of great speculation for the Boston Celtics.
Will Danny Ainge break up the Big Three?
Is Kevin Garnett past it?
Is Ray Allen still worth it?
However, no player on the Celtics roster has received as much attention as Rajon Rondo—who for many, appears to be the trade option that Boston must use to receive some better players.
The season so far has seen great speculation about whether or not the All-Star point guard should be traded, or whether he should stay and the let the team be built around him.
Every time he misses a jumper—Should we trade him?
Every time he racks up a turnover—Is he really worth it?
Every time the Celtics lose—Can he lead the team to victory?
Yet, amongst all that talk and criticism, Rondo is having one of his greatest seasons ever; not in terms of winning basketball games and sitting atop the Eastern Conference, but with the numbers that he's putting up on a consistent basis.
I'm not looking to debate whether or not Rondo is a viable trade option; I'm simply trying to emphasize the significance of his 2012 numbers in the playoff chances of the Boston Celtics.
By taking a closer look at his numbers, it's clear that Rondo is not only worth keeping, he's the best player on the team and he's possibly just kept his Celtics jersey in the process.
How? Here are four tables to help us:
The first table is the 2012 stats that the Boston Celtics players have put up so far. I've taken the Big Three, Rondo, Brandon Bass and Jermaine O'Neal because they're the six that the starting five is composed of.
| Rajon Rondo | Ray Allen | Paul Pierce | Kevin Garnett | Jermaine O'Neal | Brandon Bass | |
| PPG | 14.3 | 14.7 | 18.0 | 15.2 | 5.0 | 11.9 |
| RPG | 5.4 | 2.9 | 5.0 | 8.1 | 5.4 | 6.0 |
| APG | 10.2 | 2.6 | 5.4 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 1.0 |
| SPG | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| TO | 3.7 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| FG% | 0.467 | 0.475 | 0.432 | 0.503 | 0.433 | 0.487 |
These are the numbers that everybody looks at for their assessment of Rondo's worth in the team, and they often do so with a vision of what they want the statistics to say.
The table above can say that the All-Star point guard has the most turnovers, the least amount of points from the Big Four and the third-worst field goal percentage of the lot.
Alternatively, it could highlight that Rondo averages more rebounds than Paul Pierce, and in the same league as O'Neal and Bass. He averages over 10 assists per game—first on the team—and also leads the teams in turnovers.
Rather than debate the worth of these statistics though, let's break it down a step further:
| Rajon Rondo | Ray Allen | Paul Pierce | Kevin Garnett | Jermaine O'Neal | Brandon Bass | |
| PPG | 12.5 | 14.1 | 19.7 | 15.9 | 6.5 | 13.0 |
| RPG | 5.9 | 1.8 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 5.4 | 6.2 |
| APG | 11.5 | 2.4 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| SPG | 1.5 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| FG% | 0.468 | 0.452 | 0.456 | 0.556 | 0.544 | 0.511 |
Now the numbers start to become a little more interesting, as we can see the differences between their season totals compared to when the Celtics come out with a win.
Ray Allen's shooting percentage drops significantly, whilst the numbers of Garnett, Pierce and the "other" forwards, all go up. Rondo is averaging now 11.5 assists (up 1.3 on season) despite averaging less points (down 1.8 on season).
Yet at one level, it's easy to score points when you're winning. Your numbers should go up as opposed to your season totals because you're scoring more points, chalking up more assists and making more stops on defense.
Seeing somebody's numbers increase from their season total in games they are winning is a helpful place to start, but doesn't offer the insight like their numbers when playing on the losing side:
| Rajon Rondo | Ray Allen | Paul Pierce | Kevin Garnett | Jermaine O'Neal | Brandon Bass | |
| PPG | 16.1 | 15.2 | 15.7 | 14.1 | 3.9 | 10.2 |
| APG | 8.8 | 2.8 | 4.3 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| RBG | 4.8 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 8.2 | 5.4 | 5.7 |
| SPG | 1.8 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| FG% | 0.466 | 0.468 | 0.396 | 0.440 | 0.333 | 0.448 |
Now we're starting to get in to the good stuff, as we see that when the Celtics lose, a couple of things also occur:
Firstly, the numbers of Pierce and Garnett slump dramatically, Pierce more than Garnett. They are down across all categories compared to their season numbers, and may hint as to the reason behind Boston losses.
Secondly, the points Rondo averages increase significantly. His assists are down—largely due to the offensive struggles of Pierce and Garnett—as are his rebounds, but his points total is up a great deal from when the Celtics win games.
This may be as a result of him taking more shots and therefore, scoring more points. This is true to some extent, though the increase is not large enough to give much weight to this argument.
His shooting numbers—field goal percentage and average points—are higher than his season averages, but not drastically high as to suggest that he is dominating possession.
The numbers above simply reflect that when the Celtics struggle as a team to score points and make stops on defense, Rajon Rondo bucks that trend.
His consistency is a large reason why the Celtics have won five-in-a-row and are making waves in the Eastern Conference again. Boston may not be winning in dominant fashion over the Thunder, the Heat or other championship favorites, but they are still definitely in competition—shown with their recent win over the Chicago Bulls.
As for their numbers when they play one of the top sides, well that's below.
For those playing along at home, I've taken the numbers from games they played against the top four teams in each conference. So from the East we have Chicago, Miami, Orlando and Philadelphia and from the West we have Oklahoma City, San Antonio and both Los Angeles sides.
Note: Celtics have only played five of these teams to date (Chicago, Miami, Oklahoma City, Orlando and Los Angeles Lakers)
| Rajon Rondo | Ray Allen | Paul Pierce | Kevin Garnett | Jermaine O'Neal | Brandon Bass | |
| PPG | 17.3 | 19.1 | 18.8 | 13.5 | 3.8 | 9.9 |
| APG | 9.8 | 3.1 | 5.8 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
| RBG | 8.8 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 9.8 | 6.1 | 5.3 |
| SPG | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 0.6 |
| FG% | 0.476 | 0.479 | 0.393 | 0.434 | 0.238 | 0.409 |
Against the top sides, Rondo shines again in comparison with his season averages.
Together with Ray Allen, the two guards lead the team in all but rebounding, and are significantly better than the rest of the team in terms of shooting percentage and proximity to season numbers.
His consistency is greater than the Big Three and rightly establishes himself as a valuable part of the Big Four and Boston's success.
2012 may not be the year that the Boston Celtics hoist the championship trophy again, and it may not be the year in which Rondo is crowned the Most Valuable Player of the league.
However, as we've seen so far, it is the year in which Rondo will lead Boston to many wins in terms of his numbers and his overall performance.
When his side wins, he increases his assists and defense, so that his team performance will result in a win for the Celtics. He will fight to the death when his side is losing and will emerge from those encounters with superior numbers to his other starters and when they play their "big" games, Rondo steps up like a big player does.
For when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Rajon Rondo is not only tough; he's proving to be the backbone of this Celtics team.
Give him a break, lay off him with the criticism and let him play basketball.
Which he's doing very, very well.
Read more articles by Dan here or follow him on Twitter: @dantalintyre
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