Dooling says Rondo is NBA’s second best player. Behind Durant.

Kurt Helin

Sep 28, 2012, 8:48 AM EDT

23 Comments

Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo celebrates during their NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers in Los Angeles

Reuters

Keyon Dooling said some genuinely important things during his CSNNE.com interview this week, and if you haven’t read about his discussion of him being abused you should do that first. It matters more than basketball.

But Dooling talked basketball, too, and let’s just say he’s higher on Rajon Rondo than you are. Really, he’s higher on Rondo than anyone not named Rondo.

No doubt Rondo is an elite point guard. But Dooling is Rondo’s friend, he bonded with the young Celtics point guard, and as I think that may cloud his judgment. Actually, I don’t think that, I know it. Here is what Dooling told Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com.

“He’s come from nothing, he’s come from nothing. He’s the second-best player in the league. He didn’t make the USA Team, sometimes he’s a replacement for the All-Star Game. He’s the epitome of an unselfish player. He rebounds the basketball, he affects the game in five statistical categories. He shoots a higher percentage than all the point guards and they always talk about how he can’t shoot.”

Dooling continued, “Not only do I think he’s the second-best player in the NBA behind Kevin Durant, but I think he is an amazing leader. I think he doesn’t get a fair shake in the media and I wish they knew my friend the way I did.”

Second best player in the league behind Durant? I feel like we’re forgetting someone in that conversation…

Just for the record, Rondo shot 44.8 percent overall, 23.8 percent from three, and if you make it a points-per-shots and included free throws and threes in the mix (called true shooting percentage) it is a below average 48.3 percent. So 44.8/23.8/48.3 for Rondo, compared to Chris Paul’s 47.7/37.1/58.1 or Steve Nash’s 53.2/39/62.5. I have seen Rondo knock down key jumpers, but the reason people say he doesn’t have a good jump shot is he has only shown us an inconsistent jump shot.

I don’t like these kinds of conversations because it demeans Rondo, whose playmaking skills are elite, who is one of the better point guards in the game and is the guy who may be the best player on the Celtics roster right now. He brings it at both ends and is fun to watch with the ball. But Rondo is not the second best player in the NBA, obviously. I’m not sure where he would rank numerically because I find that entire kind of exercise silly. I’m a guy who likes to put players on tiers, and Rondo is on one way up the mountain, but a step back from CP3 and Deron Williams right now just as pure point guards, and if Derrick Rose is healthy he may not be a pure point but he’s ahead of Rondo, too.

By the way, Dooling love Kevin Garnett, too, and makes a case for this friend.

“He’s probably the best player of this time, of this generation. If you look at the way all the bigs play, they don’t mimic Tim Duncan. They mimic Kevin Garnett. If Kevin was coached by Doc a long time ago and if Kevin played with five other All-Stars and all these great players in this great system, I’m sure he would have the same amount — see, our game is a little bit weird. The best players don’t always win, and Kevin Garnett at the end of the day is probably the . . . if you don’t want to call him the best of this generation, you can definitely call him the most influential just because Kobe [Bryant] was like Mike (Michael Jordan). Derrick Rose and all these guys, it was other people who came before them like that. And when Kevin came into the league, he was different from Bob McAdoo, he was different from all those players who fit that mold.

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23 Comments (Feed for Comments)

sportspoole - Sep 28, 2012 at 9:04 AM

Yea dooling is very biased

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manchestermiracle - Sep 28, 2012 at 9:24 AM

He’s high on something all right….

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- guyaneserj - Sep 28, 2012 at 12:44 PM
  
  LMAO.. So true!!
  
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kesan254 - Sep 28, 2012 at 9:48 AM

Reblogged this on kesan254.

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miamatt - Sep 28, 2012 at 10:15 AM

Ahh, one last shot at the Heat on the way out the door… always as classy as his game was reliable.

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hehateme2 - Sep 28, 2012 at 10:17 AM

Wow! Delusion knows no bounds with these mouthy celticks lately. Le Bron OWNS that title already.

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- nycalldayz - Sep 28, 2012 at 10:07 PM
  
  U blow your father with that mouth?
  
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southbeachtalent - Sep 28, 2012 at 10:37 AM

Keyon Dooling?? Really.. Why didn’t they interview the popcorn stand vendor? We’d love to here his NBA player rankings as well.

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digitalpoo - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:19 AM

Didn’t you just post and article speaking of Dooling being abused as a child? Maybe he was dropped on his head.

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piercecooper89 - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Just typical Rondo bashing and hypocritical news pieces.

