Defense? No, Rondo is a negative on defense at this point in his career. Playmaking? Sure, at the expense of Monta's and Parsons' playmaking.
The only reason they want Rondo is his defense. They already have the best offense in the league. Why would they want to risk messing it up by giving the ball to a new guy?
Cool, maybe we can start talking about Morey actually improving areas of team need: a front court bench overhaul and a wing defensive specialist bench guy. I don't think Rondo gels in an offense that runs through Harden 60% of the time
Wasn't Cuban the one who spoke about how good he is at signing players who fit and bring good (attitude) to the locker room? Wellp he missed on this one badly.
We've been waiting a long time while all the other one and done playoff teams that were in the same position as the Rockets have made wholesale upgrades without altering their core and are now legitimate title contenders. See GSW, Memphis, and now Dallas (you could even throw LAC in that category if you want). All those teams could've been content to remain as is, but they want to win NOW while Maury wants "flexibility." Thus, the skepticism is warranted. As a matter of fact, in less than a decade, the Mavs went from making the Finals in 2006, which they should have won, to rebuilding and making the Finals again in 2011 and winning a championship and revamping their squad in 2014 to seriously compete for another title. Maury, for all his wheeling and dealing and all the praise he gets from his fans, has had virtually no positive results to show for it in the post-season, which is how success is measured in this league. As it currently stands, the Rockets are now the 6th best team in the West behind SA, GSW, Memphis, LAC, and OKC and staring directly at another one and done in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs. But, hey, at least the team still has that "flexibililty."
If you are Dallas, there is NO WAY you do NOT pull the trigger on this one, even if there is less than 50-50 chance of it making you better. Why? Because they gave up very little! The picks arent that important to the Mavs. They need to contend now, while Dirk can still play. They lost none of their starters. They lost Wright, who was a good backup big for them, but if that means you get Rondo, you DO it. Every single time. Mavs biggest weakness was the PG and they address that weakness by giving up very little. The biggest asset that Rondo brings to the Mavs team is what Kidd brought to them when the won the championship. Kidd distributed the ball and let the players do their thing. Rondo will be executing Carlisle plays now while Dirk , Ellis, Parsons, can come off screens, catch the ball, and make plays for themselves. You could criticize the Mavs for making this trade if they had to break up their core, but they didnt! As for the argument, "well if Chandler gets injured....".... ....that applies for EVERY team!! Weak argument to make yourself feel better. Imagine the problem [insert team here] would be in if [insert contributing player here] got injured. If Chandler got injured, they werent going anywhere with Brandon Wright to begin with. Excellent trade for the Mavs. PS. A year ago, we were contemplating Parsons or Rondo. A year later, Mavs have BOTH while Rockets got nothing in return for Parsons. Just saying....
Mavs roster after the trade: C - Tyson Chandler PF - Dirk Nowitzki SF - Chandler Parson SG - Monta Ellis PG - Rajon Rondo ----- C - Greg Smith PF - Dwight Powell PF - Charlie Villanueva SF - Al-Farouq Aminu SF - Richard Jefferson SG - Ricky Ledo PG - Devin Harris PG - Jose Barea PG - Raymond Felton
Repped, as I was going to make a similar point. People tend to overlook what Kidd did for that championship team. Rondo could have the impact of Kidd, but on steroids. Now, it will be up to Carlisle to get the players to strike the right balance, but the needed ingredients seem to be all there.
Mavs offense is already the best in the league. I'm not sure how much could Rondo improve it. He can distribute as well as anybody of course, but he will also take the ball away from Ellis and hurt the spacing. Mavs defense, on the other hand, sucks. As was pointed out before, Rondo is currently not a plus defender. To add to that, they had to give up the defensive anchor of the bench unit in Wright.
I really don't understand your logic. Are you talking about changes since last season? If so, what were the big changes made by GSW, Memphis or LAC? Golden State's only major addition was Shaun Livingston. Memphis added Vince Carter while losing Mike Miller and Ed Davis. Clippers added Hawes, Farmar and Udoh while losing Collinson, Dudley, Granger, Ryan Hollins and Willie Green. Since last season, we have 7 new players (Ariza, Papanikolaou, Johnson, Terry, Black, Dorsey,Capella). I'm not seeing where GSW, Memphis or LAC have made major changes or really even significant changes since last year. Houston on the other hand has changed out almost half the roster. I'm assuming the you're not talking about prior to the end of last season since Houston obviously made huge changes bringing in two superstars. Can you explain what the "wholesale" upgrades that GSW, Clippers and Grizzlies have made?
I didn't really want Rondo that badly for the Rockets. Boy, the price sure was low for the Mavs though. I can't believe they pulled this off. Good fit as long as Monta Ellis remains decent with less touches.
