Actually, he can. Maybe PER is a useless stat, but it's an indicator of the level of overall production, and thus is an indicator that opposing PGs are simply not producing against Rondo.
There are better indicators. Far, far better indicators. PER is not worth mentioning
Rondo's awareness on the offensive end is pretty impressive to me. As in, "top of the NBA by far" impressive, given how he always seems to know where his teammates are. If you're talking about questionable decisions with the ball, I'd argue that Westbrook is worse than Rondo in that department.
Westbrook is a different player now than he was in his rookie season, when he served up more turnovers than your local bakery. Rondo still passes up layups in order to make passes. Players get criticized when they're shoot-first to the point where they don't make enough passes - well, Rondo is the exact opposite. On the rare occasions that he does shoot, he's not at all confident. Defenses still don't respect him. At least Westbrook is confident shooting the ball or finishing at the rim - and confidence is everything.
As far as defensive awareness is concerned, while Rondo has a history of taking possessions off and gambling, his anticipation is typically good, and he can harass ballhandlers and pick balls off of them better than anyone else in the league right now, mostly due to the superior length he has for a player his height.
He's no better than Westbrook (also tall for a PG) at on-ball defense - Westbrook actually has better lateral quickness - and while Rondo gets steals, er, so does Chris Paul.
No, he isn't. He is the better scorer, but a far worse floor general. And yes, the playoffs are in April, but Rondo tends to turn it on pretty come playoff time himself.
Westbrook's role isn't to be a "floor general" - it's to be Russell Westbrook. He's the second offensive option, playing off one dynamic threat who can create with the ball in his hands. Entirely different scenarios. Still, Westbrook on the Celts > Rondo on the Celts.
Sorry, pal. Can't score any points on me with this one :-P
Gotta play all the cards I can in battles for e-credibility, you know?
Everyone's overall game is flawed. I couldn't care less about the highlight reel, either.
Yes, but Rondo's game is more deeply flawed than Westbrook's.
I could launch into a whole other argument about how Rondo and Rose are consumerism driven marketing devices; hero worship and legacies sell, and Westbrook for all intents and purposes is worth about as much as Josh Smith, meaning Disney (ESPN) et al have a much greater interest in making you think Rondo and Rose are superstars. Basketball itself begs to differ, however. Westbrook is the superior player.