You’re The GM: Deron Williams Or Rajon Rondo?

Carrying over from the relative interest in these lighthearted pieces from last season, You’re The GM returns once again with the NBA season now less than 50 days away. For those of you who haven’t read one of these pieces from last season, you will be given two players and some comment, opinion and statistics on them, and then asked to choose who you would rather have in your team and why.

Sounds straightforward right? It never is and that’s the fun part.

We begin with two players who were easily top five point guards in the NBA between three to five years ago, and have seen their stock decline slowly ever since. Deron Williams of the Brooklyn Nets and Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics may not be the players they were, but both are still capable floor generals. Let’s take a look at where they’re at now and try and decide who is the better choice to go with.

Deron Williams

It seems crazy to think that at one point, both Williams and Chris Paul battled it out for the title of best point guard in the NBA. Crazier still, many had Williams coming out on top.

This is unfathomable today, but for Williams, it has been less a fall from grace than a slide into obscurity. With the Utah Jazz he was the man, posting career highs there of 20.1 points a game (2010-11) and 10.7 assists (2008-09).

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His team made the playoffs with the help of

and a complete squad, and he was an All-Star his last three seasons with the team.

While his image took a blow once it came to light that he had helped push the legendary Jerry Sloan to resign, his first season with the Nets, in New Jersey, was arguably his best. It just so happened that he played for a terrible team at the time, but his averages of 21 points and 8.7 assists were a huge benefit to the team.

Injury and an apparent desire to return to the player he once was have hampered his time in Brooklyn, with a doughy Williams often returning to training camp.

From the outside, it looks like the third pick in the 2005 draft took the money and the lifestyle in Brooklyn, without ever stepping up to the plate to lead what is an old but experienced Nets team. Last season he averaged 14.3 points, his lowest total since his rookie year. Scoring has never completely defined his game, it’s just the way he coasts through games that is frustrating to see.

What it boils down to for Williams is this. He’s 30 years old, and is never going to get any better. There are so many upcoming and established younger point guards in the league that he’s probably not even top ten anymore. He’s still a really good player, gets to his spots on the floor and is a great facilitator for his team.

He could have been more though once he moved East, and there is no escaping this fact. There is nothing wrong with him and what he does on the court, but is that really reason enough to want to have him on your team?

Rajon Rondo

Rondo’s career path has gone a little wayward in recent times. He won a championship with the Boston Celtics and turned the Big 3 into a Big 4 with his amazing ball handling displays. His hustle play to strip the ball from Jason Williams of the Orlando Magic and score a basket is still spoken about by Celtic fans today, and at one point he was the called the best point guard in the league by some because he was the very definition of what a point guard should be, somebody who exclusively sets the table for others.

Then he blew out his ACL, and returned to a Boston team in the early stages of a rebuild. Recent internet talk has suggested he wants out of his current situation, he is getting no younger at 28 after all, and it seems ludicrous that no team seems serious enough about acquiring him. In his heyday, the guy was averaging 11.7 of the prettiest dimes a game.

Having a player so good at finding the right man at the right time wins basketball games, plural. Against the Miami Heat in 2011, he was the best player on the court in a number of contests in that classic playoff battle. The guy once dislocated his elbow gruesomely, again against the Heat, went back to the locker room, got it reset and then played on.

For all of this heart though, it has to be said that Rondo is a specialist kind of player who doesn’t work on a number of teams. His jump shot is pretty horrible, and the belief was that he would come back from his knee injury with longer range and a prettier stroke.

It didn’t happen, and so offensively he is a very limited force himself. Defensively however, he is top class. Still though, he has a short fuse and an unorthodox way of playing, and teams shy away from those qualities.

Like Williams, he’s not getting any better, but you feel there’s a chance he could get back onto an All-Star team (Both have played in four of the exhibition contests) whereas Williams almost certainly will not. Rondo still has a few years of prime basketball to play, and on the right contending team he can be the missing piece that gets a team over the top.

Verdict

For me, I wish it could be closer but it really is not. Rondo over Williams every time. It’s a shame though, because there was a time, a long time, when Williams was better than Rondo, and looked set to kick on to do some special things in this league.

He’s still achieved quite a lot, but he’s certainly resting on his laurels and his hefty pay check these days. Rondo is coming off of an ACL injury and only played thirty times last year, he will get better.

Wanting to jump ship to a contending team makes sense for Rondo, he’ll be too old by the time the Celtics are serious contenders once again. He’s the best passing point guard in the league on his night, and is just fun to watch. Toss in the fact he could defend better than Williams can with his eyes closed, and it’s a no contest in my eyes.

Give me Rajon Rondo.

What do you think? Let us know below.