RONDO? MAYBE.
The Chicago Bulls need to sign a point guard in free agency. Rajon Rondo is a free agent point guard. And lo, on Friday afternoon the two sides met in Chicago:
Mentioned Rondo as possible target this AM and Bulls indeed have had contact with last year's assists leader.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) July 1, 2016
Rondo met with Bulls in Chicago today, per sources.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) July 1, 2016
This was first reported by Some Guy on Twitter, whose sister took a picture of Rondo at O'Hare. A classic tale:
@WojVerticalNBA Rondo@to the Bulls? http://pic.twitter.com/Er0Ylx04wt
— Brandon (@bthack22) July 1, 2016
Notice the Bulls logo on his iPad! Is this really happening?
Marc Spears reports that the Knicks and Nets have previously had interest in Rondo, but both teams have acquired a point guard already this offseason. For the Knicks, that's Derrick Rose. For the Nets, it's Jeremy Lin, who signed a three-year, $36 million contract earlier Friday. Rondo is also reportedly open to going back to Sacramento, where he spent last season.
Bulls fans have had a, let's say, strong distaste for Rondo ever since he threw Kirk Hinrich into the scores table and clotheslined Brad Miller in the 2008 playoffs. Personally, I find nothing wrong with the first part. Rondo has long been one of my favorite players in this league, an evil genius of a point guard with supernatural passing ability, very little shooting ability and a personality so despised the Mavericks once voted not to give him part of the team's playoff share.
Rondo is brilliant but he's also a dick. He led the league in assists last season while shooting 58 percent from the free throw line. His three-point shooting was shockingly competent (36.5 percent) on a low volume of attempts (2.4 per game). He was No. 7 in the league in steals at nearly two per game, but our Tom Ziller estimated there are about "250 better defenders" in the league after watching him up close in Sacramento last season. He's also a dick. Did we mention that?
If it's another one-year deal like the one Rondo played on last season, this might not be so bad. Rondo is still one of the best facilitators in the game and he'd be a major defensive upgrade over any of the Bulls incumbent point guards. He would also run all over Fred Hoiberg, which would be funny. Even in a worst case scenario, maybe this is a stealth tank move on the level of the Lakers signing Roy Hibbert and Carlos Boozer. Hey, it helped them get D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram.
I love Rondo so I'm for this. I've been openly rooting for it for a week. Now sign Lance Stephenson too and watch this thing burn. The 2017 draft is loaded with point guards anyway. If the Bulls are going to be a mess, they may as well be a funny mess.
Plan A, of course, is still to sign E'Twaun Moore, who could spend a year as a caretaker point guard trying to act as a rough facsimile of the Patrick Beverley/George Hill 3&D archetype. I'm all in on the idea of making a major offer to Blazers free agent Maurice Harkless to give this team a 6'9 super athlete who can cover up some defensive mistakes.
Moore has other suitors and Harkless is an RFA on a team that has a ton of cap space even after giving Evan Turner $70 damn million. Waiting in the wings? That could be Rajon Rondo. At least it would be entertaining.
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