Rajon Rondo‘s first season with the Bulls didn’t get off to a great start. The point guard clashed with coach Fred Hoiberg and the team benched him for five games as a result.
“I tried to stay away from milking what was going on. I didn’t want anybody to feel sorry for me,” Rondo said (via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune). “It didn’t break me down. I didn’t need sympathy calls. People did call and care and send texts. But if you know me, it’s going to be hard to break me.”
Rondo has since re-joined the rotation and he’s been starting over the last eight games. The point guard said he and Hoiberg talk more now than they did earlier in the season. “He’s telling me a lot of positive things. Fred’s a great guy,” Rondo said. “We didn’t talk much when I wasn’t playing. But I was still studying him as a coach. I was watching his moves, when he called timeout, his substitution patterns. I wanted to continue to stay positive and learn a different aspect of the game versus sitting there feeling sorry for myself.”
Here’s more from Chicago:
- Rondo’s salary for the 2017/18 campaign, which is worth slightly under $13.4MM, will become guaranteed if he remains on the roster on July 1. Only $3MM of that amount is guaranteed should the Bulls decide to waive him before that date. Rondo isn’t paying attention to the financial situation, but instead, he’s focusing on getting the Bulls to the postseason, as Johnson relays in the same piece. “I can’t worry about next season,” Rondo said. “I just want to do what I can for this team this season, lead the young guys and make a push.”
- Michael Carter-Williams, who will be a free agent this offseason, wants to remain with the Bulls, according to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (Twitter link). Woelfel adds that MCW hasn’t ruled out returning to the Bucks.
- Nikola Mirotic will be a restricted free agent this summer and it’s not out of the question that he re-signs with the Bulls, Johnson writes in a separate piece. Earlier in the month, Mirotic found himself out of the rotation, but he’s played well since earning more minutes.
Rondo will be a great coach someday. I feel like the issues he has had with coaches has largely been in his youth he felt he knew better than his coaches and his maturity wasn’t on par with his knowhow. It seems he has matured a lot and can handle his ego better. The interesting thing is a lot of the time he did know better he just didn’t present it in a way that harbored success
Remember it was only 2 years ago when the Mavericks players essentially voted him off of the team because he was such a cancer. And only a few months ago when he used social media to call out the Bulls two best players. Rondo would be a terrible coach, just like he is a terrible teammate
The Bulls deserve Mirrotic. They’re all dis functional.
Maybe MCW hasn’t ruled out returning to the Milwaukee Bucks, But, The Milwaukee Bucks have ruled out him returning back.