Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Players who must improve to win a title

Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo’s been playing alongside LeBron, AD, Danny Green, and McGee in LA’s starting unit to open the preseason, and Vogel’s also gone out of his way to praise Rondo in the media.

So, it appears that Rajon Rondo’s going to play a more prominent role for the Lakers this upcoming season than many folks predicted.

If Rondo does soak up heavy minutes for the Lakers, he needs to improve upon his play from last season, because he’s been living off his reputation as a great defender for far too long now.

It’s incredibly difficult for an NBA player to rise above the hundreds of other gifted individuals who compete in the association and become a perennial All-Star. However, once a player does develop into a star, then his reputation is made, and it’s nearly impossible for him to lose his status as one of the game’s most outstanding performers.

Kobe Bryant’s an excellent example of this phenomenon. Kobe made a name for himself as not just a great scorer, but a two-way menace who took pride in shutting down the opposing squad’s best player. While Kobe was in his prime he was one of the best defenders in the NBA; yet, after he won his fifth title in 2010, “Black Mamba” openly admitted that he no longer had the energy to play great defense consistently. It didn’t matter though, because he had already solidified his reputation as the league’s premier ballhawk and he was named NBA All-Defensive first team in 2011 and NBA All-Defensive second team in 2012.

Rondo’s also made many All-Defensive teams; thus, he too has the prestige of a great defender. The league-wide respect thrown at Rajon has lingered for years like the odor from a wet dog rolling on your sofa.

The recognition that Rondo soaks up for his defensive abilities is absurd. Almost every advanced stat available from last season shows that Rondo was the Lakers worst defender.

Here are a few examples:

• Opposing teams scored 7.5 points more when Rondo was on the floor (last on the Lakers).
• He allowed his assignment to shoot 3.9 percentage points better than his average (2nd to last on the Lakers).
• Rondo had 0.046 defensive win shares (last among all Lakers regular rotation players).

If Rondo sees big minutes next season, he must play better defense than he did during his first year on the Lakers. If not, it won’t matter how good LBJ, AD, McGee, and Green perform, because the excess of talented point guards in the Western Conference will eat Rondo up and wreak havoc on LA’s defense.

Rondo used to take pride in shutting down opposing point guards, but in recent years his exceptional attitude has been replaced with an approach to defense that’s been borderline negligent.

We’ve all seen the way “National TV Rondo” has upped his intensity and performed at a high level on defense when he gives effort. If the Lakers are going to build up the cohesive unit necessary to march towards a championship, then Rondo’s going to have to perform like “National TV Rondo” on defense throughout every contest during the regular season.