Kobe Bryant is still a spectator these days, not expecting to return from the fractured bone in his knee until sometime in February.
With his Lakers taking on the Celtics in Boston on Friday, memories of better times were brought to the surface, and Bryant was among those sad to see the Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett era end when the Celtics chose to trade them to Brooklyn to begin the rebuilding process.
As Bryant explained his reasons why, he mentioned the 2010 team that took the Lakers to seven games, before ultimately falling in the NBA Finals. And when counting the number of future Hall of Famers he played against that year in the championship round to take home the title, Bryant said there were four -- which implied that Rajon Rondo was included in his statement.
From Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald:“When we played against them, you saw really good basketball,” Kobe said. “You saw smart players, unselfish players who played both ends of the floor, multi-faceted players.
“So of course I’d hoped for a team like that to stick together, because that’s the maximum level of competition that you’re going to have. I mean, that 2010 series is my favorite series of all time, just because it was the most competitive one. It was the most difficult one. I mean, we’re going against four future Hall of Famers. That doesn’t happen too often.”
Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen are indeed Hall of Fame locks. Rondo, however, would appear to have a long way to go to reach that lofty designation.
Among active players, Basketball Reference lists Rondo as 23rd in terms of Hall of Fame probability, with just a 21.37 percent chance of finishing his career at that level. That feels about right at this point, even though Rondo has exhibited an elite IQ for the game, and has proven capable of coming up big in its biggest moments when the opportunity has presented itself.
Bryant is the only player on that list with a 100 percent probability, even though Tim Duncan in second at 99.9 percent is a shoe-in, as well. So if he sees that quality in Rondo, it’s worth taking notice, even if the Celtics guard would need several more years and many more career accomplishments to eventually earn Hall of Fame honors.
