Rajon Rondo and the Cul-De-Sac of Doom

NBA fans know very well that some teams are trapped in the hopeless middle.  More than any other league, one needs a transcendent superstar to win an NBA title.  If your doesn't have one, the best way to get one is to  live in a city like New York, Miami, or Los Angeles that a superstar will consider when he becomes a free agent.  Otherwise, the best way to get a superstar is to be so awful that you can get a high draft pick and draft a superstar.

What that means for the contemporary NBA is as follows

1. Have a superstar, and have hope for right now: Miami (the favorites), Oklahoma City, Chicago, Orlando (if Dwight stays), the Clippers, the Lakers, Memphis (if Z-Bo comes back and is really the guy he was in last year's playoffs), and Dallas
2. Have young potential superstars on their roster, so might get there in a few years: Cleveland, Washington, and Sacramento (BIG CUZ COME UP!!)
3. Truly terrible teams with a good chance of getting the first pick in this year's draft, aka the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes: Charlotte and New Orleans
4. Completely Screwed: Everyone else

None of what I just wrote is news to NBA fans.  Today, however, I'd like to think of the plight of players on Class Four teams.  Specifically, let's talk about Rajon Rondo.

I am a known Rondo hater, because he can't shoot and he is always scowling, a habit he may have picked up from former teammate, close friend, and officially TWEDP enemy Kendrick Perkins.  However, in last night's discussion with This Substantial Nonsense, I realized how unfair the NBA media and public are to Rondo.  Rondo is not good enough to be the best player on a title team, but he is still one of the 15 best players in the league.  Besides his complete inability to make a jump shot, he does literally everything.  He is a one-man fast break who is fantastic in transition.  He defends as well as any point guard in the league.  He and Russell Westbrook are the two heirs to Jason Kidd's title of Best Rebounding Point Guard.  Most of all, he finds the open man and puts his teammates in the best possible position to score better than any point guard east of Steve Nash.

And what is Rondo's reward for his transcendent play?  He plays with one star at the very tail edge of his prime (Peezy), a star who has aged into an incredibly valuable role player (Ray Allen), and an over-the-hill bully who likes to scream at things, as long as he knows they won't scream back (man, I hate KG).  His GM is terrible, so the rest of his roster has one or two valuable pieces (peace to Brandon Bass) and a whole lot of crap.  Because everyone is old, the Celtics can't run, so Rondo can't play the way that would be most effective for him.  Worst of all, he deals with a pampered, ungrateful fan base that recognizes he's the team's best player, which entitles them to blame him because, OMG, Boston fans are so tortured, we haven't won a major sports title in NINE WHOLE MONTHS.

So, of course, now Rondo's name is in trade rumors, and because the Celtics have a horrible GM, a trade is possible.  Hell, because the Celtics aren't going anywhere, maybe the horrible GM is trying to bottom out and get a ticket in the Anthony Davis Raffle.  A trade would be the best thing that could happen to Rondo.  He'd go from a pampered fan base to a place that might actually appreciate the staggering diversity of his talents.  His new team might not be populated with fossils, so they could run more, which would make Rondo even more valuable.

In a new situation, maybe we could learn to appreciate Rondo for all the things he does and not the one conspicuous thing he does not do.  Maybe we could take a lesson from that and not blame Rondo, Andre Igoudala, Josh Smith, and every other guy with a noticeable flaw in their otherwise spectacular game just because they're not one of the five best players in the league.