Such a statement would have been considered crazy in the early part of the season, when Rondo struggled to even hit free throws. Still, he was averaging 10.5 points per game through the first 13 games of the season — not far off from his career average of 9.9.
Since Nov. 22, the day the Celtics squeaked past the Knicks in overtime, he's turned up the jets. Rondo's averaged 13.6 points per game in the last 11 games — not coincidentally, all wins for the Celtics. He's been a double-double machine during that time as well, reaching double-digits in points and assists in seven of those games (he was just one assist shy of reaching the mark again in Monday night's win in Memphis).
Though the 13.6 mark is not a gaudy number, it goes a long way on a Celtics team chock full of scorers. It obviously creates some space for Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to create offense, and it also draws defensive attention to Rondo, which allows the point guard to find Kevin Garnett or Kendrick Perkins in the paint (Rondo certainly deserves an assist for Perkins' NBA-best 64.9 field goal percentage).
"Guys are guarding halfway," Allen explained to The Boston Globe regarding Rondo's effect with the ball. "He's got you backpedaling, but he sees the whole floor. You don't know what's going on behind you. You've got me and Paul roaming around there, and [defenders ask themselves], 'Do we help or do we stay on our man and let him penetrate?'"
The Rondo Effect extends beyond the starting five. When the C's were struggling (relatively speaking) earlier in the season, the common belief was that the team was shooting too many 3-pointers. That theory was essentially debunked by the folks at Red's Army, leaving the only explanation to be the most simple one: The Celtics just weren't scoring enough.
The bench was being relied upon heavily for points in November, and the group collectively struggled. Rasheed Wallace averaged 7.2 points per game in a 10-game stretch from Nov. 4 to Nov. 25. Eddie House also had issues, scoring just 5.2 points per game in a 12-game stretch starting on the same date.
Since the end of November, though, Wallace's scoring average has climbed from 7.2 to 10.9, while House's jumped from 5.2 to 8.6.
Again, the numbers don't blow anyone away, but the steady increase in contributions from the entire team is what the Celtics need. They've shown through the first 24 games that they may own the best record in the NBA, but they're not the teams from the past two seasons that can consistently blow teams out. Sure, the concept of winning by, say, 26 points, is not foreign to Boston, but four of the wins in the current streak came by five or fewer points.
For Rondo, it appears that he may be doing what was questioned earlier in the year: maturing.
"I'm pretty confident right now, offensively and defensively,'' he told the Globe. "The floor seems so spaced. I've got the greatest players in the world playing with me. The floor is so wide open, and with as great players as I'm playing with, when they don't help off of those guys, I get to drive and get layups. And if they do, I pick them apart, getting the ball to my teammates.''
That's the statement of a man who's seeing the floor better than he ever has before. He also may be as confident as ever in his jump shot.
"I'm taking [the jumper] more," he told the Globe. "I don't mind taking it at all. I just try to be efficient as much as possible. Teams are giving me the shot, and I am taking it this year, and I think that's the only difference. I have more freedom."
That's good for the Celtics, but what's even better is Rondo's vision of his future.
"It's part of basketball. You are not going to be great at everything,'' he told the Globe. "Even [Michael Jordan] wasn't great at everything. I'm only 23. I am going to keep getting better. That's how I look at it. I am going to keep working. I believe in myself. I want to go to the free-throw line. I want to take the jump shot. When I don't shoot my shot, I feel like I am cheating myself because I feel like no one can stop me from getting to the basket.''
Rondo's jumper may never evolve into that of a top scorer, but efficiency will always be the key. This year, he's hit 53.5 percent of his shots from the floor — his best mark of his career. He's also bettered his field goal percentage in each of his NBA seasons (41.8 in 2006-07; 49.2 in '07-08; 50.5 last year).
And shooting isn't the only area that Rondo's improved. He leads the league in steals (2.54 per game) and is approaching double-digits in assists per game with 9.5. It also doesn't hurt that the kid is as tough as nails (though that much is certainly nothing new).
In the past 11 games, the sum total of Rondo's continued development has been 11 wins. In the long-term scope of the Celtics, however, it means much, much more.
