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The Sixers snagged a guard on the opening day of free agency, but they might be hunting for bigger names than Jerryd Bayless. A report from ESPN / The Undefeated's Marc Spears suggests the Sixers are interested in current Kings point guard Rajon Rondo:
Kings FA PG Rajon Rondo getting interest from Kings, Bulls, Sixers & possibly Pelicans, source told @TheUndefeated.Anthony Davis a Rondo fan
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) July 2, 2016
Rondo's raw numbers weren't bad last season -- 11.9 points, 11.7 assists and six rebounds per on 45 percent shooting (36.5 from three!) -- but Rondo's raw numbers have never been the issue. He's a tremendously weird player who has a bad habit of chasing assists, a career's worth of poor outside shooting and a reputation as a surly teammate to boot.
Paul Pierce had some interesting things to say about his former Celtics teammate in an interview conducted with Jackie MacMullan last spring:
I talk to them a lot about mental preparation and consistency, Pierce said. I keep telling Wall and Beal, 'You've got to make up your mind. Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great? Because if you want to be great, you gotta do it every single night, not just when you feel like it.'
Both of those guys have the potential to be great. I love them. But sometimes I'm not sure they realize what it takes.
That was [Rajon] Rondo's problem, too. Some days he did, some days he didn't.
Even if we put on rose-colored glasses and assumed Rondo turned the corner as a shooter -- his sub-60 free-throw percentage hints otherwise -- he's not the sort of character I'd choose to help push the rebuild forward. Throwing a bunch of money at a guy who had an on/off switch on great teams and hoping he'll give his best to this Sixers group is optimistic to say the least.
I'll say it outright: I have enough trust in Bryan Colangelo that I don't feel especially worried about the Sixers signing Rondo. You can all mock me if he does, but for now the Sixers GM gets the benefit of the doubt. Just say no!