And in this new salary cap era, a two-year deal for $28 million for Rondo looks like a something of a bargain. And, he’s certainly an upgrade over any alternative now on the roster.
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For the Chicago Bulls, they’re usually rumored to be involved in the frenzy, but nothing good ever happens.
The NBA’s free agency is this weird span of a week where the NBA turns into college football’s National Signing Day and some high-profile stars find new and creative ways to announce where they’re going to play next season.
The Bulls wanted to keep Moore and believed their offer, which took advantage of the franchise owning Moore’s “Early Bird Rights”, would be satisfactory in retaining him, despite the courtship of teams like the New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bulls don’t have to bring Rondo back next year, but they may have to bring back whatever problems he creates. Not only did Rondo cross way over the line during the confrontation with Kennedy that led to his ejection, he first issued a muddled statement that fell short of an apology.
Defensively, Rondo hardly resembles the player who earned four All-Defensive selections while in Boston. His respectable 37 percent shooting from three-point range last season with the Kings was an outlier, the first time in his career that he hit above 32 percent and just the fourth time he broke 30.
A chance at having Rondo on their team was not an opportunity the Bulls were willing to pass up on. A phenomenal free throw shooter, Jamal Crawford had a 90.4 percent success rate; missing just 26 free throws out of 271 attempts.
Hoiberg envisioned the player who led the National Basketball Association with 11.7 assists per game and directed the league’s fastest-paced offense enacting Hoiberg’s preferred style of play. So for now, the team is built around Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson, Robin Lopez and a supporting cast. He watched film with coach Fred Hoiberg for an hour, a source said, and both came away convinced Rondo is a good fit for what Hoiberg wants to do offensively. They empowered Butler – Hoiberg’s most outspoken critic – by dealing Rose and now have signed a guy known to challenge coaches with National Basketball Association championship rings.
And finally, I recommend going through all of Bulls Confidential’s ethering of this move.
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Last season, Jamal Crawford averaged 15.5 points in his 79 games played with the Clippers, averaging 26.9 minutes per game off the bench. In year one of Hoiberg’s tenure both Butler and Pau Gasol called him out for not running the kind of offense they prefer, and Hoiberg never really go past those comments as the year went on.
