Atlanta Hawks: Rajon Rondo’s debut an early showing of his importance

The Atlanta Hawks got their first taste on Monday night of all the ways Rajon Rondo is going to help get them into the postseason.

It took Rajon Rondo two games to outlast COVID-19 protocols before making his Atlanta Hawks debut against Detroit. The typical caveats of early-season basketball against a subpar Pistons team deserve acknowledgment, but the early returns were encouraging enough to add layers to the excitement brewing in Atlanta.

In a 128-120 victory to help the Hawks move to 3-0 on the season, Rondo put in 12 points and a game-high eight assists. He shot 5-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 beyond the arc. In his 15 minutes of action, Rondo committed just a single turnover.

A two-year $15 million contract agreed upon between Rondo and Atlanta was met with cautious optimism over the offseason.

The Hawks were desperate for a point guard to steady an offense that cratered in the absence of Trae Young last season. Though always a respected basketball mind, it was Rondo’s efforts in helping the Lakers to the 2020 championship that fostered hope in his ability to still contribute on the court.

Nevertheless, the 34-year-old’s efforts have come to traditionally wane during the regular season. That gap in play was at least stomachable on a Lakers team whose postseason bid was never in doubt. Atlanta needed something a bit more stable to help break through to that next stage.

Rondo has always been the cerebral type to view plays steps ahead and create open looks accordingly. Young is cut from a similar cloth, ranking second in assists last season with 9.3 a game. Along with his elite outside shot, the All-Star guard knows how to leverage the space and movement of individuals to get easy shots, powering Atlanta’s offense to a top-five mark (112.6 offensive rating) in his minutes.

Unfortunately, Jeff Teague, the backup for a good chunk of the 2019-02 season, didn’t offer those same playmaking traits nor did anyone else on the roster. It’s why the Hawks offensive rating fell to 98.5 when Young sat, which would’ve been by far the worst in the league.

There’s nothing special about Rondo’s first assist as a Hawk. A simple middle screen-and-roll draws Jerami Grant to tag the rolling John Collins, leaving Solomon Hill open in the right corner. But another floor general who can react to and execute the simplest of reads off of the most fundamental play in basketball is a luxury the Hawks didn’t have.

Rondo checked into the second-half of play with 3:55 left in the third and Atlanta up seven. Detroit cut a once double-digit lead down to single digits. A young team like the Hawks still learning how to play winning basketball would likely begin to spiral with ill-advised looks trying to end the game before the final buzzer.

You can imagine then what the presence of a two-time champion could do to steady a ship beginning to sink. By the time Rondo checked out at the 6:43 mark of the final quarter, the Hawks’ lead had increased to 18. It was in that stretch where he scored eight of his points — including two 3-pointers, one of which was a buzzer-beater to end the third — and dished out five of his assists.

Atlanta’s starters finished it off from there, but not without its backup point guard winding up with the highest net rating among Hawks players in the fourth quarter. While Trae broke even in just under 33 minutes on the night, Rondo was a plus-eight in his 15 minutes of playing time.

Head coach Lloyd Pierce has quite the rotation to iron out in trying to help Atlanta squash a three-year playoff drought. 10 players saw at least 10 minutes in this game. Not even playing were Danilo Gallinari (foot) and Onyeka Okongwu (toe).

So many quality players in need of minutes will require sacrifice, but Rondo is unlikely to be involved in any type of minutes reduction.

The Hawks signed him to help fill any amount of the significant playmaking void left during Trae’s rest periods and to ensure the results of those minutes are as painless as possible. If his first game was any indication, Rondo, even at this stage of his career, remains capable of plenty more than just playing placeholder.