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Three of John Calipari’s former players at Kentucky are playing in the NBA Finals. What I didn’t know is just how highly Calipari thought of another former Wildcat, Rajon Rondo, who played two years for Tubby Smith before he was the 21st pick by Phoenix in the 2006 NBA draft.
Rondo is now on the Lakers with Anthony Davis and is a four-time NBA All-Star. He’s led the NBA in assists three years and four times was named to the league’s all-defensive team. He also won a NBA championship in Boston in 2008.
“Rondo has been great now. He’s been great to me and I tried to get him to play on the Dominican National Team,” Calipari said.
That was back in 2012 when Calipari coached the team hoping to earn an Olympic berth and Rondo was still with Boston.
“I said, ‘Hey we’re allowed one American. Why don’t you be the guy? We’ve got all of these guys and you will go to the Olympics,'” Calipari recalled telling Rondo.
“He thought about it, but he called and said, ‘Coach I can’t do it. I can’t spend that much time away in the summer.’ So, he didn’t do it.”
Yet it has worked out for Rondo. He was traded to Dallas in December, 2014, and in 2015 moved on to Sacramento before playing with Chicago (2016) and New Orleans (2017). He joined the Lakers in 2018. He has played in almost 900 games and averaged 10 points and over eight assists per game. He also passed Michael Jordan for 10th in career playoff assists this season.
“He’s a dog too now,” Calipari said. “He’ll fight and battle and he’s not afraid. You can say, ‘Well, he doesn’t shoot it well.’ But he makes the shots he needs to make.”
