Los Angeles Lakers Should Stay Away From Rajon Rondo
By Pablo Jacobo
Let the rumors begin for the Los Angeles Lakers. After wrapping up the franchise’s worst losing season in history, the purple and gold have an exciting offseason ahead of them. Three draft picks and enough cap space to sign one or two impact players to their roster.
One such player, according to reports, is a “virtual lock” to sign in Los Angeles and that is enigmatic point guard Rajon Rondo. Reports have the 6-foot-1 floor general joining forces with his former arch nemesis Kobe Bryant. He mysteriously picked up a back injury in the playoffs possibly ending his stint with the Dallas Mavericks. Should the Lakers be concerned?
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Absolutely! They should be concerned. Don’t kid yourself; the back injury is a fabrication for the trade that completely failed. He was benched by HC Rick Carlisle in the second half of a playoff game. Rondo never fit in with Dallas. No one can forget the verbal jawing between Carlisle and Rondo during the Mavs game. Throughout his career he’s been notoriously known to be hard to get along with. He had well documented issues with Clippers’ HC Doc Rivers and future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The Lakers should be wary of this and stay away.
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Adrian Wojnoraski humorously mentioned on the Beast 980 that Rondo will have plenty of time to heal his back until his Lakers introductory press conference. He certainly played himself out of a max deal in the summer. The Lakers would be crazy to offer Rondo anything over $5 million. Do you honestly think a stubborn Rondo is going to get along with Bryant? They have tremendous respect for each other, but when it hits the fan, there will be problems. Their relationship will be a ticking time bomb, especially since the Lakers are not expected to contend any time soon.
Bryant has been relentless in his pursuit of Rondo, from the breakfast in Boston, to his comments to the media that he will not stop recruiting the point guard until he signs an extension. I don’t think Rondo is a franchise-changing player any more. He has not been the same since coming back from ACL surgery. It’s a difficult injury to bounce back from. Even he’s admitted that he hasn’t played any defense in a while. Dallas actually got worse when they acquired Rondo.
Winning percentages this season. Not to pile on, but... pic.twitter.com/4N2QQUjxo6
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) April 22, 2015
Rondo refused to sign an extension in Boston because he didn’t want to be part of a rebuilding project. Boston has nice young players like Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk to name a few, plus draft picks and cap space to turn their fortunes around quickly. Are the Lakers not a rebuilding project as well? It puzzles me why he would leave a team that’s championship-ready (not anymore) to join an uncertain situation in Los Angeles. Is Rondo really going to make the Lakers better?
Before Rajon Rondo trade, Mavericks were on pace for highest off. effic in NBA history. After trade, off. effic dropped by > 9 pts/100 poss
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 22, 2015
I think the Lakers would be better served to sign younger players like Tobias Harris (22) and Greg Monroe (24). Those two players fit the profile of what the Lakers are trying to do, which is to build a younger team. Bryant’s illustrious career is coming to an end. Signing Rondo would be catering to Bryant and will completely go against Mitch Kupchak’s comments about bringing in veterans to give Kobe one last shot at a title.
A frontcourt of Julius Randle, Monroe, and Harris alongside Bryant and budding star Jordan Clarkson is a solid starting unit. Add Jabari Brown, Tarik Black, Ryan Kelly and maybe Ed Davis plus three picks (including a top-5 pick) and you have a nice foundation for the future. For arguments sake, let’s say D’Angelo Russell or Emmanuel Mudiay is the Lakers’ lottery pick. That’s not a bad backcourt for Bryant to mentor.
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The Lakers don’t want to stunt Clarkson’s growth by adding another ball-dominant guard. The 6-foot-5 combo guard got increasingly better as the season progressed. His mindset is in the right place as he will play in the summer league and continue his progression. Clarkson will be able to learn much more with Bryant by his side.
Moreover, with Bryant possibly out of the picture in 2016, a young team in place, a higher salary cap and enough cash to throw at free agent-to-be Kevin Durant, the future doesn’t look as dull. It’s a hypothetical scenario of course, but you get my point. I’m curious to see if Laker fans still want the Lakers to sign Rondo in the offseason.