Rajon Rondo finally spoke out on his benching, and it was a show

Rajon Rondo has been relatively quiet since his banishment from the Bulls lineup a couple weeks ago. On that very day he pledged to meet with Bulls management, and didn’t put forth much information about it.

For whatever reason, he opened up before Bulls game in Washington, and we’re all the better for it.

I got a slight explanation from another guy on the staff. A guy told me that he was saving me from myself. I don't want to say any names. But that's what the explanation was. In Cleveland, they told me I had a negative 20 (plus-minus rating) in Indiana at halftime. I think that was part of the reason...I thought it was (expletive). Save me from myself. I never heard that before in my life. But I guess he was trying to do the best thing for me.

One can speculate (and I will!) that the ‘guy on the staff’ was Jim Boylen, since he seems like he actually works there and has some authority. It’d be an interesting wrinkle especially since Rondo and Boylen had a run-in a few weeks prior to the benching.

But there was more there from Rondo when it came to Head Coach Fred Hoiberg, saying in general that essentially a coach can make or break your season (citing James Harden and Mike D’Antoni in Houston, so you know Rondo pretty much delusional):

When I signed here, why I wanted to come here, it's a lot different than what I anticipated

...

[Hoiberg and I] speak. Cordial. Nothing much to say.

KC Johnson of the Tribune was there and had this to say about Rondo’s demeanor throughout all this

With so many teammates out against the Wizards, Rondo played off the bench for 27 minutes and had one of his better games of the season. Afterwards, he gave a pretty direct rebuke to Hoiberg’s assessment of him as a player.

For his part, Hoiberg said he “anticipates” that Rondo could find himself back in the rotation going forward. Hoiberg also, interestingly, contradicted Rondo’s words in saying he did talk to Rondo about the benching. Hoiberg also denied knowledge of any ‘save you from yourself’ comment.

I thought Cody Westerlund of 670theScore put it well:

And I also find it interesting that one of the other veterans on the squad is decidedly on one side of this issue.

We’ll have to see how the potential return of Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler affects Rondo’s minutes. If he is to play against the Knicks on Thursday, you’d have to assume it’d be off the bench, so that’d mean less for Jerian Grant and Denzel Valentine.