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The Chicago Bulls and point guard Rajon Rondo have come to an agreement on a two-year deal that is worth $28 million, but I am not sure that the Bulls are ready for the headache that they are about to receive. Rondo is a 10-year NBA veteran that has been known to clash with head coaches and his time with the Bulls should not be any different.

During Rondo’s time with the Boston Celtics, he did help the franchise win an NBA Championship in 2008, but he was known to clash with head coach Doc Rivers which made him the subject of trade talks numerous times. The Celtics would trade Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks in 2014 and during his brief time there, he clashed with head coach Rick Carlisle. Last summer Rondo would sign a one-year deal with the Sacramento Kings. And in one season with the Kings, Rondo was able to lead the NBA in assists at 11.7 per game. But the Kings were hands down the most dysfunctional team in the NBA this past season with Rondo being a big part of it. Now Rondo will join a Bulls team that spent the entire 2015-2016 NBA season searching for their identity, and they won’t get any closer to finding it by signing the four-time All-Star to be their floor general.

This past NBA season saw the Bulls be an up and down team as they were transitioning from being a tough minded defensive unit under former head coach Tom Thibodeau, to being more of an offensive team under current head coach Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008 while they traded longtime point guard Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks last month, and saw center Joakim Noah join him there via free agency. Now the Bulls have officially become small forward Jimmy Butler’s team, but only time will tell if he and Rondo will be able to get on the same page.

Rondo can bring out the worst in people as Rivers was ready to fight him during his Celtics tenure, while Carlisle who is a player’s coach was unable to get through to him. With the Kings, Rondo played under George Karl who is a Hall of Fame head coach, and just like Rivers and Carlisle, was left perplexed. Rondo tends to play to his own beat, and if these NBA veterans of the sidelines had issues with him, what is Hoiberg going to do with him on a Bulls team that is searching for an identity while also lacking the veteran leadership to keep the stubborn point guard in line?

Rondo’s best run in the NBA came during his nine-year stint with the Celtics; primarily because Boston had a strong veteran presence in their locker room with the likes of small forward Paul Pierce and power forward Kevin Garnett. The Bulls had to make a decision between parting with the oft-injured Rose or Butler as the two could no longer co-exist on the same squad. But after trading Rose, the Bulls had several options to address their point guard situation instead of signing Rondo. The Bulls didn’t draft a point guard during the NBA Draft last month, while there were other point guards available on the free agent market that could have been better fits in Chicago. Rondo’s past issues with head coaches could partially explain why he only received a two-year deal for $14 million per, as compared to point guard Mike Conley who received $130 million over five years from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Fred Hoiberg

Now we get to sit back and watch Hoiberg attempt to school Rondo on how he wants his offense run which will be the equivalent of mixing oil and water. And the more that the folks in Chicago will get to have a glimpse of Rondo, it might make them long for Rose that much more.

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By | 2016-07-04T21:18:09+00:00 July 5th, 2016|Categories: National Basketball Association|Tags: , , |0 Comments

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