The legend of Rajon Rondo reaches its definitive end with Dallas Mavericks

The legend of Rajon Rondo met its end after failed stint with Dallas Mavericks. 
The legend of Rajon Rondo reaches its definitive end with Dallas Mavericks
The legend of Rajon Rondo reaches its definitive end with Dallas Mavericks /

This week saw the death of the Rajon Rondo mythology. The point guard we once knew is gone and 'Playoff Rondo'—his revered spring metamorphosis—buried. In two games against the Rockets, Rondo reached for that power and came up only with forced shots and and bad decisions. He was a millstone.

Dallas had spent half its season trying to overcome the discord between its recently acquired floor general and the offense that had soared prior to his arrival. Instead, Rondo's drain on the team seemed to only grow with time. There are poor fits and then there's this: In Dallas' playoff series against Houston, Rondo's presence has marked a loss of 44.9 points per 100 possessions relative to when he sat, per NBA.com.  

Although that figure is stretched to absurd proportions by a two-game sample size, its underlying message went confirmed by months of burdensome basketball and years of Rondo's new reality. He hasn't been the same player since tearing his ACL in 2013. Unfortunate as that may be, Rondo has yet to show any signs of growth to accommodate his revised circumstances; he's the same player only worse, all in a league that seems to find new ways every year to drag players' weaknesses to the forefront.

• MORE NBA: Schedule | Grades | Awards | Playoff coverage | Finals picks

Dallas was willing to accept this. It traded for Rondo having tracked his performance and understanding his shortcomings, convinced that Rick Carlisle, a masterful tactician, could figure out the best way to incorporate Rondo's superior playmaking. It speaks volumes that he couldn't and never will. The Mavericks announced that Rondo would sit indefinitely—and conveniently—with a back injury a day after being benched by Carlisle in Game 2. During his availability, Carlisle made clear that he never expects to see Rondo in a Maverick uniform ever again.

Rondo and Carlisle have had their differences throughout the year, most famously during a flare up over playcalling responsibility in February that left both furious. Both men are stubborn. The difference between them is that the game has only left one of the two behind, evolving in a way that makes his flaws more costly and his personality less tolerable. A player as difficult as Rondo had better be good, and right now he isn't.

That much is clear on almost every offensive possession. Whenever the Mavericks have the ball, the game is shaped by what Rondo cannot do. His defender leaves him, unworried, to crowd the lane or pressure some actual scoring threat. His trouble in finishing around the rim against even the mildest pressure makes him unsuited for driving play. He's so harmless without the ball in his hands that he must be in control of the offense, which then moves possession away from superior scorers. It is impossible to deny the vision and artistry that make Rondo one of the great passers in modern NBA history. Yet that playmaking ability now seems a roundabout means of creating merely decent shots through fuss and risk. 

Some teams will still see that and decide Rondo is worth the trouble. Dallas clearly decided otherwise. Even after giving up Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, and a first-round pick to acquire Rondo in the first place, the Mavs opted to scorch their relationship with the mercurial point guard just months before his free agency. An era, however short, has ended.

• MORE NBA: Mavs doesn't expect Rondo back | Parsons out with knee injury

Dallas moves on. The 0-2 series underdogs have actually outscored Houston in their playoff minutes without Rondo, as tends to happen when operating without a player whose performance sometimes seems to border on active sabotage. It's one thing to overstep and make mistakes. It's another for a cerebral player to commit so many senseless blunders and fold on so many half-possessions that he all but demanded to be benched. Rondo seemed as done with the Mavericks in Game 2 as they were with him, and through the guise of a back injury all parties involved have now opted out.

For that to bring about a Dallas comeback would be incredible, but unlikely. There will be some trade-off in the play of reserves Devin Harris (should he be healthy enough to play), J.J. Barea, and Raymond Felton as they operate against the Rockets' best lineups. Just the fact that Barea and Felton are critical pieces at all is reason for some anxiety, and it's safe to say the Mavs never envisioned that possibility when completing the trade for Rondo back in December. That Chandler Parsons has been ruled out for the remainder of the season supplies another ball-handling complication while pinching Dallas' perimeter rotation from the other side. There may not be enough healthy bodies for the Mavs to find a winning track, no matter the benefits of moving on.

Rondo, for his part, can shift his attention to the summer. Surely his mysterious back injury will have cleared up by the time some team offers an inordinate amount of money to find out first-hand what Rondo can offer. They'll likely find the same things the Mavs did: Underlying talent that may be too limited and too specific for any kind of reasonable fit. We know now—and knew at the time of his arrival—that Dallas wasn't an optimal spot for Rondo. Yet it's worth wondering if that place exists in the NBA at all, as getting the best out of Rondo requires the tailoring of a roster and game plan to his specifications. 

