Clippers: Rondo has already impressed with his playmaking skills.
Soon after the Clippers traded Lou Williams for Rajon Rondo, Lawrence Frank made the assertion — statistically viable, certainly — that “‘Playoff Rondo’ is a real thing.”
But with all due respect to the team’s president of basketball operations, the veteran point guard would rather it not be a thing.
In an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” last October, Rondo suggested the moniker diminishes his full body of work through 14 NBA seasons: “I think if you look on the entirety of my career, I’ve always been able to perform at a high level.”
And now he’s saying it again with his play since joining the Clippers; he has a staggering positive net rating of 32, meaning that when he’s been on the court, the Clippers are 32 points better than their opponents over 100 possessions.
What’s more, the Clippers are 6-0 in games he’s played, improving to 39-18 — regular-season success that suggests Frank and his fellow front office members did the right thing in bringing him aboard.
Rondo is facilitating winning by, well, facilitating. He has a 35.4 assist percentage (the estimated percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted on while he was on the court) as a Clipper, which is higher than any player with the team since Chris Paul’s 44.4 assist percentage in 2016-17.
It’s hardly a coincidence, then, that the Clippers are averaging two more assists per game since Rondo joined the mix, 26.1 compared with 24.1 prior to his April 4 debut.
That’s taking into account Wednesday’s shorthanded win in Detroit, when the Clippers were without five starters and notched a season-low 10 assists (on 37 field goals) — four of which came via Rondo, including a clever cross-court delivery to Nicolas Batum for a 3-pointer.
“Just continuing to talk to them and having them understand that my job and what I pride myself on is continuing to push the pace and the passes may come whenever, even when you may not expect it,” Rondo said after the Clippers’ April 8 victory over Phoenix.
“So when they’re on the floor at all times with me just expect a pass. I’m a pass-first point guard and just have your hands ready.”
That mindset opens up the offense in a new way, according to coach Tyronn Lue.
“He’s able to deliver the ball on time and on target,” he said. “Just being a quarterback out on the floor, you know his basketball IQ and being able to control the game, it makes it a lot better, a lot easier for us.”
Rondo even has made a few visits to the free-throw line: After going just 1 for 2 from the stripe in 402 minutes with the Atlanta Hawks to start the season, he’s 6 for 6 in 103 minutes as a Clipper.
He’s also done well to keep the defense honest, shooting 45.2% from the field and 38.5% from 3-point range since arriving, well above his career average of 31.9% from deep.
“Being able to step back behind 3, if teams go under and make a shot, is huge, it’s huge for our team, it’s huge for him, but he brings so much more than the 3-point shooting,” Lue said. “I just think it’s his court command, the way he commands things on the floor. His passing ability. The pace he plays at. And just his IQ.
“Having a point guard on the floor means way more to our team than just making 3-point shots.”
Leonard questionable
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is questionable to play today in Philadelphia, where the Clippers will meet former coach Doc Rivers for the second time this season.
Leonard has missed the Clippers’ last three games, the first for rest and the last two with a sore right foot. The All-Star forward is on the three-game trip with the Clippers, who were hoping he would be healthy enough to play, Lue said.
Paul George and Marcus Morris Sr. were not on the team’s injury report Thursday afternoon after they both sat out Wednesday’s win in Detroit to rest.
Patrick Beverley (hand fracture) and Serge Ibaka (back tightness) remain at home, rehabbing.
Pardon the disruption
The Clippers are calling Nicolas Batum, their French forward, “Nico Gobert,” a nod to Utah’s talented 7-foot-1 French center (Rudy Gobert) who, like Batum recently, has a penchant for shot-blocking.
Batum — who has averaged 0.6 blocks per game in his 13 NBA seasons — has swatted away 11 attempts in eight games in April, and has 15 rejections in his last 13 games.
But the savvy 32-yearold is running interference in other ways too.
This month, Batum has registered 24 deflections, best on the Clippers and tied for 10th-most in the league (equal to proven defensive pest T.J. McConnell of the Pacers). For the season, only Leonard’s 124 deflections outnumber Batum’s total of 121 among Clippers.
Batum knows what they say: Defense wins, of course.
“On offense, we know who we are, we know what we can do,” Batum said on Bally Sports after Tuesday’s victory in Indiana, where he had a career-high five blocks. “But the first part of this season, the defense wasn’t where it’s supposed to be. We talked about it during the break, and really the first practice after the All-Star break, to step up our defense . ... We know what we can be, we have to be aggressive as a team for us to do something special this year.
“I think we’re doing a pretty good job the last 15 games.”