"When I came in, he was super quiet," Garnett recalled. "He was just super isolated. He wouldn't do a lot of things with guys. He wouldn't necessarily speak."
Garnett did see Rondo's hunger to win, especially in practices, where he said Rondo refused to let his man score, much less touch the ball.
"Rondo's competitiveness is relentless," Garnett said. "I understood that he wanted to demolish."
Rondo took a little something from all the Celtics veterans, Garnett said, and from Garnett came something that made Rondo even more icy toward the opposition.
"Once I filled him with, 'Hey man, you don't need any gratification from any peers. If you bust they ass, you gain that respect from them.' That's exactly what happened," Garnett said.
Like Garnett, Rondo snarled at his teammates if they wore sneakers promoting big-name players the Celtics were facing that night: Kobe's, KD's, etc.
Rondo was also quick to engage in scuffles in games, if that meant bumping a referee or throwing an elbow into someone's jaw, as he did to
Lance Stephenson earlier this season.
But it went beyond that.
Rondo would break up high-five attempts between opposing players, sneak into their on-court huddles, and when he'd fall, he'd refuse a helping hand if it were attached to someone not in Celtics green. Boston's
Jared Sullinger said Rondo even chewed out his teammates at halftime when one shook hands with an opponent during the first half.
