Southwest Notes: Rondo, Smith, White

The Rajon RondoMavericks relationship isn’t working and the poor fit is responsible for tension, opines Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). Before acquiring Rondo, Dallas’ offense was scoring almost 114 points per 100 possessions, because it operated with plenty of ball and player movement where a system created shots for players, Elhassan added. Since January 1st, however, Dallas has allowed 102 points per 100 possessions defensively, while the offense has scored 103 points per 100 possessions, Elhassan notes. Dallas acquired Rondo on December 18th.

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Houston legend Hakeem OIajuwon was surprised to see Josh Smith get released by the Pistons, but he’s very glad to see him with the Rockets and he believes that Smith came to the right team, according to Mark Berman of FOX 26 (via Twitter links).
  • Former Rockets first-round pick Royce White took to Twitter recently to make it known that he is not through playing basketball.  White has been out of the NBA since he went through a pair of 10-day deals with the Kings in 2013/14.
  • The Grand Rapids Drive, the Pistons’ affiliate, has acquired the rights to Nate Wolters via the D-League’s waiver process, but the team may decide to trade him, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Wolters makes his return to the D-League after the Pelicans declined to sign him for the remainder of the season after Wolters’ second 10-day contract ended.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

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