Can Doc Find a Way for Rondo to Shine Every Night?

The 2009 playoffs provided Rajon Rondo with a Charles Dickens moment, as Rondo was the best player on the floor – by far – in the Chicago series. In a few of the games his play – routinely producing triple doubles – was mesmerizing. He played at a level, if extended through a regular season, that would make him one of the 10 best players in the league. Much of the Cs immediate success and how long the Cs window of contention in the Garnett-era depends upon how Rondo develops in 2009-10. If it is the Rondo of the Bulls series, and KG and the other geezers are at full health, the Cs chances of banner 18 are quite good. And if Perk and Big Baby improve over the next two or three years as well, the Cs would remain a contender until 2012, as the Big Three are in the process of becoming the Gray Three. Those are a lot of “ifs,” but none of them are outside the realm of reasonable outcomes.

LINK

There was a reason I blogged about Bill Sharman and the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers over the summer. Bill Sharman took a roster that included a few geezers, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor, a young gun at starting forward, Jim McMillian, and everyone else in between. The team also included disparate personalities. Wilt and Elgin were bigger-than-life know-it-alls, while Jerry West was an introverted, hypercritical player who saved his harshest critiques for himself. The previous season the Lakers were a slow and plodding team that played little defense.

Somehow Bill Sharman converted that roster into one of the greatest teams of all time. Chamberlain started playing a Bill-Russell brand of basketball, meaning defense first and ball-movement second. Gail Goodrich and Jerry West fast-breaked liked never before, while Jim McMillian carved out an important role, despite being a fifth wheel.

Doc Rivers has already shown he can lead the Celtics to the mountain top. But there will be no shortage of opportunities for him to play Maestro again. Finding a way for Rajon Rondo to be his best player on a roster with Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen might put his orchestral abilities to their biggest test yet.