Rowan Kavner
SACRAMENTO – Long before his championship with Doc Rivers and Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo was tormenting defenses with another Clippers player.
The point guard’s connections to Clippers’ personnel run deep, and they run well beyond his connections from Boston en route to a championship.
They start with Josh Smith.
“We both had the same dream,” Rondo said, “and here we are 10 years later.”
That dream grew legs in high school at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, where Rondo and Smith joined forces to go 38-0 in a single season. From that moment on, both players had the NBA on their minds, and they’ve kept in touch every step of the way.
“That’s my brother,” Rondo said. “He’s not my biological brother. I have two brothers, but he’s my third one. He’s the closest thing there is to a brother.”
Looking back on how far both of them have come since those high school playing days puts a smile on Smith’s face. Smith called it a blessing.
But neither player is particularly surprised about it.
“We had the confidence that we knew some day we would be here,” Smith said. “But we didn’t know, like, how elite or the high level we would be able to be playing at.”
That’s clear now after a decade in the league. Rondo said for both of them, there was no other option than the NBA. They worked too hard to let that opportunity slip, dating back to their time together in high school.</p
“We always believed in each other, and we put the hard work and we put the time in,” Rondo said. “Anything you do, stay focused and put the time in, work extremely hard, believe in it, dream about it, envision it, manifest it, most things come true.
“Health and all that comes into play, but (Smith) deserves it. He deserves all his accomplishments and all his success. I knew he’d be great since we were roommates together.”
The respect is mutual. Smith credits many of his successes to what he was taught by Rondo.
“His work ethic was unbelievable,” Smith said. “He pushed me to be able to show me how I needed to work. Being at Oak Hill, the gym was right there. After we got our work done, we used to go in there late night, get shots up, have competitive shooting competitions, things like that. Being able to play with a guy that could pass the ball like he did, it was unbelievable.”
Both Smith and Rondo have seen their fair share of highs and lows since entering the league, but Rondo has left a lasting impression on all the Clippers who crossed paths with the four-time All-Star. Rondo said he still keeps in touch with all of them, from the Clippers staff members and players he worked with in Boston, to Smith, and even to Jamal Crawford, despite the two players never being on the same team.
That friendship, Crawford said, began out of a mutual respect for each other’s game.
“I was in the league obviously before he was, but I remember playing against him one of his first preseason games, like, ‘Who is this dude?' It was him and Sebastian Telfair playing point at the time, and he grabbed your attention,” Crawford said. “Being in the Eastern Conference all those years in New York, playing with Atlanta, we have a couple mutual friends as well, but our relationship really developed.”
Rondo seems to have that effect on the Clippers who know him well, and those who’ve seen his talent firsthand believe the point guard will figure things out in Sacramento. After seven years in Boston together, Pierce and Rivers know never to doubt Rondo.
“Rondo will be good this year,” Rivers said. “I just know. I think he’s in a very good place, talking to him. He’s going to have a good year.”
Rivers noted that it’s tough for a point guard to change teams in the middle of the season. The team accepting the new addition already has its plays and sets in place.
Now in Sacramento, Rondo has all year to get accustomed to his environment, and Pierce knows not to doubt Rondo when he has something to prove.
“You’ve got to expect his best, especially with the way things ended in Dallas last year,” Pierce said. “I expect good things from Rondo this year.”