By Jim Coffman
I liked the Denzel Valentine pick and I loved the Derrick Rose trade. But Rajon Rondo?
Really?
This is what NBA desperation looks like.
Who thinks this is a good idea besides Gar Forman? If it wasn’t bad enough that Rondo openly showed up coaches in both of his last two stops – Sacramento’s George Karl last season and Dallas’s Rick Carlisle the year before – and essentially quit the Mavericks in the middle of a playoff series at the end of the ’14-’15 season, he also forced an NBA referee to out himself last season.
Does anyone believe that Rondo cursed out referee Bill Kennedy with a derogatory term that starts with an “f” and ends with a “got” without having any clue Kennedy was gay? Of course not. Rondo called him an effing f-got because he sensed Kennedy was gay and figured that was the best way to bully him. The problem: Kennedy realized in the incident’s aftermath that he had to make a statement, revealing what Rondo had called him and telling the world he was gay.
It sure does suck for a bully when his victim calls him out. In this case, Rondo was suspended for a game, costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was also outed as well, a homophobe at the very least.
Rondo will do an introductory news conference at some point this week – unless he is chicken. When he is asked about this incident, what will he say? Will he say it is ancient history? It sure would be great if some brave reporter – Joe Cowley, I am looking at you – would help him understand that he doesn’t get to decide that. Bulls fans and observers and advocates of human rights will decide when it is ancient history. And it sure as hell won’t be so if Rondo tries to shrug it off. At the very least, a multi-million dollar donation to some sort of LGBT charity will be in order.
Hey Jerry Reinsdorf, surely this signing has to give even you pause. Surely even your golden boy John Paxson, who was nice to you at some point when he was a player and therefore earned your undying loyalty (as opposed to Tom Thibodeau, who worked his ass off every day of his career as Bulls coach, putting in far more hours than Paxson, but was expendable in the end because for Jerry, love of the former player comes first no matter what) should pay a price for this sort of malpractice.
Any way you might want to spin this as a positive for the Bulls founders quickly. Rondo led the league in assists last year. Unfortunately all of his delightful passes added up to the Kings losing 49 stinking games. And Rondo has apparently decided his passing game requires every last ounce of his energy. His defense is such a joke, a fan kind of can’t believe it (Rondo led the league in steals for several years when he was younger, before he decided he couldn’t be bothered to try at that end any more).
Yes the Bulls had to sign someone to get their team salary up to the floor required by the collective bargaining agreement. But it had to be Rondo? Hey Gar, please don’t try to sell us that garbage. Next time you have to sign someone just to follow the rules of minimum expenditure, surely you can find someone who isn’t completely contemptible.
We knew the Bulls wouldn’t be championship contenders next year. But we hoped they would be a young team that would try hard, be competitive most nights and start to implement an exciting, Warriors-like fast-break offense that is supposed to be overmatched coach Fred Hoiberg’s specialty. At the very, very least, we hoped they wouldn’t embarrass us.
Every minute Rondo plays in a Bulls jersey will be embarrassing.
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Jim “Coach” Coffman welcomes your comments.
Posted on July 4, 2016