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Rajon Rondo‘s career with the Chicago Bulls came to a tumultuous halt at the end of the calendar year, going from reduced minutes to nonexistent ones in a matter of a few games, thanks to coach Fred Hoiberg‘s never-ending offensive adjustments.
While Rondo struggled to get back in the rotation and faced constant criticism, former teammate Avery Bradley was a source of encouragement through his lowest points of the season.
“He was at my wedding,” Bradley told Jay King of MassLive earlier this season. “I consider him family.”
“It was hard hearing all the negative things about him,” Bradley added after practice Friday, two days prior to Game 1 of a first-round series against Rondo's Bulls. “But I just prayed for him. I wished him well. I would send him texts every now and then like, ‘Bro, it doesn't matter. We've all been there before.'”
Bradley spent the first four-and-some seasons of his career alongside Rondo and knows what it was like for him to grow into a role with three future Hall of Famers in the starting lineup.
“He's been the underdog before. And he came into the NBA, people not thinking he could play. Everybody's been there. It's just their job to continue to work and prove people wrong. I feel like every year he's been trying to do that.”
Rondo eventually shook out of his funk and has proven his worth to Hoiberg and the Bulls' offense — putting up 9.8 points, 7.2 assists, and 1.7 steals during March before missing three games in April due to injury.
The Bulls will embrace the underdog label, but will ultimately depend on Rondo's consistency to twist a knife in the narrative of their chances against the top-seeded Celtics. His length at the defensive end will be of the utmost importance to the team, as he'll be tasked with defending the third-leading scorer in the league, Isaiah Thomas.
