I like that Rajon Rondo is thinking big. Like “the Celtics are my team” big.
Look what he said while in the Philippines (where he is helping at a Red Bull sponsored youth Clinic), as reported by Interaksyon.com (via SLAM).
“I hope I can end my career as the greatest point guard in the history of the Boston Celtics,” he said.
It’s lofty. Boston is a city that is prideful of its history in all forms, all the way to John Winthrop and his “city upon a hill” (which was intended in a very different way than politicians use it today).
With the Celtics that history goes back as well to their dominant era of the 1950s and ‘60s. It means Hall of Famer Bob Cousy at the point, a guard who dribbled behind the back because it was an efficient way to keep the ball away from a defender, who seems to have invented the no-look pass. Cousy revolutionized the point guard position. He is the point guard benchmark in Boston, one great players like Nate “Tiny” Archibald and Dennis Johnson tried to live up to.
Rondo can be on that list someday. He should be on that list someday. Boston needs to keep him in a few years to be the guy they build around when Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce ride off into the sunset. If he stays he should be remembered as one of the great Celtics ever, a guy with his number in the rafters.
But he is going to need more than one ring to ultimately be considered among the Boston elite. He knows it (as does KG and PP).
Still, I like that he has set his goals high. That is one of the things great players do.
