In a conversational interview hosted by Draymond Green, former NBA point guard Rajon Rondo reflects on his 2023‑24 season with the New Orleans Pelicans, detailing the team’s early‑season chemistry challenges under coach Alvin Gentry and offensive coordinator Chris Finn, his bench stint, and eventual insertion after DeMarcus Cousins’ injury. Rondo explains how he adjusted his role to facilitate playmaking alongside Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Drew Holliday, emphasizing the importance of ball distribution and strategic scoring splits. He speculates that a healthy Cousins would have given the Pelicans a realistic chance to defeat the 2018 Golden State Warriors in the playoffs, recounting a specific anecdote about the first play of a game that could have set a different tone. The conversation then shifts to defensive accolades: Rondo outlines his view of the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) qualifications—statistical impact, plus‑minus, the ability to guard multiple positions, communication, and playoff performance—while contrasting the defensive award’s perceived lower prestige compared to the MVP, noting that big men often dominate DPOY discussions but that impact can be measured in many ways beyond steals. Throughout, the tone remains informal and reflective, with Rondo expressing enthusiasm for his former teammates and a supportive stance toward Draymond Green’s defensive reputation.
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One part of your career that I'm even, I'm extremely interested in hearing about is your years with the Pelicans, or year with the Pelicans where you had AD playing at MVP level. You had DeMarcus playing at top 5 MVP level.
We was that sharp.
You, you, you, Drew, y'all got Drew.
Yeah, Drew, right, we had Drew. Blam.
Right? You getting 20 assists some nights, 22 assists, 24 assists, and watching you do that.
Let me tell you about that team though. And of course y'all knocked us off. But that beginning of that year, Alvin Gentry was the coach. Chris Finn was the offensive coordinator. And at first it didn't work. Me, Cuz, Drew, AD on the court didn't work. I needed the ball, they needed the ball in a certain sense. So, I was on the bench for a while. And then once Cuz got hurt, that's when I got inserted. But before then, what I loved doing my job was I wasn't playing. So I was like, okay, cool. I had Cuz, Eddie, which is two guys I love playing with. Like I said, I was giving everything that I got poured down to me from all the great vets, from the platformers. Then I had one of my favorite teammates all time, Drew Holliday, on the court. So I was like, okay, I took a backseat role. Like, let me try to coach this. So instead of Cuz and Eddie, 'cause at first they both trying to score 50. Yeah, I'm like, cuz, manipulate the game by scoring 25. Let AD get the 50. You go for 20, 20, and 20. You know what I mean? Like, go crazy a different way. Both y'all getting 50 won't allow us to win games because now y'all fight. Now if you could come to the facilitator— now he's running delay, he's running stuff off of elbow action, making playmaking, because that's what he was— that's what he was really good at that particular time. He's gonna have a big slow guy on him and he's gonna have the agile wing. So it's like Then he had Jrue Holiday. So them learning how to play 3 men together, manipulate the game, and we was on a roll. He got hurt towards Achilles.
Yeah.
And that's when I got inserted. I was like, shit, okay, cool. Who are my weapons? So I took care of, well, I took, you know, heat of Nico Mirotić, E'twan Moore, you know what I mean? Guys made me better, shot makers, AD, lob threat, Jrue Holiday. The pistol action that people run, me and Jrue used to kill that action. The small, small guard pickup, step up. Man, we playing pickup the first couple days and then it was, he stepped up. I'm like, what the hell is this? I think he came, I forgot where he got it from, but it was, it might have been y'all. But he got it and perfected it. It was, I mean, and I threw the pass, I was able to hit that pass easy. So it was like stuff like that. Like I said, that team chemistry where he was able to go into Portland with that mindset, you know, even before the playoffs started, Drew and I were like, who you want? It was either between Dame and CJ or James and Chris Paul. Yeah. And we, like I said, it was either way. Like we didn't really care what the smoke was, but it was smoke either way we went. Then we went to Portland, obviously took care of business, and then we ran into them boys and we just didn't have enough, man. We didn't have enough.
That was it.
Yeah, I mean, with DeMarcus. Hey, hey, hey. With DeMarcus out, it would've been different. I mean, we would've won, but.
I got, I got, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Y'all wouldn't have. Listen, I'm gonna tell you, this is a true story. Never told this story. So I'm trying to get, the first play of the game, I'm trying to get AD to bow you. Trying to get him to bow you, set the tone off the drip. Didn't happen, something happened, you ended up bowing us and I'm just like, fuck, they hit that, that was the first strike. It was on and like I said, y'all took care of business 4-1 or whatever. But yeah, I was trying to get him to get you from the jump.
But if I had Cuz, He would've did it for sure.
Kobe would've really, you know what I mean? That's why I feel like we might've got you. Like, who's bigger than y'all? Like I said, I'm trying to go through KD. I'm trying to go through everybody frontline. Of course they gotta deal with their boys running around, but if we can get y'all two up outta there, y'all the anchor.
Yeah, that's for sure.
You know what's crazy? If AD would've did that, it probably would've caught me so far off guard. Like, I wouldn't have been expecting it.
It'll woke you up. Oh man. It'll woke him up.
I'm sitting here right now trying to think how I would have reacted then. Like, I don't know how I would've reacted.
You would've got him back.
He might've stole off on him and now you got 3 games and we on to the next round.
Draymond Green definitely got him back. He would've slammed him something. He'd be like—
I probably would've reacted right in the moment. Who knows what I would've, I don't know what I would've been, man.
Oh man.
Thank you, AD. I appreciate you, brother.
And then I know you pride yourself on defense, you know what I mean? My boy Draymond, I'm campaigning for him for Defensive Player of the Year.
Right, absolutely.
Just to let, you know, let everybody know that's my dog. I'm rocking with him, right? For your criteria of Defensive Player of the Year, what would the main qualifications be to be considered for that accolade?
Um, I'm starting to like analytics, um, but I'm a game watcher as well, you know what I mean? I'm a field guy. So, um, a lot of things come into play, obviously, statistical categories, um, plus-minus on the floor, being able to switch 1 through 5, um, how you affect the ball, maybe not even, you know, being around the ball, you're still affected. I mean, whether it's your communication there's a lot of factors for me. So there's not a lot of guys that can do that. I mean, you gotta be able to play in the playoffs.
Yep.
You just gotta be able to have impact on the game without even scoring. And that's why I think a guy like myself, a guy like what Draymond does, put you up there for Defensive Player of the Year.
We used to always argue about the MVP and it, and the MVP is just an offensive category and Defensive Player of the Year never gets held with the same weighted value as an MVP. I wanted to get your take on that too.
Yeah, 1,000%. A lot of, like I said, always, it's always usually bigs, obviously they're rim protectors. But I mean, there's so many different ways and it's not just steals, 'cause how many times are you giving up points when you gambling, you know what I mean? So it's just like steals can be, you can be on the worst team in the league, the league team steals, you make all first team, all defense.
Yeah.
But you probably get, you probably lead the league in backdoors or your gamble points scored off a gamble. So it is the, Depends on how you look at it, you know what I mean? I don't— it's a different factor for me.
