Jackie Mac clearly still isn't sold on Rajon Rondo's desire to be in Boston


After watching Rajon Rondo post an impressive 13-7-12 stat line in Boston's season-opening 121-105 romp of the Nets, a lot of people had some very high praise for the Celtics captain:

His coach:

His GM:

A former teammate:

Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston wrote a piece detailing the point guard's virtuoso performance.  And even though it was very complimentary in nature, it's also clear that MacMullan still feels Rondo would rather be playing elsewhere.  In describing Rondo's night, MacMullan wrote:

The assault was as much against those who think Rondo is no longer an elite point guard, who think he is injury prone, a divo (the Italian word for a male diva) or a mercenary playing for a contract.

Some (or all) of those things may be true, but the Celtics don't care. They are a different team when Rondo is distributing the ball and pushing tempo and imposing his will on the game. 
When Rondo moves the ball instead of pounding it, when he hunkers down and plays pressure defense instead of his gambling ball-hawking tactics, he can be a game-changer.

Here's hoping he sticks to the script.


With one game of the 2014-15 season in the books, it's hard to have any complaints about the Celtics point guard.  Although Rondo did go 0-4 from the free throw line last night...



Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan