3 big questions for the Cavs after acquiring Rajon Rondo
By John Suchan
Big question #1: Will Rajon Rondo help this team?
The short answer is yes. He’s been in the league since 2006. He originally played for the Boston Celtics for nine seasons and helped the Celtics win an NBA championship back in 2008. Since those years he’s moved around a lot and played for seven other teams. He was most recently playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the last five seasons, his career numbers from minutes played, to assists, to points scored have all declined drastically. He’s 35 years old so there aren’t too many more years in the tank for the once-regular NBA All-Star.
With Rubio out now for the season, Rondo’s veteran presence in itself will be a big plus for the Cavs. But don’t expect the same type of statistical help that Rubio provided the team, especially coming off the bench like Rubio had been providing. Rubio was averaging 13 points a game and almost seven assists a game in 28 minutes off the bench.
Rondo, on the other hand, hasn’t averaged more than 10 points since the 2015 season when he was playing for the Sacramento Kings when he averaged 12 points a game. He also hasn’t played as many minutes over the last several years as Rubio was with the team.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Cavaliers try to work Rondo in with those extended minutes. Going from playing 15 minutes to 30 minutes of playing time might have more of an adverse effect on the older Rondo.
However, adding a former star in the league to this core of young Cleveland talent certainly is a bigger plus than a negative. With this recent slide in games, mostly because our guard play especially on the defensive end of the floor has been a mess, it’ll be good to get a veteran guy on the court to hopefully steady the team like Rubio was doing.