06-27-2006, 02:10 PM
Confusion extends to enigmatic Rondo
By Mark Story
HERALD-LEADER SPORTS COLUMNIST
The (insert throat-clearing sound effect here) "experts" say 2006 is the least predictable NBA Draft in decades.
No consensus No. 1 pick. No consensus on a top five (suddenly, Shelden Williams -- Shelden Williams? -- is a hot name). Same guys being mentioned both as possible lottery picks and in danger of falling out of the first round entirely.
Yet of the abundant mysteries in this most baffling of drafts, none is more enigmatic than our very own Rajon Rondo.
Projections on where the now-former Wildcat will go are as erratic as his jump shot.
AOL.com has Rondo going fifth in the draft (to point-guard-deprived Atlanta). Collegehoopsnet.com says he goes No. 13 (to the 76ers); something called hoopshype.com (which asks the question: "Did coach Tubby Smith hold Rondo back?") says No. 4 from Kentucky goes No. 17 to Indiana.
Not one but two cbs.sportsline.com writers project Rondo to Memphis at No. 24. Meanwhile, SI.com sees the chaos known as the New York Knicks in Rondo's future at No. 29.
Rondo, writes ESPN.com's Chad Ford, "has the most volatile stock in the draft. Could go as high as No. 7 (to the Celtics) or slip all the way to New Jersey at No. 22."
I well understand the confusion among the mock-draft geeks.
My firsthand memory of University of Kentucky basketball goes back to Tom Payne (and the 1970-71 season). In all that time, I've never been as conflicted over a player's worth as I am Rondo's.
Who is the real Rajon Rondo?
Is he the athletic freak of a 6-foot-1 point guard who snared 19 rebounds against a good Big 10 team (Iowa)?
Is he the guy who took to the baseline and performed a breathtaking nip/tuck on Louisville to the tune of 25 points and seven assists?
That guy not only will play in the NBA; that Rajon Rondo can be a standout.
Yet, here's the rub. What if the real Rondo is the guy who, in one horrid Saturday afternoon, had more misses in the RCA Dome (0-for-6 three-point shooting and six turnovers in UK's ugly loss to Indiana) than Peyton Manning did in an entire NFL season.
Is the real Rondo the guy who just kept pounding, pounding, pounding, pounding the basketball at the top of the key last season? The guard who occupied the ball so constantly his teammates wound up standing around watching him dribble away Kentucky's season.
And what does it say about the intangible value of a point guard when UK somewhat righted its listing ship in 2006 after Rondo was removed (temporarily) from the starting lineup.
Yesterday, Rondo was in Boston, working out along with guards Randy Foye (Villanova) and Marcus Williams (UConn) for the team with the No. 7 pick in the draft. Remember, Danny Ainge, the Celtics director of basketball operations, came to Lexington last winter to watch Rondo play in Rupp.
"I think I'm more of an uptempo-type point guard than Williams and Foye," Rondo told the Associated Press in Beantown.
Summing up nicely the dilemma that is Rondo, ESPN.com's Ford writes that "after Rondo's disappointing season for Kentucky, NBA teams are remembering in workouts why they were high on him at the start of the season. One of the best athletes in the draft, he also is an excellent defender and can run a team. Now, if he could just figure out that jump shot."
I don't think Rajon Rondo is ever going to "figure out that jump shot." His shot mechanics are too inconsistent and his hands too abnormally large ever to be a consistent perimeter stroker.
Yet, that isn't fatal. Tony Parker is not a great outside shooter. But the Spurs' point guard hit almost 55 percent of his shots last year because his devastating first step kept getting him into the lane for his patented teardrop runner.
For all the kvetching about Rondo's uglier than a hippopotamus jumper, he shot 48.2 percent from the field last year at Kentucky. He has an array of clever spin shots he makes on the move in the paint.
Can he get those in the NBA?
By acclamation, the best all-around point guard of this generation is a 40.2 career shooter. But Jason Kidd is valuable because he rebounds, sees the floor, is more unselfish than the United Way and, most importantly, has that elusive intangible of "making the players around him better."
Rajon Rondo did not show that latter quality at Kentucky. Does he have it? Can you develop it?
Wherever he's drafted, Rondo is going to make an NBA roster. He's too athletically gifted not to. After all, the immortal Royal Ivey made 66 starts as an NBA point guard (for Atlanta) last season.
But the question is whether Rondo is going to be a good player, a starting player, a winning player in the play-for-pay.
I'm guessing the answer will be yes.
