www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1143150&format=textRajon Rondo’s assists on the rise
He already has a championship ring, but Celtics point guard realizes there’s so much more
By Mark Murphy | Monday, January 5, 2009 |
www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics
Photo by Stuart Cahill
There was no doubting this 12-year-old boy’s sense of style, anyway.
The jeans he held up in front of the discerning Rajon Rondo [stats] were fashionably baggy, with big, fat belt loops and gold embroidered pockets. But the 24-year-old Celtics [team stats] guard wasn’t buying it. The jeans had as much chance of fitting him as the kid.
“Ummm, don’t you think they’re too big?” the Celtics guard asked evenly, with a straight face, to no effect.
The kid wanted THESE jeans, even if they were going to go over him like a barrel. So it was here that Rondo pulled an impressive crossover, morphing from playmaker into retail expert, and taking the youngster back to the Macy’s adolescent jeans department. With the help of sales associate Tony Allen, they went through the jeans rack until the correct size was found.
But the job was far from done. Most of the 32 kids from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) wanted to show their new Christmas clothes to the man who was making it all possible.
Rondo’s rule was simple - two Christmas outfits apiece - and its parameters were broad. Everything from gym shorts, hoodies and jeans to soft pink bathrobes were eventually scanned and bagged at a rolling cash register set up in a special room where cookies and drinks were consumed at a long table.
Rondo and Allen, large rolls of cash in hand, paid for it all, and both Celtics probably never made a better investment in humanity.
But check that. The investment was ongoing. After showing up during a 2007 career day at the MSPCC’s Jamaica Plain day care center to describe what he did for a living, Rondo kept coming back. The cast of kids - most of them in foster care and some the victims of abuse - didn’t change much, so Rondo came to learn most of their names and many of their stories.
One day he took them back-to-school shopping at the same Macy’s, in the Natick Mall. Another time they went roller skating. Sometimes Rondo simply showed up to help them with homework.
The only difference on this latest trip was the media - a couple of video crews and reporters - and it marked a change in Rondo’s thinking.
“He realizes that his profile is higher, and he’s much more open to looking into things that he would have been hesitant about in the past,” said Ilana Nunn, director of public relations for BDA Sports Management. “He told me, ‘I have to let the press in because the MSPCC needs the attention.’ ”
This noted introvert - a quality that should not be confused with lack of confidence, for Rondo has that in deep supply - now understands that he can’t remain in a shell.
His rise as point guard of the NBA champions has torn off the protective covering.
He recently signed a five-year deal with Nike worth more than $2.5 million. His name and image are now being developed in the same vein with other young stars represented by the sneaker giant, like Brandon Roy and Kevin Durant. Rondo also has a contract with a sports memorabilia company.
Those who walked into a Shaw’s Supermarket during the holiday season were likely confronted by a much larger-than-life cutout of Rondo, who lent his name, image and quite a few personal appearances to the grocery chain’s “Spirit of Giving” campaign, which donated goods to local food banks.
This is only the start. According to Nunn, new opportunities are being explored. At BDA Sports, which represents 35 NBA players and five more in the WNBA, the process never ends, especially for Rondo.
Thanks to a remarkable growth spurt in his game following the Celtics’ first NBA title in 22 years, Rondo is now a legitimate part of the Eastern Conference All-Star discussion.
Unlike that baggy pair of jeans, this is now a very good fit.
Finding his balance
Balance is the new challenge, and Rondo appears to have an overloaded plate.
Basketball, naturally, is foremost. His first All-Star appearance doesn’t become reality without hard work. With the help of people like Nunn and Bill Duffy, the CEO of BDA Sports, he is learning to develop his public presence, and that requires time beyond the game.
Rondo, who has a girlfriend and a 15-month-old daughter in Kentucky who come up for frequent visits, admits to feeling a strain from having to be a long-distance parent.
“But I don’t really have too much going on off the court right now,” he said. “Doc (Rivers) does a wonderful job of giving all of us a day off when we need it, and then we can take care of things. I’ve just kind of taken on things as the seasons have gone on.
