Rajon Rondo joins the Bucks as a guest coach in training camp

IRVINE, Calif. – When former NBA All-Star and two-time champion Rajon Rondo married his wife on Lake Como in Italy in June, his first NBA head coach was among those in attendance. And there, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers delivered a message to his former point guard.

“Get your ass to camp,” Rivers told Rondo, as Rondo recalled to ESPN on Thursday.

With that, Rondo spent the week with the Bucks as a guest coach for their training camp at UC Irvine, and Rivers told ESPN that Rondo will remain with the team in an unspecified role this season. “You’ll see him a lot,” Rivers said. “That’s all I’m going to say.”

Rondo, who most recently played with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021-22 and officially retired from his 16-year NBA career last April, said he “absolutely” hopes to become an NBA coach one day.

“There are a lot of factors that go into coaching,” Rondo said. “You just can’t say I’m going to be a coach and then everything works out and that’s what happens. So certain personalities have to fit together, [and there’s] a lot of sacrifice. There are certain things I'm learning. The morning meetings, the amount of hours spent watching movies, it’s a lot.”

Wearing a Bucks hoodie and sweatpants, Rondo assists players at practice and fills a notebook with handwritten observations.

“I’m learning what it looks like,” he said of coaching.

Rondo said he doesn't have a specific path in mind.

“You see people moving from non-coaching jobs to head coaching jobs all the time,” he said. “A lot of people become assistant coaches straight away. There is simply no way. I just want to get as much information as possible.”

Rondo declined to say whether he had received offers from other teams, but said he appreciated Rivers, who coached Rondo for seven seasons in Boston, giving him that opportunity.

Rivers returned the praise.

“He’s the smartest player I’ve ever coached — and not just smart,” Rivers told ESPN. “He knows when he can say something and when he can’t. He is a great team builder. It’s just fun and great to have him around.”

When asked about finding his voice as a coach, Rondo said: “I think I always have. I find it difficult to be still when I see something. I am a helper. That's what life is all about, helping the next person around you, and that's exactly where I'm at this week to help, and that's what I can offer.

Rondo's potential to become a coach was recognized almost since he started playing basketball. His high school coach once told ESPN that Rondo would one day become a coach, as would his college coach at Kentucky, Rivers, and Brad Stevens, who succeeded Rivers when Rivers left the Celtics in 2014 to become the Celtics' head coach Los Angeles Clippers.

Rondo has also been preparing for a long time by studying the coaches of the nine teams he has played with throughout his NBA career.

“It’s a different kind of respect when you look at it from their perspective,” Rondo said. “Obviously they make their decisions based on one thing only, and that's just trying to win. So as a player you might think he's picking on me or not playing me for some reason, but at the end of the day, his job is on the line. So from that perspective it's never really personal. Sometimes players think like that, so it's a different seat where you sit and understand the game. “

Rivers previously told ESPN that perhaps the only problem Rondo would have to adjust to as a coach is having patience with players who couldn't see the game the way he did.

“The difference with Rondo, in my opinion, is that he sees everything,” Rivers said. “He doesn’t just see his position, he sees everyone’s position. He knows everyone’s moves. I'm telling you, he's a scholar. “He's the only one I've coached – and I've coached some really smart players” – but Rondo's understanding of sets, his job, what this guy should be doing and what he's doing right is incredible. That's why our relationship is so good early on. It's become a great relationship because he's the only player I gave my game sheet to before games. It was the only time I've finished games where I would say he had a great game, because that's what he was from my playsheet, like a catcher.

Rondo, 38, has heard the comment about patience before, but he said he's at a different point in his life, especially as a father of three.

“Children create patience, and then as you continue to live, you develop patience, you know what I mean?” he said.

He also cited his experience in so many teams and with different star players.

“It’s about understanding how everyone can be trained differently,” he said. “You can’t take the same approach when you’re training against one team against the next and then against the staff.”

Rondo said he still sometimes feels the desire to get on the court as a player.

“There are so many people in the camp, I don’t want to take anything away from anyone,” he said, “but as an ex-player you do get itchy. Let me show you how.”

Rondo, a four-time All-Star, led the NBA in steals per game in 2009-10 and assists per game in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2015-16. He made the league's All-Defensive Team four times and won NBA titles with the Boston Celtics in 2007-08 and the Lakers in 2019-20. In 957 career games, he averaged 9.8 points, 7.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

These days, Rondo said he is working on completing his bachelor's degree in human communications at the University of Kentucky — a endeavor he began nearly 20 years ago — and that he will receive his degree by the spring. Most of the courses he takes take place online.

“I have an exam tonight,” he said, laughing. “It’s so different going to school 20 years later. It's completely different. It's funny. I'm writing my papers and the kids are talking about their careers and what they want to be in life, and I've kind of already done that.” “

For Rivers, Rondo's presence reminded him of his own journey from NBA point guard to head coach.

“I just think there are certain people who should be coaches,” he said. “It’s funny, I never thought I would be a coach and Pat Riley told me I was a coach. I said, 'No, I'm going to do TV.' He said, “You’re going to coach,” and Pat Riley never backed down. And when I was on TV for the first three years, he would send text messages or letters like, “Get your damn ass on the sidelines.” And I feel the same way [with Rondo].”