You could of had a leg to stand on but you denied Rondo a spot in the top two pure PGs in the league. The very roll of a pure PG is everything Rondo did better than any other player last year. D Will, come on, he is Westbrook with a better jumper and a couple of assists.

You also mention his pure shooting percentage to validate your argument but then go onto to say that numbers in the NBA are silly….

Rondo isn’t the 2nd best player in the league and may even be outside the top 10,but to deny him best pure PG in the league and not give Nash a spot above him who makes Gortat look like an all star, that’s just “silly”

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phaden27 - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:47 AM

Everyone here seems to have forgotten all the triple doubles. Obviously he’s not better than LeBron but he’s in my top five right now.

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- eventhorizon04 - Sep 28, 2012 at 12:47 PM
  
  Triple doubles are overrated.
  
  Who played better, player A who has 35-12-8, or player B who went 12-10-12?
  
  Player A had a better game, but player B got the triple double.
  
  Averages (points, rebounds, assists) matter more.
  
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moseskkim - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:59 AM

Reading the whole article.. I don’t have any problems with what he said. I see where he’s going with Garnett but rondo comment was crazy. Regardless I don’t think we should think of “clever” ways to bash him. He’s a good guy and the person is more important than the sport. Digitalpoo, one of those thumbs down is from me~

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eventhorizon04 - Sep 28, 2012 at 12:51 PM

“He’s the second-best player in the league.”
False

“He didn’t make the USA Team, sometimes he’s a replacement for the All-Star Game.”
That doesn’t exactly prove he’s the second-best player in the league.

“He’s the epitome of an unselfish player. He rebounds the basketball, he affects the game in five statistical categories.”
This is all true. He’s versatile.

“He shoots a higher percentage than all the point guards and they always talk about how he can’t shoot.”
No idea what the h*ll he’s talking about. Check out Rondo’s free throw percentage last year – just awful. He’s a an elite point guard at passing and rebounding but a below-average guard shooting the ball. A player can’t be the second best player in the NBA with such massive holes in their game.

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gepsep - Sep 28, 2012 at 2:05 PM

Im a Celtics fan, but to say Rondo is better than LeBron? That is pretty crazy. Rondo is a top 5 talent, for sure, but i dont see him being better than LeBron, Durant or Kobe. He can score but he is not doing it and thats the reason why i dont see him better than those guys. Im not saying that he wont be because nobody knows what will happen this year or the year after that but right now there is not only one player better than Rondo.

Completely agree about KG, he is probably the most influental player of this generation and of the most influental all time.

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robrace100 - Sep 28, 2012 at 2:24 PM

Hey guy’s While I don’t agree he’s the 2nd best player in the league. I leave that distinction to Lebron James,Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant in that order for me.
But when it comes to point gaurds he’s up there. There is no other point gaurd playing in the NBA today that has more triple doubles in playoff games than Rondo with 8 other than Jason Kidd 11
And that’s saying alot. and he is only 26 years old. Think about that.

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eureca323 - Sep 28, 2012 at 3:14 PM

Hes crazy about Rondo. Rondo is a great great talent, but he isn’t anywhere near the top especially not ahead of Lebron, Dwight, Kobe, CP3, Wade.

The KG thing he has a point. If Twolves didn’t waste his prime who knows how many chips he could have won, because his prime was amazingly good.

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stayhigh_247 - Sep 28, 2012 at 3:58 PM

maybe he retired because he started going crazy, the poor bastard. Enjoy retirement nutjob! But seriously, it seemed more like a slight to Lebron than a big up for Rondo. Like he said, he hated KG prior to meeting him, he probably thinks he hates Lebron. Somebody needs to setup a play date so they can become friends too.

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GymAlien - Sep 28, 2012 at 3:59 PM

I’m not brushing this off…Every time I see Rondo play he’s the best player on the floor (even against my local team the Lakers). Just keep in mind I’m on the west coast and don’t see him all that much.
GymAlien said so.

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slippyal2 - Sep 28, 2012 at 5:34 PM

There goes his chance at a front office job.

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money2long - Sep 28, 2012 at 8:12 PM

i heard one of the first things you do when you retire from pro sports is smoke weed.
hm….

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fanz928 - Sep 29, 2012 at 4:21 AM

Lebron is the best, then it will be durant and Paul then it will be rondo

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magicsky1971 - Sep 29, 2012 at 8:35 AM

OMG…..
RONDO???? I recall him on the floor a lot last year with
heating pads on his back.. Just another player with an
inflated ego… Kevin Durant, Lebron, Kobe, Wade—
there are too many others better than Rondo….think of
his teammate…Paul Pierce….. They are all in a different
league….

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