Rondo-rrific!
“The Boston Celtics and Rajon Rondo have reached an agreement in principle on a contract extension, Rondo’s agent, Bill Duffy, said early Monday.” – Yahoo! Sports
First of all, excuse the irony but… YAHOOOOOO!!!!!
Ok… so what does this mean to the Boston Celtics?
Image provided by ESPN.com
Well, being able to lock up Rondo for the next 5 seasons is just about the biggest deal they could have made beyond somehow getting the Big 3 to get younger as time progresses.
Anchoring this team around a young and talented point guard like Rondo is key. He may seem to be growing now and learning the game and his role in it as time goes on but remember who he is learning it from. To have mentors like Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Sam Cassell (previously), Stephon Marbury (previously and questionably), PJ Brown(previously), Doc Rivers, and even at the top in Danny Ainge. That’s only 129 seasons of basketball PLAYING, 10 of coaching (Doc), and 5 years of being a NBA exec (Ainge).
With spending every day with 5 or so guys who have been in the league over 10 years each, Rondo is able to be one of those young guys who comes out to the court and plays “beyond his years”. He is able to take advice from players who have seen it all and done just about everything there is to do in this game and the expectation in his five year deal is that he will be able to take everything that he has learned and be the one solid figure to lead this team as the Big 3 and supporting cast all start to fade away into NBA eternity.
According to Boston.com, “Rondo will be paid a step below the league’s top points. Deron Williams ($17.5) and Chris Paul ($17 million) are the league’s highest paid points but Rondo exceeds veteran Steve Nash ($10 million).”
Not bad money for a 23 year old kid who no one was quite sure what he could do coming into what would be the 2007-2008 NBA Champion season for the Boston Celtics. When that team got started, all of the questions were about whether or not Rondo could lead this team at the point, if he could be a viable 4th option, and how he would handle the pressure of 3 of the game’s best athletes all looking for the rock. Well, it seems like those things have played out and done so very well and now Rondo has his money and his success.
I had done a piece for another blog that is no longer in existence last year that compared the similarities between Boston’s biggest little athletes (Rondo / Welker / Pedroia) and seemingly their paths have taken the same route. All three are now on the top of their game and representing the “runts” of the group if you will. Pedroia got his big contract last off season and now Rondo has his. Expect to see Rajon to be rockin’ out in a pimpin’ Hummer on a street near you very soon!
Where does Rondo go from here? Now that he is fat and happy, there are two options for him. He can either love the money and sit on it and roll around in his bed with it and forget that he got it by playing hard or he can use it to make him want to work harder and become one of, if not THE, best point guards in the NBA. His money says he is almost there and now he has incentive to get there and show the Celtics and the rest of the NBA that he has what it takes to be mentioned in the same breath as Chris Paul and DeronWilliams and then maybe some day he could be mentioned in the same breath as Cousy and Havlichek.
Rondo has been granted a great gift to get paid so much to be able to play along-side these guys. He should be able to take the knowledge that he has gained over the past 3 seasons and this year and focus it into leading this team into the future. As these older players start making their way off the team and out of basketball, it will allow the Celtics to make moves that will bring just about anyone with talent in and know that Rondo will lead the team both on the bench and on the floor. More so “back in the day” than now, NBA teams were led by their point guards. The man who brings the ball up the floor and decides who gets it and what plays are being called should be a leader on the floor and at this point the Celtics believe that Rondo has all of the tools to be that kind of point guard.
The league better watch out though, if he develops that jump shot that he has given us glimmers of hope on this season, Rondo is going to become an all around player and he means business.
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