Is Rajon Rondo The Best Point Guard For The Future Boston Celtics?

Dec 7, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; With the Washington Wizards bench looking on, Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (9) tries to get around Washington Wizards forward

(43) during the second half of the Boston Celtics 101-93 win over the Washington Wizards at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

 But what about Rajon Rondo’s assists?

Clearly, the only reason Rondo isn’t the third point guard off of Boston’s bench is because he is an assist machine.  His 10.8 APG is tops in the NBA, he already has three triple double on the year, and he has the ability to make supremely difficult passes seem every day and commonplace, such as this one:

Rondo makes so many of these high-degree of difficulty passes seem like an every day occurrence, because for someone with his court vision, they are. Given a roster filled with a variety of offensive talent – a center who can play the pick and roll such as Tyler Zeller, a long-range sniper who can bury the three such as Ray Allen,  a deadly low-post threat such as Dirk Nowitzki– Rondo can shred defenses by exploiting any weakness that he identifies, and could lead a team to the NBA Finals.

However, for all of Rondo’s artistry, he is not a terrible efficient player.  His PER (player efficiency rating) is currently 14.58 – which makes Rondo the 159th most efficient player in the NBA.  For those of you who want to argue that Rajon Rondo is an elite point guard – does ranking 36th among NBA point guards qualify?   Especially knowing that there are only 69 players listed at that position?!?  Things improve slightly for Rondo if you look at his VA (value added) and EWA (estimated wins added) ratings – his VA of 34.3 and EWA of 1.1 put him solidly in the 27 spot among point guards.   But you certainly cannot qualify Rondo as an elite point guard when Brandon Knight, he of the Milwaukee Bucks, ranks higher than Rondo in PER (19.04), VA (88.5) and EWA (3.0), which statistically speaking makes Knight a top-20 point guard. Would I take Knight over Rondo?  Of course not.  But, ON THIS team, Rondo is NOT an elite point guard by any stretch of the imagination.