While the 2018-19 season was generally lopsided for Lonzo Ball as it served as his final run in the Los Angeles Lakers, he still perceives it as a blessing for allowing him to share the court with LeBron James and Rajon Rondo. And from that year alone, he realized that the two were the best basketball geniuses he ever played with.
“I would say that Bron and Rondo are probably the two smartest basketball minds I’ve been a part of. Just like hearing them on the plane talk is just, I don’t know, the terminology is different, and you could tell them two work together well,” Lonzo said on The WAE Show.
A priceless experience
From Zo’s point of view, it would be truly fascinating to witness the overflowing intellect and knowledge that both LeBron and Rajon shared within the Purple and Gold camp. They have been frequently pegged as two of the game's greatest minds, and it was certainly a delight to learn their wits and thought processes behind the scenes.
With this, Ball seized the most out of his opportunity of being around the duo. As a young point guard during that time, he couldn't have asked for better role models to help him understand how to play the game the right way. Zo has learned a lot from LBJ and Rondo, from building good habits to understanding the X's and O's.
“Rondo, I mean I work out with the person he trains with now in Chris Johnson. But those finishes he was always doing before and after practice, I can see them translate into the game. I think that was something I've seen for the first time. Like I've never seen someone work on finishing like the way he did,” Lonzo recalled.
“And then Bron, I would say how he watches film and breaks it down to a T, like everything. He can tell you somebody’s shoes are untied on the free-throw line type. I was never around someone that watches film that strategically until that point.”
Related: "I think he taught Michael Jordan how to play" - Shawn Kemp credits controversial ex-Bull for MJ's growth as a player
Bron and Rondo planned to outsmart coaches in the Bubble
If there was one moment that perfectly illustrated the basketball brilliance of the LeBron-Rondo pairing, it was during the 2020 NBA Bubble. Both of them worked together to outmaneuver the head coaches of their former teams , leading the Lakers to their 17th championship.
“We were in a bubble; me and Bron were watching the game. It was Miami and Boston, and we were sitting in the room watching the game, and it went down to the wire. So Bron’s like, ‘If we get Miami, I got Spo, and if we get Boston, you got Brad.’ That was kind of our mindset," Rondo recalled .
"It wasn't 'Oh, we're gonna beat the Heat or going to be the Celtics,' it was more so if we can outcoach or outplay the coaches on that staff in particular which were two guys we felt that we knew pretty well, we were going to win.”
As rumors persist that J.J. Redick is targeting Rondo to be a member of his Lakers coaching staff, we can only be thrilled by the renewed basketball brainstorming that the former star point guard may have with The King again.
Related: "We didn't fu*k with anybody else" - Goran Dragic on the reason behind Miami Heat's success in the bubble
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