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New Orleans Pelicans: 5 goals for Rajon Rondo in 2017-18

By Jen Julie Smith

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo (9) has a shot blocked by New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) during the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the against the Chicago Bulls on April 2, 2017, at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA. Bull won 117-110. (Photo by Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo (9) has a shot blocked by New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) during the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the against the Chicago Bulls on April 2, 2017, at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA. Bull won 117-110. (Photo by Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images /

2. Help DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis

With Rondo’s playmaking skills, he will help Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins crush the opposition. He will be the glue that will hold the Pelicans together. Just because you had two bigs and two All-Stars on the floor that didn’t translate into a winning a season.

Rondo is playoff-tested after winning a ring in 2008, in only his second year in the league. He’s been to the NBA Finals twice. Thus, Rondo has a wealth of experience to run the Pelicans’ offense. Not a knock on Holiday, but he was unable to find away to utilize his two bigs in a productive manner.

Rondo, on the other hand, is used to playing with the original Big 3, and can be that missing ingredient to help Cousins and Davis form the team chemistry that was missing last season — particularly since the two former Kentucky Wildcats — Rondo and Cousins — played together in Sacramento.

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    • To label Cousins a dominant big is an understatement. Last season he averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 36 percent from the three. Davis averaged 28 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, but only shot 29 percent from the three.  With all that firepower on the floor, Rondo has a lot to work with.

    Both bigs can make their own plays, but they have been unsuccessful in the past to translate all that firepower into wins. That’s where Rondo comes in — he will be like a kid at a shooting gallery.

    Rondo can jet the ball across the court to either Cousins or Davis for the alley-oop. Although Cousins is a center, he is a credible threat from deep. So while Cousins’ man is now defending him on the outside, (that’s if his defender’s even able to catch up to him), Rondo can use Davis in pick-and-roll action.

    The bottom line is, with Rondo running point, he can open and stretch the floor with two of the best big men in the game right now.

    The only thing that the Pelicans was missing last season was someone to orchestrate the offense, and they found a great maestro in Rondo.

    In addition, Jrue Holiday is also another offensive weapon in the Pelicans’ artillery. Last season he averaged 15.4 points and 7.3 assists per game. Opponents will be hard-pressed to double-team because now there’s Rondo, Cousins, Davis, and Holiday, who are all inside and outside threats. Defenders no longer have the luxury to leave their man to provide help.

    Rondo’s experience and his ability to see the floor and to run the offense, will help the Pelicans jell not only into a cohesive unit, but they will start crushing the opposition.

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