How Rondo has fared lately, and with the Cavs overall so far
The Cavaliers are probably thinking that Rondo can build on his nice play in reserve minutes the rest of the regular season as he gets further acclimated, and hopefully in the postseason. Cleveland needs to still get to that point, in fairness, and the Eastern Conference is jam-packed.
Thus far in his play with the Cavs, Rondo has had 7.2 points and 4.7 assists in 21.4 minutes per game in 13 appearances following his trade acquisition from the Lakers.
As we noted, Rondo has been up-and-down so far with Cleveland, though; the playmaking has started to pick up, fortunately. In Rondo’s last 10 games, he averaged 4.7 assists per contest to 1.5 turnovers in 21.3 minutes per outing, and he’s averaged 6.2 points in that stretch.
Cleveland has to be hoping that Rondo can impact winning in stretches the rest of the way and in the playoffs, and for context, he did help the LA Clippers in the postseason last year, and was a notable contributor with the Lakers in their 2020 title run.
Now, his big games against the Pacers helped, regarding recent play, and I’m not going to expect too many 15 or 17-point performances from Rondo in reserve minutes, but defensively, he has played fairly well overall to go with his passing. So far with the Cavs, Rondo has had a defensive rating of 100.5, which is second among players that have been regular rotation pieces for stretches.
Conversely, when it comes to Goodwin’s outlook, as we alluded to, the minutes have largely evaporated of late, and Cleveland looks to be favoring Rondo.