“In my first year I didn’t do anything like I’m doing now. I was trying to get a feel for what I have to do in the league. If I wanted to go and get in some extra shots right now, I could go at night and do it.
“I’m still young, so I have the energy to take care of all these things,” he said. “I’ll go to the (MSPCC) facility and help them with their homework. I have a pretty good handle on what they’re doing.
“I’m learning all of this from the veterans that I have around me. I get to see how they all manage their time and families, and that’s a good influence.”
No one has probably taught Rondo more about this balancing act than Ray Allen, who was forced to deal with the mix of basketball and celebrity at a young age.
Allen was barely out of UConn when he captured the leading role in Spike Lee’s “He Got Game.” His character - Jesus Shuttlesworth - was iconic for an entire generation of young basketball players, many of them now in the NBA.
Fame didn’t prevent Allen from developing into one of the greatest shooters in NBA history. But he had to achieve the sort of balance that is now a challenge for Rondo.
“You have to adjust, because it spins your whole life around,” Allen said right after what he considered a telltale moment.
The Celtics wives and girlfriends had set up a Christmas party in the Garden locker room following their Dec. 23 win over Philadelphia, meaning that players like Rondo had to meet the media in an interview.
Allen, after talking at length, spotted Rondo in the hallway attempting to slip off to the party.
“Come on, it’s your turn,” Allen said, gently but firmly pushing Rondo back into the room.
“Just now he’s walking out, trying to avoid doing the media thing,” said Allen. “But he has to grow beyond what his call of duty has been. Being charitable is a big part of it. Kids want to get a high-five from him, and he’s finding out just how much that can mean to these kids.
“When more people know you, you have a very powerful voice.”
That part has taken some explaining, according to Nunn.
“It’s time for more meetings with Rajon about being an endorser,” she said. “But when you become a spokesman for a particular company’s product, you also become an employee of that company. You have to be willing to put in the extra time that comes with that.”
The requisite extra time only expands, too, especially in that vast universe beyond basketball.
“This generation of young players all know me as Jesus Shuttlesworth,” Allen said. “That experience was so eye-opening because there are so many movie buffs who don’t watch sports, or know who I am. What you learn is that there’s a lot of people who don’t watch basketball. I realized that I wanted to be a great basketball player, but not just a great basketball player.”
Glove slap motivates
Rondo’s own aspirations are just forming.
“Rajon is a very nice person,” Duffy said. “But he was more private when he started in the league. Now there’s a willingness to step out and engage with people. I told him, ‘You’re the starting point guard on one of the most important sports entities in history - the Celtics. Now you can go one of two ways.”
For now, anyway, Rondo has embraced the more public road and all of the perils that come with it.
He has been criticized. Former Celtic Gary Payton, now an NBA Network analyst, questioned Rondo’s role in last June’s championship, quipping that the point guard received what amounted to a free pass to his championship ring ceremony.
“I respect the man’s game - I’m just saying, man, that he got put into a situation,” Payton said.
Not coincidentally, Rondo scorched the Pacers with his first career triple-double - 16 points, 13 boards, 17 assists - in short order on Dec. 4.
“Ever since Gary Payton’s been hating on him, he’s been playing great,” teammate Kendrick Perkins [stats] later said with great relish.
As baffled as Duffy may be by Payton’s comments, he has to agree with Perkins.
“I think when one hears a comment like that, it only motivates,” said Duffy, who believes that everything - the championship, the increasing public demand, the lure of an All-Star appearance - is building to a powerful head.
“I’ve seen the growth spurt in his game,” said the agent. “He’s more confident. He’s attacking. Championships are really not a fluke. The championship tells me that Rajon Rondo is a winner. When he had to win, he came through. If nothing else, Gary Payton should respect Rajon as a defender in the style of Gary, himself. That’s exactly how Rajon plays defense - like Gary.”
In the end, though, Rondo’s latest critic is simply one in an expanding chain of influences. And the room for more is boundless.
