Rondo: 'PH is Boston on steroids'

Recent Manila visitor Rajon Rondo, the cerebral point guard of the Boston Celtics, was apparently overwhelmed by what he saw here and couldn’t help but praise Filipinos’ devotion to basketball.
 
The NBA All-Star said in an interview with Ethan Sherwood Strauss of Bleacher Report that Filipinos “bleed basketball” and compared the country with Boston, calling the Philippines “Boston on steroids”.

“Just common sense,” Rondo told Strauss when asked why he became interested in the basketball culture in the Philippines. “The fans are crazy there. It’s unbelievable how many Celtic fans are there, how many Rondo fans are there. They bleed basketball. It’s like being home in Boston, but kinda on steroids. Population of about 93 million, and they show a lot of love.”

Rondo, who conducted a skills clinic and participated in the painting of a school while he was here, also appreciated the Filipinos’ knowledge of the game.

“A lot of fans understood the game of basketball, and I think they could relate to me because I'm not the biggest guy on the court, but I play with a lot of heart.”

Rondo was also asked if it was true that Filipinos played in sandals, and whether he could imagine himself playing that. His answer should be a pleasant surprise to his legions of fans here.

“As I grew up, I played in sandals,” he explained to Strauss. “I played in flip-flops all the time back in the day. That’s why I didn’t really care about spraining my ankles. When I first started in the NBA, I loved low-cuts. I can play (in them), because I used to grow up playing in flip-flops all the time.”
 
Some of the top high school and college players in the country took part in the skills clinic, where Rondo taught them some of his tricks and how to shoot against taller opponents.

“I did a camp in Manila,” he said. “Those guys were pretty advanced, so I taught them a little bit more of my tricks and why I do them. Versus the camp in Hong Kong, those guys are pretty young. They’re like 15 or 14 years old so it would have been hard to kind of grasp why I do so many ball fakes.”

Rondo also explained that he just picked up the ball fake naturally, and didn’t really think about it too much.

“I just came with it. It’s actually funny. A lot of my moves, it just comes out. I don’t really predetermine or practice.”

The Celtics fell to the Miami Heat in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals. They then lost shooting guard Ray Allen to the Heat, a player who was rumored to have been at odds with Rondo. The court general, who says he’s probably “seven or eight years away” from being the Celtics point guard in history, declined to comment on the alleged rift when asked about it.

“I think Doc (Rivers) answered that question pretty much,” he said. “I don’t have anything to say about that.”