The change in basketball and the irrelevance that is Rajon Rondo

Everyone is getting paid, but Rajon Rondo’s phone is dry.

By CASEY GISCLAIR, G-4-2 SPORTS

NBA free agency is here. Teams have cap space and are throwing it around liberally.

Alexis Ajinca got paid. Al-Farouq Aminu got paid. Mike Dunleavy got paid.

But an NBA Championship-winning starting point guard is sitting on the sidelines and collecting dust, wondering if his name is ever going to get called.

Ah, the career of Rajon Rondo. What a wild, wild mystery that it is.

He’s always been sort-of an outlier and a tough player to peg. When the Celtics were winning titles, he was borderline dominant at times, greatly impacting games with his passing, rebounding and ball-handling/leadership skills. But since that time, Rondo has been beat up. He’s had injuries to his knees and other parts of the body. He’s missed darn near as many games as he’s played in recent years.

He’s not quick as razor quick as he once was. He’s not the physical specimen that he was in his heyday.

More importantly than all of those things?

He’s an endangered and almost extinct species.

The game of basketball is different today than it was just 10 years ago. Drastically different.

Somewhere along the line, league executives got smart and realized that if you shoot 35% from the 3-point line, it’s better than if you shoot 50% from 2. Somewhere along the line, the league’s smart guys realized that mid-range jumpers are a thing of the past and that the key to being offensively efficient is shooting as many 3-pointers and layups as humanly possible to maximize the number of points you score per shot.

Somewhere along the line, terms like ‘spacing’ and ‘tempo’ became household terms.

Somewhere along the line, Rondo didn’t fit any of these above-stated things and got lost in the shuffle.

Rondo’s career is bizarre. He outkicked his coverage early in his career and used an All-World supporting cast to build his fame – even when he wasn’t all that great to begin with. But he evolved and did earn his billing, improving his game and becoming the Celtics’ best player. But it was at a time when his skillset became obsolete in the game.

Combine that archaic game with a personality that’s a mix of Marbury and Terrell Owens and you have a player who no one wants in free agency – a man completely lost in the shuffle.

The Kings are interested. But what does it say when the most dysfunctional organization in sports wants you? Others will hop in, as well. But they’ll just be paying him to reach their salary cap floor.

The days of Rondo being an asset in the league are over. He’s too stubborn to evolve. He’s too old of a dog now to learn new tricks.

It’s weird and rare. Aminu is getting paid, but an NBA Championship-winning guard who is still just 29 is not.

Welcome to the NBA in 2015, baby. You can’t be a point guard who can’t shoot anymore. Especially when you’re a point guard who can’t shoot who is also a jerk.

That doesn’t cut it, and Rondo’s pocketbooks are learning that the hard way right now.