Rajon Rondo Gamble Not Paying Off For Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks traded for Rajon Rondo in December with the hopes that the enigmatic point guard could transform them into a championship contender.

However, two months into his Mavericks career, Rondo has been anything but the team’s missing piece.

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Before acquiring Rondo, Dallas was 19-8 and owners of the league’s most efficient offense in the league, scoring a remarkable 113.6 points per 100 possessions.

With Rondo, the Mavericks are no longer an offensive juggernaut. Dallas now ranks fifth in offensive rating for the season and is scoring 104.1 points per 100 possessions since trading for Rondo, marking a significant decrease in production.

Rondo is a ball-dominant point guard that can’t shoot. That’s not exactly a recipe for success in today’s NBA, in which spacing and outside shooting are more important than ever. Furthermore, Rondo isn’t even creating for teammates at the rate he used to; he’s averaging just 6.2 assists per game with Dallas (he hasn’t averaged fewer than nine assists per game for a season since 2008-09).

Now, Rondo has helped the Mavericks’ defense. The Mavericks allowed 104.8 points per 100 possessions before his arrival and have allowed 100.0 points per 100 possessions since. But his gain of value on the defensive end doesn’t negate his loss of value offensively. The Mavericks’ net rating before Rondo was +8.7 and it’s +4.0 since his arrival. That’s a problem.

However, perhaps the biggest Rondo-related problem came to the surface Tuesday night when Rondo clashed with Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. In the third quarter of Dallas’ game against the Toronto Raptors, Rondo completely ignored Carlisle’s attempts to call a play, which led to a expletive-filled shouting match between the two and the point guard being benched.

According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas, the two continued to argue after the game and Rondo was ultimately given a one-game suspension.

The Mavericks tried to downplay the incident after the game, but MacMahon also reported that “friction has been building” over time between Rondo and Carlisle in regards to play-calling.

Dallas is in trouble. They moved all their chips to the middle of the table to acquire Rondo and it simply hasn’t worked. He’s not having the type of on-court impact the team surely hoped he would have and he’s not on the same page with his coach, who’s one of the most respected at his profession in the league.

The Mavericks are still 39-21 and holders of the fifth-best record in a difficult Western Conference, but this team doesn’t have the look of a title contender. Not when they gave up any semblance of depth they had to acquire Rondo, who has proven to be one of the more overrated players in the league throughout these past two months.

There’s nothing really Dallas can do at this point in terms of a quick-fix. Rondo will obviously remain a featured member of the team for the rest of the season.

This situation gets interesting, though, when considering the future. Rondo is a free agent after this season and while the question was once “Will Rondo want to re-sign in Dallas?,” the question needs to become “Will Dallas want to re-sign Rondo?”

All stats courtesy of NBA.com.

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