Smith On Rondo: He Does Have A Point
Stephen A. Smith won’t exalt Rajon Rondo a day after Rondo claimed not to have spit on Chris Paul, but he will come this aid about his comments about Chris Paul as a teammate.
Stephen A. Smith expressed on Wednesday morning that Rajon Rondo’s comments about Chris Paul in the aftermath of their brawl on Saturday night during the Rockets-Lakers game are valid.
“He does have a point that there are people that feel that way about Chris Paul,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take. “There are teammates who have not particularly liked him in New Orleans (and) in L.A. We know, we’ve heard a lot about the Austin Rivers thing and how he felt about Austin Rivers or vice versa.
“Obviously Doc Rivers, you could tell that he had some ill feelings towards Chris Paul to some degree because he believes and a lot of them believe within the Clippers organization that Chris Paul led the Rockets players] trying to get into the Clippers locker room last year.
“Now I was told that Chris Paul was one of those people that tried to stop it, along with James Harden, but there are members within the Clippers organization that says no way in hell is that true. Chris Paul actually led that type of revolt.
“And you saw how aloof Doc Rivers was about it when he was asked about it, so you have that issue going on. I know of referees who have said to me personally that they think that Chris Paul is a dirty player because he does little slick things.”
Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis, who played four seasons with Rajon Rondo and a season plus with Chris Paul, gave his thoughts on Tuesday in a post on Instagram.
Glen Davis weighed in after Rajon Rondo called Chris Paul a "horrible teammate." pic.twitter.com/Fg8QLCvpe9 — ESPN (@espn) October 23, 2018
On Tuesday Lakers guard Rajon Rondo tried to defend himself from allegations that he spit on Rockets guard Chris Paul which prompted the two to start exchanging punches with one another.
“This is the only time I’m going to address this,” Rondo told ESPN on Tuesday. “I had a mouthpiece in my mouth and I [was] exasperated because I was about to tell him to ‘get the [expletive] out of here.’
“Look at my body language [in the video]. My hands on my hips. I turn away for a second. Look at Eric [Gordon] and Melo [Carmelo Anthony] in the video. If they saw me spit, they would have turned their face up or something. They had no reaction.”
After chiming on on the situation that led to him receiving a three-game suspension, Rondo went out of his way to try to tear down what he felt was an unfair reputation Paul — who was suspended for two games — had built for himself.
“Of course, the NBA went with his side because I got three games and he got two,” Rondo told ESPN. “Everyone wants to believe Chris Paul is a good guy. They don’t know he’s a horrible teammate. They don’t know how he treats people. Look at what he did last year when he was in L.A.; trying to get to the Clippers’ locker room. They don’t want to believe he’s capable of taunting and igniting an incident.”
Also suspended in the brawl that broke out in Saturday’s game was Brandon Ingram, who was suspended four games for pushing James Harden out of frustration over a foul call, going after an official and throwing a punch at Chris Paul that missed.
The Los Angeles Lakers will have the services of their starting point guard on Saturday when the Lakers visit the San Antonio Spurs.
Los Angeles is 0-3 to begin the season and will look for their first win of the season on Wednesday night vs the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Do you believe Chris Paul is a bad teammate? Leave your comments below!
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