What a Difference KG Makes

Bill Simmons writes:

Sorry for bastardizing "Leo the Late Bloomer," one of my daughter's favorite bedtime stories and a true classic. But I couldn't help it. Not only has Rajon Rondo's belated emergence been the most fascinating subplot of a storybook Celtics season, but he's just like the character in that book. Like Leo, Rondo never spoke. Like Leo's father, Celts fans spent an inordinate amount of time wondering when Rondo would "draw" (in this case, play with consistency) or "write" (in this case, bang home open jumpers). Leo had patient parents who believed in him; Rondo had veterans such as Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, role models who provided the confidence and toughness he desperately needed, eventually springing him from his on-court shell and altering the course of his career. We always hear about the value of young teams adding veterans, but after watching the effects over the course of an 82-game season, it's probably impossible to exaggerrate the importance of polished, professional, competitive, proven veterans on young guys who don't know what the hell they're doing.

I think this is pretty far off-base. The reality is that Rajon Rondo played pretty well for a terrible 2006-2007 Celtics team. When you added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the mix, had Paul Pierce play a full season, and rounded out the rotation with some decent veterans, the team was much better. That put Rondo in a position where people notice that he plays pretty well. But relative to last year, he's rebounding is a bit worse, his free throw shooting is a bit worse, and his field goal percentage is better. None of that would be shocking for a guy of his age, but it's especially non-shocking when you consider that it's harder to rebound when you're competing with the Big Ticket and better teammates give him more open looks.

He's a pretty good player, and deserves credit for contributing to the team. But there's no dramatic transformation here.