Rondo's skillset needs to be considered in context, though. We all know he's not a primary or even secondary offensive option; he needs to be surrounded by scorers. He was never going to make last year's collection of dreck much better, because their problem was the lack of a primary scorer. When Rondo played with Pierce and Garnett, they were able to get by without him because Pierce played the playmaker role. While Paul was capable of that in stretches, I don't think that's an optimal usage for him, and I think, record notwithstanding, it was obvious that they were a better team with Rondo on the floor.
Rondo's a very limited player. I would never advocate building a team around him, I'm not sure he's really deserving of the max, and I agree that he's not demonstrably better, in the abstract, than guys like Ty Lawson or Jeff Teague. But Rondo is probably the best pure distributor in the NBA, and I think it's worth considering how Rondo's abilities fit with a team built around Kevin Love. Love is a volume scorer, and the premier floor-spacing big man in the league, which would give Rondo space to operate in the paint and a deadly catch-and-shoot option. Love is a fantastic outlet passer, which plays to Rondo's strengths in the open floor. He's at his best in the pick-and-roll, and needs to get the ball in his spot, not 30 feet from the basket; he's not a playmaker like Pierce was. Both of those require a point guard who is a skilled passer and decision maker, as opposed to a Jeff Teague type.
Since we all seem to agree that a Celtics team with Kevin Love would need to add a scoring wing who can create their own shot, I actually think Rondo would fit well on that team as a third scoring option and facilitator.
