Champinoship Crew

I have watched Celtics throughout the year, both regular season and playoffs, and I saw Rajon Rondo improved to the point where most of the neysayers stopped criticism. He is young and uncommon player in this league and seems to have a bright future. It might not be the perfect time to say that, as Lakers are using him as a Ben Wallace of a sort in order to defend other Celtics with great success, so this might turn into a discussion about Rondo's basketball qualities, and that isn't my intent. However, I had to say it here and now, because somebody might think that I have no respect for the player and that I'm just trying to find new ways to slam him. That is not the case here.

With all the good moments that have happened to the Celtics in previous 8 months, I'm sure that I have missed his joy and true happiness for his teammates, that is I'm sure it happened at least once. But I can't recall it. When Rondo plays badly, he never cheers for his teammates. He sits with the sour face on the bench, doesn't talk to anyone. Ok, there's the mandatory handslap during timeouts.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the camera never catches him at the right time. Maybe he is a good teammate, but a quiet and shy person. Anyway, it is sad to see him on the bench looking like his team is losing by 20 and have Memphis written on their j's. Not all the guys can be Turiaf-like, I realize that. It's just... somebody should really explain this kid that this is a team sport off the court as well. Nobody will ask him to be the leader or the chief yet, he is a sophomore of course. Yet, would it be that hard to enjoy and support teammates good moves and game parts?

Furthermore, it is possible that the bad morale influences his game. If you overthink the situation while spending time on the bench and refuse playing by the instincts, you're not gonna improve in that game. Also, I always felt that cheering for my team keeps me in the flow of the game, making me more ready to come back on the floor.