Cavs’ Rajon Rondo will likely have ample PT vs. ATL, and maybe beyond

I can’t say at this point that we’ve seen all that much of Rajon Rondo with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.

Rondo, who was acquired via trade from the Los Angeles Lakers back in January, has not gotten a ton of play thus far with Cleveland. He was acquired shortly after Cleveland lost Ricky Rubio for the rest of the season because of a torn ACL, and initially back then, it took some time for Rondo to appear with the Cavaliers still, as he was dealing with a hamstring injury.

There were some positive performances from there for Rondo, and in some games with the Cavs in the regular season, he did a pretty solid job filling in in some stretches for Darius Garland, and in other instances, seemingly did alright with Garland.

Now, the 36-year-old Rondo is not nearly the player he once was back with the Boston Celtics, as we know, and I wouldn’t say he’s quite the impact player he was for the Los Angeles Lakers back in their 2020 championship run in the Orlando Bubble. Upon his arrival a few months ago, that was evident, and Rondo played more so sparingly with the Lakers this season pre-trade, and not as much as in the year prior last season.

Still, Rondo did do pretty well before coming back to the Lakers last offseason during the postseason last year with the LA Clippers, and while there’s been injuries/some ailments with Cleveland, Rondo has still shown he can get guys on the same page. Plus, at least with the Cavs, his defensive communication can help, and when he is in off the bench, his passing and IQ can still generate good looks for others.

With the Cavs this season, he’s looked decent with 6.2 points and 4.9 assists in 19.4 minutes per contest in 21 appearances. And although the still pretty young Cavaliers had their inconsistencies in a #7-8 play-in loss at the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, they did finish out the game on a positive note, and Rondo I thought did help bring the team some energy.

He had 7 points on 3-of-8 shooting, to go with 9 assists, to 3 turnovers. He shot 1-of-5 from 3-point range, which wasn’t great, but in his 26 minutes, I thought he did give the team a lift, and I’d probably expect Rondo to again get plenty of playing time on Friday versus the Atlanta Hawks in the #8 seed play-in game at home.

Rondo will probably have ample PT on Friday versus the Hawks, and if the Cavs win, beyond that in the postseason.

I’m not going to suggest that Rondo will end up playing 26 minutes again on Friday versus Atlanta like he did on Tuesday in Brooklyn, but it’s far from outside the realm of possibility. I also can’t outright suggest that Isaac Okoro will play just 13 minutes regarding defense, on the other end of the spectrum.

But in this one, with Rondo’s extensive postseason experience, I’d expect him to again get ample playing time, and when Rondo has been healthier, he has seemingly developed some solid chemistry with Darius Garland. That’s enabled Garland to get some off-ball work, which throughout games is meaningful, and that’s assuredly on the minds of the Cavaliers here.

Also, Rondo has gotten the likes of Kevin Love and Cedi Osman quality looks when they’ve had playing time together in stretches off the bench, and Rondo has no problem feeding the likes of Evan Mobley, among others on the interior.

Now, I know that Rondo is far from the defender he once was, however, I do still think in Friday’s second play-in game, he can be trusted to be in the right spots far more often than not in these sort of games, and if the Cavs win, in the postseason. That’d be in the first round against the Miami Heat; I can’t say I’d at all expect an upset in that series, though.

In any case, while I’m not going to suggest we’re going to all of a sudden see “Playoff Rondo,” from here, when he’s been healthy, he has still given the Cavaliers a meaningful bench playmaking lift, and Rondo is a vet that can get other players going. We’ll again have to see what shakes out among minutes for others, whether Okoro’s minutes are trimmed way down again and/or maybe Lamar Stevens gets more, but based on that Nets game, that was telling to me.

Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff prior to the Nets #7-8 game on Tuesday stated this, too, involving Rondo, via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid.

I’m not going to say we’re getting any Rondo double-doubles here; that from Bickerstaff was meaningful, though.

It seems likely that we could very well see Rondo in for 22-plus minutes on Friday night and if the Cavaliers win, beyond that.