Rajon Rondo was suspended for Wednesday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, which came in the wake of at least two heated exchanges that the Dallas Mavericks point guard had with head coach Rick Carlisle. Will the tension ultimately lead to the end of their working relationship?
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reports that Rondo is “extremely unlikely” to re-sign with the Mavericks when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. Apparently the disagreements between Rondo and Carlisle have had to do with who should be calling offensive plays. Rondo believes his track record speaks for itself and that he should be able to call plays as the team’s point guard, while Carlisle — one of the best offensive minds in the game — has been hesitant to give a player who has been with him for less than one season that much control.
MacMahon notes that Carlisle had similar issues with Jason Kidd several years ago, though never quite as public as the spat between Rondo and Carlisle. The Mavs went on to win an NBA Championship a few years later with Carlisle and Kidd working together.
Dallas gave up a first-round pick, a second-round pick and three players for Rondo. Mark Cuban and company would not have given up that much for a one-season rental, but it’s hard to ignore the shouting match Rondo and Carlisle had on the court earlier this week. The tension apparently spilled over into the locker room area after the game.
On Wednesday, Carlisle admitted that his communication with Rondo needs to improve.
“The incident last night was born in large part out of poor communication between him and I,” he said. “That’s on both of us. We had a long talk about the situation today, and we both agreed that we need to communicate more frequently.”
It has long been rumored that Rondo did not get along with Doc Rivers and was one of the reasons Rivers ultimately chose to leave the Boston Celtics. The veteran guard certainly isn’t one of the more coachable players in the NBA.