There is no malleability here. Rondo is who he is to the point of real basketball detriment. The ability to do things on the floor that no one else can doesn't in itself compensate for the basic failings that keep a team from doing what it should. Rondo's game lived—and dies—in that imbalance.

GALLERY: NBA'S BEST 'I DIDN'T FOUL' FACES

The NBA's Best "I Didn't Foul" Faces

LeBron James

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Jason Miller/Getty Images

LeBron James

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Jason Miller/Getty Images

LeBron James

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Nick Wass/AP

LeBron James

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Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

DeMarcus Cousins

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

DeMarcus Cousins

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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

DeMarcus Cousins

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Blake Griffin

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Harry How/Getty Images

Blake Griffin

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Victor Decolongon/Getty Images

Marc Gasol

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Brandon Dill/AP

Marc Gasol

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Duane Burleson/AP

Brook Lopez

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Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Brook Lopez

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Kathy Willens/AP

Andre Iguodala

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Brandon Dill/AP

Andre Iguodala

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Lynne Sladky/AP

Marcus Smart

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Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Marcus Smart

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Gabe Souza/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Pablo Prigioni

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Chuck Burton/AP

Pablo Prigioni

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Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

Dirk Nowitzki

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Tony Gutierrez/AP

Dirk Nowitzki

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Ross D. Franklin/AP

Russell Westbrook

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Sue Ogrocki/AP

Russell Westbrook

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Sue Ogrocki/AP

Carlos Boozer

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Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Carlos Boozer

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Mark J. Terrill/AP

P.J. Tucker

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images

P.J. Tucker

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Don Ryan/AP

Kobe Bryant

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Harry How/Getty Images

Kobe Bryant

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Matt York/AP

Dwyane Wade

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Lynne Sladky/AP

Dwyane Wade

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Bob Leverone/AP

Anderson Varejao

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Mark Duncan/AP

Anderson Varejao

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Mike Lawrie/Getty Images

Draymond Green

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Draymond Green

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Ben Margot/AP

J.R. Smith

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Tony Gutierrez/AP

J.R. Smith

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Lynne Sladky/AP

Tim Duncan

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Eric Gay/AP

Tony Parker

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Eric Gay/AP

Manu Ginobili

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Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Reggie Evans

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Mark J. Terrill/AP

Carmelo Anthony

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Kathy Kmonicek/AP

Chandler Parsons

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Enes Kanter

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Rick Bowmer/AP

Kevin Durant

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Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Kevin Garnett

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Ann Heisenfelt/AP

C.J. Miles

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Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Danilo Gallinari

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David Zalubowski/AP

Jason Thompson

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

James Michael McAdoo

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David Zalubowski/AP

Rudy Gay

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

David West

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Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Kevin Martin

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Will Barton

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Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Anthony Tolliver

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Paul Sancya/AP

DeAndre Jordan

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Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Alan Anderson

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Jason DeCrow/AP

Archie Goodwin

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Ralph Freso/AP

Channing Frye

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Todd Kirkland/AP

Avery Bradley

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Chuck Burton/AP

Joakim Noah

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Paul Beaty/AP

Kevin Love

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Elsa/Getty Images

Kirk Hinrich

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Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Ian Mahinmi

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Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Marcus Morris

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images

DeMarre Carroll

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Dave Tulis/AP

Dwight Howard

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Patric Schneider/AP

Anthony Davis

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Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Drew Gooden

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Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Hedo Turkoglu

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David Zalubowski/AP

JaKarr Sampson

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Matt Slocum/AP

Chris Bosh

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Michael Laughlin/Sun Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images

Dion Waiters

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Jason Miller/Getty Images

Chris Paul

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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Kosta Koufos

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Jorge Gutierrez

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Joe Johnson

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Michael Carter-Williams

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Jusuf Nurkic

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David Zalubowski/AP

Kemba Walker

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Nicolas Batum

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Don Ryan/AP

Kelly Olynyk

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Zach Randolph

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Gerald Green

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Harry How/Getty Images

Greivis Vasquez

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Marta Iwanek/Toronto Star via Getty Images

J.J. Redick

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Mark J. Terrill/AP

J.J. Barea

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Brandon Wade/AP

Stephen Curry

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Darren Abate/AP

Isaiah Thomas

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Mike Conley

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Kyrie Irving

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Shabazz Napier

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Tyler Zeller

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Darren Hauck/AP

Pau Gasol

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Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Paul Pierce

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Alex Brandon/AP

Spencer Hawes

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Mo Williams

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Hannah Foslien/AP

Nerlens Noel

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Ramon Sessions

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Taj Gibson

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Lynne Sladky/AP

Zaza Pachulia

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Aaron Gash/AP

Published
Rob Mahoney
ROB MAHONEY

Rob Mahoney is an NBA writer dedicated to the minutiae of the game of basketball, its overarching themes and everything in between. He joined the Sports Illustrated staff in 2012.