Tuesday Notebook: Rondo’s Minutes, Bench Struggles, C’s Fall in Power Rankings

Posted by Brian Robb on Nov 6, 2012 3232016 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2012%2F11%2F06%2Ftuesday-notebook-rondos-minutes-bench-struggles-cs-fall-in-power-rankings%2FTuesday+Notebook%3A+Rondo%27s+Minutes%2C+Bench+Struggles%2C+C%27s+Fall+in+Power+Rankings2012-11-06+15%3A21%3A16Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D32320

The C’s will be putting together another lengthy practice session in Waltham this afternoon before hosting the Wizards in a rematch Wednesday night. The lengthy rest between these early contests has been a relief for the C’s who have been heavily leaning on Rajon Rondo early on. The point guard has averaged 42.5 minutes over his first three contests. Chris Forsberg at ESPNBoston talked to Doc yesterday over his concern on the workload:

“I’m concerned, not as far as him getting tired, but I don’t want him to save himself on the floor,” said Rivers. “There’s a minutes number for him, we don’t know what it is for him yet — we’ll figure it out — where he can play his minutes at full pace, instead of knowing he’s going to be on the floor too long and then he starts pacing himself. We need him to be a fast, quick, aggressive player.”

Rondo is no stranger to heavy minutes, averaging 42.6 per game in the playoffs last season (and 38.5 per postgame game for his career). At age 26, and being the team’s only true point guard, Rondo expected a heavy workload this season, but Rivers wants to keep him operating at full throttle, particularly on the defensive end where a high energy level is necessary to maintain the brand of defense Boston desires to play.

“I think [his minutes number] in the 39s [or] 38s,” said Rivers. “Not much lower than 40, but it’s in that area.”

Here’s hoping that volume will be able to decrease once Avery Bradley returns from his shoulder surgery next month. 38 minutes a game is a lot for a guy that gets beat up plenty while he is out there. 

For all of the complaints about the second unit and Jeff Green so far, you can make the case guard Jason Terry has struggled the most early on within the C’s offense. Having spent the last 8+ years in a different offensive system, it can’t be a huge surprise he’s off to a slow start Via The Boston Herald

“It’s a lot different here,” Terry said. “Screens are set. I come from a situation where the majority of the time the ballhandler had to get the guy setting the pick the ball. Here we’re trying to get the ballhandler open and get him opportunities. Then he frees up the other guys. It takes a bit of an adjustment, but hopefully by the end of the week we’ll make progress in it.

“It’s a work in progress. I’m a scorer and I’m going to figure it out. Believe me when I tell you, I’ll continue to shoot the ball and take advantage of every opportunity.”

Marc Stein’s power rankings are out as well, and the C’s took a swift fall from their number 4 rank to start out the NBA season. Despite the three ugly contests, the fall isn’t over the top as Boston still remains in the top 10.