Top 5 Boston Celtics players of the 21st century
No. 3: Rajon Rondo
Rajon Rondo is a fascinating basketball case study.
The game has largely moved past his type of greatness. Game managers in the mold of Chris Paul or Rajon Rondo are changing their games to survive in a world where point guards need to be hyper-athletic quick-decision drivers, or elite shooters. The game manager archetype is going extinct and, with the extinction of that archetype, Rondo has had a tougher and tougher time finding a basketball home. He has bounced from Dallas to Sacramento to Chicago to New Orleans to Los Angeles, still looking for a place where his talent fits in.
But good god, was he something as a member of the Boston Celtics.
Rondo was drafted by Boston and played there for eight and a quarter seasons. He was viewed as a bit of a basketball novelty – a point guard with a 6’9 wingspan and goliath hands who could dish out 20 assists one night and grab 16 rebounds the next, all while playing top-level defense.
His basketball IQ was awe-inspiring. He would shift teammates inches to open up just the right amount of space, and hit people with passes that seemed impossible. Younger teammates would get hit in the face with balls until they wised up and realized they could get a pass from Rondo at any moment.
That basketball IQ helped him set up his three future-hall-of-fame teammates for big scoring nights even as they aged. It also led to fights with teammates and with coach Doc Rivers, who had trouble reeling in his mercurial star. But even still, Rondo was able to grow from plucky whiz kid to the team’s most important player.
He became famous for his quirky off-court persona, captured excellently in this Sports Illustrated feature story. While other Celtics would walk around distributing hugs and smiles at charity events, Rondo would perch in the corner and play challengers in Connect Four. He takes five showers on game days, the last one precisely 45 minutes before tip-off. He surprised an algebra class in Dorchester and wound up giving an impromptu lesson; the teacher told him she’d never seen someone solve equations in the way he did.
If his off-court quirks didn’t endear him to Celtics fans, his on-court intensity certainly did. He played with the not-here-to-make-friends mentality of old school players. Rondo famously got himself ejected pushing Kris Humphries, who had 50 pounds and 8 inches on him, after Humphries fouled Garnett in 2012. Rondo was in the midst of a streak of 37 games with 10 assists, but that didn’t stop him.
He regularly racked up 11 assist per game and 2 steal per game seasons, but it’s his postseason accolades that Celtics fans will remember. Nobody will ever forget him hanging 44 points and 10 assists on the Heat in Game 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. He played all 53 minutes, and scored all 12 of Boston’s points in overtime. Nor will anyone forget the game Rondo dislocated his elbow in the third quarter, then came back out and inspired the Celtics to a victory playing largely with one hand.
Rajon Rondo was a crucial part of the 2008 title team and a key cog in its playoff runs in the following seasons. Some will call the third spot overly generous, but he did more than enough to earn it.