Los Angeles Lakers: Rajon Rondo will make a significant impact

With most of the attention this offseason focused on LeBron James taking his talents to Venice Beach to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s easy to overlook the effect that another veteran and NBA champion will have on their team

This has been one of the greatest offseasons in Los Angeles Lakers history. As many predicted, they snagged LeBron James and signed several other veteran free agents to fill out the rest of the roster.

While it’s understandable that the mainstream media would have their doubts about whether Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee will contribute in a positive way, they are really sleeping on and doubting the impact that another newcomer will have – Rajon Rondo.

It’s easy to forget how good Rondo is and has been over the past decade or so. Drafted 21st by Phoenix in 2006 (ironically, using a draft pick that the Lakers originally traded to Boston in 2004), his first two years were pretty quiet. He looked promising, but not impressive.

He blossomed in the 2008-09 season, especially during that legendary first round battle royale with Chicago, then backed it up with a superb postseason in 2010 where he averaged 15.8 points, 9.3 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 46.3 percent from the field. He even shot 37.5 percent from 3-point range, which was particularly outstanding considering that he couldn’t shoot a lick from the outside back then.

Along the way, he turned Boston’s big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen into a quartet. He was a super important part of this core until 2013 when Celtics GM Danny Ainge decided to trade Garnett and Pierce, get some value for them and rebuild.

Since then, Rondo has been something of a vagrant. He’s played for a different team each of the last four seasons, and the talk has been that while he’s still a good point guard, he isn’t the elite force he was not that long ago.

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Rondo answered those critics by putting up 12.2 assists and 7.6 rebounds a game in the 2018 playoffs as he led New Orleans to a surprising upset over Portland in the first round.

All this proves that Rondo has been, and is still a passing savant, as he’s led the league in assists three times, including just a couple years ago in Sacramento. He is also very smart and a student of the game.

According to reports, once he signed his one-year contract with the Lakers, he immediately asked to meet the team’s film coordinator so that he could study video of his new teammates and their tendencies.

That passing acumen and overall savvy will be felt this season. The Lakers, from Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka to head coach Luke Walton, have been adamant and vocal about being a fast break team. Rondo is not only deadly in transition, but he has shown the ability to make those thread-the-needle passes to find teammates who are only partially open.

Rondo has also improved his 3-point shooting over the years. Over his first nine seasons, he shot only 26.3 percent from downtown, and it was clear that outside shooting was his one huge weakness. When the Lakers played his Celtics in the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010, Phil Jackson had Kobe Bryant guard Rondo by sagging off of him and playing like a free safety, daring Rondo to make those prove-it-to-me shots from the outside.

However, the last three seasons Rondo has shot 35.8 percent from beyond the arc. While that’s not exactly Steph Curry territory, it’s very respectable. If he continues to hit threes at that rate as a member of the purple and gold, at the very least he will not be a liability from the perimeter.

In the past, Rondo was also one of the better defensive point guards in the NBA. While he has fallen off somewhat in that category in recent years, he still has the knack to pick his opponent’s pockets and get deflections that lead to turnovers and transition opportunities.

Defense will be a huge key in determining how good the Lakers will be, as it’s almost a certainty that they’ll be an offensive powerhouse.

Last, but not least, are the intangibles that Rondo will bring both on and off the court. As a 12-year veteran who has an NBA world championship ring, his words are sure to carry plenty of weight in the locker room. If not for an epic choke job in the second half of Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, Rondo would be the proud owner of two world championship rings.

That’s something that this Laker team sorely needs, as they are still, by and large, a very young and inexperienced crew.

Having both won and lost in the championship series, Rondo will be able to teach guys like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and even fellow veterans who haven’t won a ring, such as Stephenson and Beasley, what to do and what not to do come playoff time.

Although he has a reputation for being somewhat prickly and forbidding, his recent teammates have also had plenty of positive things to say about Rondo’s presence and influence in the locker room as a leader and an elder statesman of sorts. Look for him to be a mentor to a guy like Lonzo Ball, who has the potential to become a Rondo-like player in the near future.

My fellow Laker fans, don’t sleep on the impact Rondo and these other veterans will make this upcoming season. If you were around when Ron Harper, A.C. Green and John Salley helped get Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal over the hump in the 1999-2000 season, you’ll know exactly what I mean.