The winner of the GarPax press conference: Rajon Rondo

From the sound of things at the press conference for John Paxson and Gar Forman on Wednesday, Bulls guard Rajon Rondo will probably be brought back to Chicago next season.

When the Chicago Bulls signed Rajon Rondo to a two-year deal last summer, it wasn’t just a two-year deal. It was basically a one-year deal to show the Bulls what he could offer and then see if the front office would pick up the second year on his contract.

If the Bulls buy out the rest of Rondo’s contract (almost $13.4 million owed to him in the 2017-18 season) before June 30th, it would only cost them $3 million to send him packing.

However, from the sounds of Wednesday’s end-of-the-season press conference with Bulls vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman, Rondo will likely be back for next season.

“There’s a really good chance that we’ll bring Rajon back,” Paxson said when asked about Rondo’s contract and the likelihood of the Bulls bringing him in for another season. No official decision has been made as of now, but not many (if anybody) received more praise at the season-ending presser than Rondo.

A main emphasis for GarPax on Wednesday was furthering the development of their young pieces they’ve acquired since last summer. Rondo was worked into that after standing up for the young guys after the infamous situation where Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade mentioned the lack of production from the others on the roster and then Rondo took to Instagram to voice his opinion.

“That empowered our young guys,” Paxson said on Rondo’s post. “That probably was a moment we can point to and say there was some growth.” (FYI: Rondo got fined for this move, but there was growth apparently.)

There’s a couple issues with Rondo coming back for the 2017-18 season:

• For most of the 2016-17 season, he was bad and more of a liability on the floor than anything. Here’s Rondo numbers in the first 39 games he played in this season (missed nine games due to being benched and having a one-game suspension) up against after the All-Star break and the two postseason games against the Boston Celtics.

On top of his poor offensive output, plays like this on the defensive end happened far too often for Rondo this past season.

• Another thing that’s befuddling about keeping Rondo around in ’17-18: if you’re the Bulls and you pass again on trading Jimmy Butler this summer, what good does it do you if you’re starting a 31-year-old point guard past his prime and not really developing those young guys that you’re not sure are any good?
  • This was a big trend from Wednesday’s press conference. Paxson harped on not really knowing what the Bulls have in their young players, which seems bad being that he and Forman brought these guys in.

Yes, some of this falls on Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg building a consistent rotation — something that was clearly lacking in the 2016-17 season — but putting such emphasis on the youth of the franchise and then bringing back a point guard who isn’t really that good anymore seems redundant.

Rondo’s job isn’t the same as the otherworldly point guards you see spread out through the league these days, but this is just … not great.

Still, the Bulls want a “downhill point guard” to play with Butler (if they even decide to keep him through the summer and into next season). Paxson made a point to say that other than Rondo, nobody really pushed the pace offensively like he and Hoiberg wanted.

Next: The Return of Jafar Forman: GarPax speak at end-of-season press conference

Wednesday sounded like a day to unofficially (but officially) prep for another season of these Bulls, led by Rajon Rondo as the floor general.