Hardwood Houdini
Fansided

Boston Celtics: 3 reasons to pursue Rajon Rondo with the MLE

By Andrew Hughes

Oct 11, 2020; Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo (9) holds the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after game six of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena. The Los Angeles Lakers won 106-93 to win the series. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2020; Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo (9) holds the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after game six of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena. The Los Angeles Lakers won 106-93 to win the series. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
Boston Celtics Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Boston Celtics Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

Address backup point guard situation

The Los Angeles Lakers are champions of the league because of their elite playmaking. When the defenses tightened as much as possible, the Lake Show was able to find open looks because of the drive-and-kick abilities of LeBron James (obviously first and foremost), Alex Caruso, and Rajon Rondo from the lead guard/floor general spot.

It helped that Anthony Davis was so effective out of the double-team as well, but the 3-point sniping of Laker role players like Kenatvious Caldwell-Pope, Markieff Morris, and Danny Green (HA, got you) wouldn’t have been possible without the attention drawn by the primary playmakers on Los Angeles’ roster.

If the Cs were able to bring Rondo back into the fold, he’d scratch a lot of itches on this roster. As it stands, Kemba Walker’s absence on the floor means entrusting the offense to either a career-journeyman in Brad Wanamaker–albeit one that carried his weight in the postseason–or an erratic shooter in Marcus Smart who has the ability to shoot Boston out of games just as easily as he can shoot his way back into them.

The bar for a championship backup point guard has been set at Rondo, Fred VanVleet, and Shaun Livingston the past half-decade. Being that the Celtics have, you know, won a championship with Rondo, connecting the dots here shouldn’t be too stressful of an exercise.