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The New Orleans Pelicans have taken some potentially major steps forward this offseason by adding some key veteran pieces to the puzzle.
One of which is former All-Star guard Rajon Rondo on a one-year $3.3 million deal, which has paired him again alongside his former Sacramento Kings teammate DeMarcus Cousins. In a recent interview with Chris Mannix of The Vertical, Cousins sang nothing but praise for Rondo's ability on the court.
“Rajon is like a big brother to me,” Cousins said. “He taught me a lot in that one season we had together. Our relationship remained strong and we always thought we’d wind up being teammates again later down the road. I never expected it to be this soon, but I’m also happy about it. The addition of him, I think, that takes our team to the next level. I think he’ll have guys like myself, A.D. and Jrue and the rest of the team playing at an extremely high level. That’s one thing he does is bring out his teammates’ confidence. Every guy around him is a lot more confident.”
Cousins witnessed that first hand in their lone season together with the Sacramento Kings where he had his best statistical campaign of his career. He led the league with a career-high 11.7 assists per game while also setting several franchise assist records in the process.
This included Sacramento-era best marks for assists in a single game (22) and assists in a single season (839). Throughout his NBA career, Rondo has shown to be a gifted passer combined with his unique court vision that has made him one of the best pure point guards in the league.
It could translate quite well in his first season in New Orleans as he could go in full facilitator mode playing alongside two All-Star big men in Cousins and Anthony Davis. He is also sharing the backcourt with another former All-Star guard in Jrue Holiday, who has shown to be more than a capable scorer averaging 14.3 points for his career.
