Even though us Celtic fans have suffered through years of the Danny days, you have to give Mr. Ainge a lot of credit for this year's magic act. With Houdini retired, it didn't look like the 2006-07 Celtics team would just disappear. There was no way. But Danny Did It. Not "Flutie Did It" Danny Did It. The young and up and going nowheres were gone and replaced by a couple of Hall of Famers, Garnett and Allen, and a couple of cagey vets, House and Posey. Add the Hungry Man, Paul Pierce to the mix, and Danny's got a pretty tasty TV dinner on the table.
But winning an NBA Championship this year still seemed like it would take a minor miracle for the Boston Celtics. Compete? Obviously. Win 50 plus games? Highly likely. Win the Eastern Conference? Very possible. But knock off a powerful Western team and bring the Title back to Boston? Hmmm. If we had a leprechaun on our side, I'd say maybe?
Well, believe it or not, we do have a leprechaun on our side, he's just been sleeping on top of the rafters for about 20 something years. You can't blame him; he's been bored by such bad basketball over the years that he actually slept through the demolishing of the old Garden. I thought he'd never awaken, but that all changed when the BIG THREE part 2 arrived.
Old Lep rose from the rafter, straightened out his bow tie, scurried for his cane, grabbed a Guiness, and stumbled down to the parquet to see what all the fuss was about. There they were. Garnett, Allen and Pierce. The Gap Band. Lep loved what he saw and knew this Gap Band could play, but also knew that they weren't going to be able to close the gap between titles all by themselves. After all, lazy Lep hasn't seen the green raise a banner since 1985-86. Wow! What a nap.
Citizen Cane (that would be Lep) knew that this powerful three leaf clover was lacking something, he wanted another leaf. He knew that if they were going to get lucky enough to find that pot of gold at the end of the playoffs, they had to have it. Where would he find it? Well, Lep, let me introduce you to Rajon Rondo.
Rajon Rondo (22 years-old) is a second year player out of the University of Kentucky. I saw enough of this young Wild Cat last year to determine that he may become a good back up point guard at best. After watching 51 games this year, my last year's assessment couldn't be more wrongdo. Rajon has really impressed me this year. Although just a kid, he has developed faster than a picture in one of those $1 photo booths in the mall. But on a more serious note, Rajon's game is just a consistent jump shot away from making him one of the better point guards in the NBA. Unfortunately, a consistent jump shot isn't going to just pop out of a slot for $1. It will take a lot of practice, and he'll have to take more shots than Ole Lep at a Celtics Championship Party, if he wants to be the next Shooter Mcgavin.
Even if Rajon's jumper remains where it is now, he'll be fine. He's knocking down his share of 15 footers and that's all he really needs. It makes the defenders respect him a little, which consequently will open up a path to the hoop for him. Since Garnett went down, Rajon's been getting more and more aggressive in this capacity. He's taking the ball to the hole strong and either finding open bigs for a jam, completing 3 point plays with acrobatic shots, or kicking it out to Ray or Paul for wide open threes. Rondo has learned how to create and make plays. He's becoming a play-maker-the most important trait of a point guard.
To go along with his play-making skills, he's a good rebounder on offense and defense. He won a game against Dallas earlier this year with an offensive board and put back over Dork Nowitski in the closing seconds. And I can recall him grabbing plenty of boards on the other end to keep leads in tact. Rebounding guards are big time bonuses.
On the other side of the ball, his tenacious D is excellent. He's quick as a cat and can always stay with his opponents. And how about those long arms of his? They're the reason (along with quick hands) that he either deflects or steals a lot of passes. He's like Plastic Man out there. He's the only player I've ever seen steal a pass in front of the visitor's bench with one arm while the other's high fiving Scalabrine at his home, the Celtics bench.
The only defensive drawback I see for Rondo, is that bigger, stronger guards can muscle him in the post and pretty much have their way with him. A guy like Chauncey Billups comes to mind. I remember seeing him Back Rondo all the way to the hoop for easy lay ups. Tha'ts okay though. Rajon will get bigger and stronger and learn how to deal with those Detroit Bullies. A few more pull-ups and he'll be fine with Billups.
Rondo's numbers are by no means off the chats, but pretty well rounded. Add in his nose for the ball and defensive prowess, and you've got a pretty complete player. Check out his numbers through 51 games.
51 Games .49 FG% 4.3 RPG 4.7 APG 10.7 PPG
Not bad, eh?
Obviously when we acquired Garnett, Danny knew he had a gem on his hands. But Rajon Rondo has clearly been the diamond in the rough. He's young, talented, and surrounded by the perfect cast to help him grow as a basketball player. At the start of the season, Garnett said that Rondo would be an All Star within 5 years. It sounded far-fetched to me at the time, but now it just might be a matter of time. He's got a lot of work to do, but there's one thing I do know about Rajon. It won't be long before he's taking his game to the bank for some serious $Rondough$
