Did the C’s Really Forget About Ubuntu Last Season?

Posted by Zach Lowe on Oct 3, 2009 34581 commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F10%2F03%2Fdid-the-cs-really-forget-about-ubuntu-last-season%2FDid+the+C%27s+Really+Forget+About+Ubuntu+Last+Season%3F+2009-10-03+22%3A33%3A44Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D3458

Doc got a lot of attention Friday when he hinted that last year’s team did not play with the selflessness and togetherness of the Ubuntu championship club. Here’s the money quote from the Herald:

“But I thought last year there were so many other things going on – you know, contracts, fanfare, all that. I tell you, I think especially with the young guys, admiration is a difficult beast to deal with. How you handle that on a day-to-day basis is very challenging. I think that was a distraction that as a group we didn’t handle nearly as well as I’d like and as well as we could have.

“I thought we had a lot of different agendas. Guys were looking out for their own situations more than the team situation. That came through all year. It was never anything really big, but it was there all year. You could see it in little things, and I think when you take it as a whole it really had an effect on our season.”

The mention of “young guys” having problems with “fanfare” and “admiration” seems to be a pretty clear shot at Rajon Rondo. Honestly, it might be time to stop the public criticism of Rondo, whether the critics name him or not. We’ve heard ad nauseum now about his “difficult” (at times) attitude, his stubbnorness and even one or two occasions when he showed up late to games—including one post-season game. I thought Rondo was contrite in admitting to Sports Illustrated last week that he sometimes “shuts down” when he gets “frustrated,” even to the point that he won’t call out screens on defense. It may be time to lay off.

As Red’s and CB point out, Rivers could also be talking about Big Baby.

Look, Doc knows this team a million times better than any of us. He can see and hear things we can’t. He knows if people played more selfishly at times last season and whether the locker room felt less cohesive. 

But I’ll say this: There’s very little objective statistical evidence that the Celtics—particularly Rondo and Davis—played more selfishly last season than they did in 2008. Rondo’s assist rate of 39.7 percent (meaning he assisted on 39.7 percent of the team’s baskets while he was on the floor) was the seventh-best mark in the league last season, according to Basketball Reference, and a significant improvement from his ’08 mark of 28.2 percent.

Rondo’s shot attempts barely jumped at all—from 9.3 per game in ’08 to 9.5 last season—despite the fact that KG’s absence for the last quarter of the regular season left a dozen or shots to be redistributed. (Note: Rondo averaged 16 shots per game in the playoffs, though few would take much issue with his post-season shot selection). 

On defense, Rondo’s counterpart PER (a measure of the productivity of the other team’s point guards) dropped from 17.6 in ’08 to 16.5 in ’09, according to 82games). 

As for Davis, her assist rate and assists/36 minutes also improved. His shot attempts jumped, but not a huge amount considering his increase in minutes and responsibility. Big Baby’s counterpart PER didn’t change significantly against either power forwards or centers, and I think we’d all agree he’s trying hard on defense. (Side note: The numbers continue to say Baby has an easier time defending centers, but that could result more from the fact that most centers aren’t that good). 

Leon Powe’s FGA/36 minutes dropped, Paul Pierce’s increased from 13.8 to 14.0, Ray Allen’s remained steady and Perk’s inched up about one shot per 36 minutes. No big changes. Not even from Eddie House. 

Meanwhile, the team remained one of the two or three best defensive units in the league over the course of the season despite losing Garnett for more than 20 games. 

Short story: There’s no objective data to show the team ditched Ubuntu even slightly last season. But that’s just objective data, and I don’t think that’s what Doc is talking about it. Doc is big into emotion and spirit, and his criticism is about something larger than numbers. 

Is it a genuine criticism? Or just posturing to get the team in the right mindset for the season? It’s hard to tell from here.