by: Cole Riley
On the heels of his newly signed 5 yr/$55 million dollar contract extension, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is leading his team to the best record in the Eastern conference. So far, through eight games, Rondo has put up solid numbers (10.6 ppg, 9 apg, 3.1 spg) with the team posting a 7-1 record, but his potential this season is through the roof. In last season's playoffs, versus the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic, Rondo showed his ability at the entire league's leisure, averaging a near triple double with 16.9 ppg, 9.7 rpg, and 9.8 apg.
This Rondo kid is amazing. In this league today, which is dominated by guard play, you need, and I stress need, to have a star point guard who can control the pace of the game, handle the ball, and be the coach on the floor. This may sound cliché and all, but it's true. In these first eight games of the season, Rondo and the Celtics have had to face some of the best point guards in the league - Mo Williams, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, and the great one, Steve Nash. Now say if the Celtics let Rondo walk after this season, or, as the offseason buzz produced, they trade him away, who plays point? Eddie House? Marquis Daniels? Lester Hudson for crying out loud? It's got to be Rondo, a winner who has gotten statistically better after every season, and who has shown that he can control a team of perennial all-stars.
Rajon Rondo, a Kentucky alum in his fourth year in the NBA, was drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the 21st overall pick in the 2006 draft, then traded with Brian Grant of all people to the Celtics for a future first-rounder. That trade, that at the time looked so miniscule, has now given the Celtics their point guard of the future who would in-turn, lead them to a championship.
With his stats, his playoff experience, and that big old championship ring on his finger, Rondo is in that elite class of point guards of the NBA. Alongside New Orleans' Chris Paul, Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz, the Suns' Steve Nash, and Chauncey Billups of the Nuggets, Rajon Rondo is a force to be reckoned with for the next decade, and I'm pretty sure the Celtics' brass are happy about that.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN.com)
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