4. Rajon Rondo (2016-2017)
Number of starts: 42
The interesting tenure of veteran former Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo while he played for the Chicago Bulls in one season was all sorts of confusing. Former Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg was trying to make a point by sitting Rondo for a good portion of the 2016-17 regular season, despite a productive year for the veteran floor general.
A raggedy crew that GarPax assembled for the Bulls during the 2016 offseason didn’t pan out well at all for the 2016-17 season. The Bulls did nab an eight seed in the 2017 NBA Playoffs. Rondo starred for the Bulls next to former Miami Heat superstar shooting guard and Chicago native Dwyane Wade and star small forward Jimmy Butler.
There was little to no floor spacing or effective ball movement for the Bulls with the backcourt trio that featured Rondo, Wade, and Butler. That crew also wasn’t the best on defense either (outside of Butler). Nonetheless, Rondo still averaged 7.8 points per game, 6.7 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.4 steals, while shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from three-point range.
That 2016-17 season stint for Rondo with the Bulls was the last time that he posted a box plus/minus rating above zero (0.3) and a value over replacement player rating above one (1.1). It was the poor shooting from inside the three-point arc that caused Rondo’s advanced numbers to look bad in parts. But he was still a decent two-way point guard for the Bulls despite his poor usage and chemistry with the rest of the starting five.