Los Angeles Lakers: How the team can help Rajon Rondo be more effective

There is a perception around the league that the skills of Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo have eroded but is that the case?

There is a perception around the league that Rajon Rondo’s skills have eroded to the point he is no longer a serviceable rotation player for the Los Angeles Lakers. One Eastern Conference executive told Eric Pincus at Bleacher Report in January that Rondo’s skills have declined because he holds on the basketball for too long, and players don’t need to guard him anymore.

But is the lack of production from Rondo due to skill erosion or Lakers offense? The answer is simple – it’s the Lakers offense. Rondo is a player who thrives with the ball in his hands. His best season in recent memory came when he touched the ball 93.4 times per game during the 2015-16 season with the Sacramento Kings.

The 93.4 touches helped him attack the basket 13 times per game. He created 4.3 points per game, and 2.1 assists on his drives. The drives were responsible for 36.1 percent of his scoring output and 17.9 percent of his assists, as he averaged 11.9 points and 11.7 assists.

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Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Lakers are running a post-up-centric offense, as they are second in the category, averaging 14.6 post-ups per game. The Lakers’ offense has forced Rondo to spend more time off the ball, as he is averaging 51.1 touches per game.

Those 51.1 touches have helped him attack the basket 7.1 times. He has already produced 2.9 points and 0.7 assists on these drives for the team. The drives have accounted for 39.7 percent of his points and 14 percent of his assists per game, as he is averaging 7.3 points with 5 assists.

Just like Markieff Morris, Rondo has a tough time playing off the ball because of his subpar shooting. Rondo has shot 34.6 percent of catch-and-shoot 3s over the last six-plus seasons. The inability to make catch-and-shoot 3s has hurt his 3-point shooting as a whole, as he has a career 3-point shooting percentage of 31.7 percent.

The difference between he and Morris is that Rondo is more hesitant to shoot threes. Rondo attempts 2.6 threes per game which is 0.4 less than Morris who has only been with the team for 5 games.

A prime example of this can be found early in the second quarter of a home game against the Philadelphia 76ers. James dribbled the basketball to the 3-point line and realized Rondo was wide open on the left-wing.

Consequently, James passes the basketball to Rondo, who has two options, take the shot or pass the ball to a teammate. Rondo chose the latter passing the basketball Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

The subpar shooting allows opponents to play off of him as they are aware of his flaws. The defensive strategy allows his defensive assignment to rove around the court and provide help defense to any teammates that need it.

The help defense at present means that whoever has the ball has to always worry about an extra defender coming over to double team or clogging their space, which makes it harder to score or pass.

If the Lakers want to increase the productivity of Rondo, they should allow him to touch the ball more often. One of his best games of the season came when James and Anthony Davis weren’t available against Oklahoma City Thunder on January 11.

He touched the ball 77 times during that game. The 77 touches helped him attack the basket 15 times to generate 6 points and one assist for the team. The drives accounted for 26.1 percent of his points and 16.7 percent of his assists, as he has 23 points and 6 assists.

Rondo’s touches will have come as the primary ball-handler because he hasn’t done a significant amount of cutting in recent seasons. He has cut to the basket 0.13 times per game over the last 2+ seasons.

If the Los Angeles Lakers are unwilling to accentuate the strengths of Rondo, they should remove him from the rotation in favor of a player who is better suited to excel off the ball. For example, Alex Caruso is shooting 37.2 percent from behind the arc during his career. Inserting Caruso forces defenders to keep an eye on him creating more space for his teammates to operate.