Los Angeles Lakers: Post All-Star break player rankings

11.) Rajon Rondo

Now that we’ve left the ‘garbage time’ players for this Lakers roster, we can now start to rank the players who see consistent minutes on a nightly basis. It shouldn’t really come as a shock to most of you that Rajon Rondo is the next player on this list.

Before we dive a little deeper into Rondo, let’s look at an overview of his season numbers — 7.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 13.8 PER. On the surface those don’t really seem like bad numbers for a back-up point guard, but the thing to keep in mind with Rondo is that for every one thing Rondo does well, there seem to be two things that he’s simply not good at.

For instance, he’s still a good passer and floor general, but the flip side to that is he’s a ball-stopper and an assist hunter. In terms of shooting, Rondo seems to give the illusion that he’s become a better 3-point shooter, but that simply isn’t the case. On the season, Rondo is averaging only 34.2% from three on 4.2 attempts per game, most of which are spot-ups.

Not only is Rondo a net negative player in terms of just raw stats, but when you take a look at some of the advanced metrics, you can come to a similar conclusion. Per CleaningtheGlass, the Lakers see a sharp decline in both offensive and defensive efficiency when Rondo is on the floor, with a -1 drop in points scored per 100 possessions, a -2.5% drop in eFG%, a +4.2 increase in opponent points scored per 100 possessions, and a +2.7% increase in opponent eFG%.

Finally when it comes to the eye test, you can clearly see the drop in performance from this Lakers team whenever Rondo is on the floor. Although the chemistry between him and Anthony Davis has gotten better as the season has gone along, it’s still nowhere near the level that it should be for two players who have previously played with each other.

We keep on hearing about ‘Playoff Rondo’ but until we actually see that person in the flesh — and there is no evidence to suggest that Rondo can still ‘turn it on’ in the playoffs — Rondo slots in at the No. 11 spot in this player ranking.