Los Angeles Lakers: How Rajon Rondo will kill any NBA Finals chances

Has anyone heard this phrase before? Rajon Rondo is a basketball savant.

The second Rajon Rondo put on a Laker uniform, analysts all have said the same thing over and over again. “Rajon Rondo is a basketball savant”.  For this article, the definition was looked at what the term really meant courtesy of the Cambridge Dictionary.

Savant: A person with a high level of knowledge or skill, especially someone who is less able in other ways.

Based on the body of work this season, Rajon Rondo is a basketball savant. He has a very high level of skill in the game of basketball. It’s just that he is manipulating that knowledge to stay relevant on the roster which will come back to bite the Lakers in the postseason.

In the day and age of social media where video clips are all the rage for NBA fans, all Rondo needs is two highlight plays and the savant narrative to get over. Does this play look nice here?

In the final game before the All-Star break against the Denver Nuggets, Rondo throws an alley-oop to Anthony Davis for the slam dunk. As you can see, the highlight is on Twitter.

Now let’s take a look at the reality of the situation. It was his only assist in 14 minutes. He had more fouls (3) than points (2) and rebounds (1). To further this point, he had a plus/minus of -5.

Couple Rondo’s knowledge of the game with a player like AD, who you can throw a lob within three blocks of the rim, he does get assists that look like nice reads.

But let’s look deeper into what he does for everyone else that doesn’t have max-level contracts. Most of the passes are off-with the shot clock running down putting them in bad positions. These passes bog the offense to a halt and a turnover percentage of over 20 percent.

Let’s take a look at the games when Rajon Rondo played very well. A short look.