But I'm glad I'm not the one who'll risk millions to find out.
By Mark Story
HERALD-LEADER SPORTS COLUMNIST
The (insert throat-clearing sound effect here) "experts" say 2006 is the least predictable NBA Draft in decades.
No consensus No. 1 pick. No consensus on a top five (suddenly, Shelden Williams -- Shelden Williams? -- is a hot name). Same guys being mentioned both as possible lottery picks and in danger of falling out of the first round entirely.
Yet of the abundant mysteries in this most baffling of drafts, none is more enigmatic than our very own Rajon Rondo.
Projections on where the now-former Wildcat will go are as erratic as his jump shot.
AOL.com has Rondo going fifth in the draft (to point-guard-deprived Atlanta). Collegehoopsnet.com says he goes No. 13 (to the 76ers); something called hoopshype.com (which asks the question: "Did coach Tubby Smith hold Rondo back?") says No. 4 from Kentucky goes No. 17 to Indiana.
Not one but two cbs.sportsline.com writers project Rondo to Memphis at No. 24. Meanwhile, SI.com sees the chaos known as the New York Knicks in Rondo's future at No. 29.
Rondo, writes ESPN.com's Chad Ford, "has the most volatile stock in the draft. Could go as high as No. 7 (to the Celtics) or slip all the way to New Jersey at No. 22."
I well understand the confusion among the mock-draft geeks.
My firsthand memory of University of Kentucky basketball goes back to Tom Payne (and the 1970-71 season). In all that time, I've never been as conflicted over a player's worth as I am Rondo's.
Who is the real Rajon Rondo?
Is he the athletic freak of a 6-foot-1 point guard who snared 19 rebounds against a good Big 10 team (Iowa)?
Is he the guy who took to the baseline and performed a breathtaking nip/tuck on Louisville to the tune of 25 points and seven assists?
That guy not only will play in the NBA; that Rajon Rondo can be a standout.
Yet, here's the rub. What if the real Rondo is the guy who, in one horrid Saturday afternoon, had more misses in the RCA Dome (0-for-6 three-point shooting and six turnovers in UK's ugly loss to Indiana) than Peyton Manning did in an entire NFL season.
Is the real Rondo the guy who just kept pounding, pounding, pounding, pounding the basketball at the top of the key last season? The guard who occupied the ball so constantly his teammates wound up standing around watching him dribble away Kentucky's season.
And what does it say about the intangible value of a point guard when UK somewhat righted its listing ship in 2006 after Rondo was removed (temporarily) from the starting lineup.
Yesterday, Rondo was in Boston, working out along with guards Randy Foye (Villanova) and Marcus Williams (UConn) for the team with the No. 7 pick in the draft. Remember, Danny Ainge, the Celtics director of basketball operations, came to Lexington last winter to watch Rondo play in Rupp.
"I think I'm more of an uptempo-type point guard than Williams and Foye," Rondo told the Associated Press in Beantown.
Summing up nicely the dilemma that is Rondo, ESPN.com's Ford writes that "after Rondo's disappointing season for Kentucky, NBA teams are remembering in workouts why they were high on him at the start of the season. One of the best athletes in the draft, he also is an excellent defender and can run a team. Now, if he could just figure out that jump shot."
I don't think Rajon Rondo is ever going to "figure out that jump shot." His shot mechanics are too inconsistent and his hands too abnormally large ever to be a consistent perimeter stroker.
Yet, that isn't fatal. Tony Parker is not a great outside shooter. But the Spurs' point guard hit almost 55 percent of his shots last year because his devastating first step kept getting him into the lane for his patented teardrop runner.
For all the kvetching about Rondo's uglier than a hippopotamus jumper, he shot 48.2 percent from the field last year at Kentucky. He has an array of clever spin shots he makes on the move in the paint.
Can he get those in the NBA?
By acclamation, the best all-around point guard of this generation is a 40.2 career shooter. But Jason Kidd is valuable because he rebounds, sees the floor, is more unselfish than the United Way and, most importantly, has that elusive intangible of "making the players around him better."
Rajon Rondo did not show that latter quality at Kentucky. Does he have it? Can you develop it?
Wherever he's drafted, Rondo is going to make an NBA roster. He's too athletically gifted not to. After all, the immortal Royal Ivey made 66 starts as an NBA point guard (for Atlanta) last season.
But the question is whether Rondo is going to be a good player, a starting player, a winning player in the play-for-pay.
I'm guessing the answer will be yes.
But I'm glad I'm not the one who'll risk millions to find out.