

There are many sides to Rajon Rondo on the court, and thats ignoring the Celtics point guards hotly debated, oft-criticized, enigmatic personality traits off of it.

On the one hand, theres the electrifyingly entertaining player who has been a catalyst for Bostons high-scoring, up-tempo offense and is capable of posting a triple-double on any given night (he has three this year); the same man who is currently averaging 8.5 points, 10.8 assists, and a career-high 7.6 rebounds over 19 games this year. Only the points category sits below his career-average of 11.

Then, of course, theres the guy who has accumulated career-worst shooting percentages from both the field (39.6%) and free throw line (32.4%).

You didnt read that last number wrong, but you probably know that if youve paid any attention to the Celts this season.

For all his warts, none is more pronounced than Rondos dreadful performance at a place that is, comically in his case, referred to as the charity stripe. There are no freebies there. Truthfully, there rarely have been in his career.

Throughout 524 regular season games, Rondo has stepped to the free throw line 1,416 times and hit just 869 of those efforts for a 61.4 percentage.

Thats close to double the success-rate the veteran has been able to achieve this year in his 34 endeavors, which have included 11 makes.

With a minimum of 125 attempts in a single season as the barometer, the NBA record for futility at the free throw line belongs to Olden Polynice, who made only 30.9 percent of his chances in 1998-99. No guard has ever shot below 43.6 percent from the line, and that was Al McGuire in 1953-54.

With the worst mark in the league this year  based on a minimum of 30 cracks to rank 192nd  Rondo is flirting with some pretty undesirable history.

Im going to work on it, Rondo told reporters late last month, in the midst of a stretch where he hit just 5-of-20 tries, including an embarrassing 2-for-10 performance in a four-point loss to the Suns on Nov. 17.

Four games later, Rondo was in position to put the Cs ahead in a tie game with the championship-contending Bulls. He went to the line with 1:04 left and missed both opportunities in an eventual 109-102 defeat.

I dont have the answer right now, he said the next day.

Only Rondo is capable of fixing his problem at the free throw line, but some feel a sports psychologist could help him determine why it exists so significantly in the first place.

Boston University graduate Gregory Chertok is a player development consultant at Telos Sports Psychology Coaching, a practice based in the Northeast that focuses primarily on on-field performance enhancement. Chertok specifically helps higher-functioning athletes sharpen their focus through emotional regulation, attention control, anxiety reduction, and body awareness. He has worked with a wide variety of clients across all sports, from youth junior-elite athletes to Stanley Cup and Super Bowl champions.

Because Chertok has never spent time with Rondo, his commentary can only be seen as speculative in nature, but his overall assessments  even from a distance  provide a fascinating look into the field of sports psychology and how it can benefit an athlete, particularly one as introspective as Rondo.

To begin in a general sense, Chertok says Rondos free throw woes are very much a correctable issue.

A return to normalcy is attainable, he said, by an athlete identifying the components that were present in his game during normal performance levels. That is, what was I concentrating on? What was my attitude? Where were my eyes placed while shooting? How about my body posture? My breathing? How was my body feeling? The more precisely he can replicate what used to be normal, the more likely hell achieve it.

Chertok believes strongly in going back to basics and returning to the simple things, rather than reinventing the wheel, as Rondo has been known to do.

In April, long before Rondos historic drop-off in success from an already paltry history at the line, Kevin OConnor from SB Nations Celtics Blog conducted a comprehensive study of the guards free throw struggles. In it, OConnor realized Rondo has altered his routine and mechanics at the line nearly every season hes been in the league in an effort to improve. He did so even more frequently while a student at Kentucky.

OConnor compiled some of the visual evidence in the following video, taking note of Rondos routine with the ball, hand movements, approach to the line, and where he elects to focus his eyes.

Clearly Rondos modifications havent worked; OConnor believes this to be the case because of Rondos adjustments to his speed and composure at the line, but not his footwork, crouch, and follow-through.

Rondo, anything but complacent, has meticulously studied his shot on tape. He claims hes holding his follow-through, but most of his misses are similarly carrying long and off the right side of the rim.

While Rondo is likely frustrated by that reality, Chertok believes it to be a positive thing in the long run.

Hes inconsistently consistent, Chertok said when told of Rondos observation. What that tells me from a rudimentary standpoint is if someone is consistently doing something and physically executing something similarly, that means theyre doing it improperly but have the cognitive and behavioral capabilities of making alterations to make it consistent in a good way.

One of the hardest things for an athlete to do is achieve consistent performance, he continued. If someone is missing in a certain area with great regularity, to me, thats a good sign because theyre doing the same things prior to each execution of that physical skill and something very minor has to change in order for the outcome to be a bit better.

As his misses have mounted, Rondo has been asked if the issue is becoming mental.

I hope it hasnt gotten mental yet, he said. I still want to get fouled; Im trying to draw fouls. Im trying to get in a better rhythm. I dont think its mental for me yet.

Since making those comments on Nov. 29, Rondo is 2-for-6 at the line in seven games. His aggressiveness in the paint has taken a dramatic step back, as hes relied more frequently on jumpers than hes attacked the basket. Unfortunately, though not shocking, that hasnt resulted well. Hes hit just 29.9 percent of his shots, going 20-for-67 from the field, though hes averaged 11.2 assists in that span.

Having not spoken with Rondo, its impossible for Chertok to know definitively whether the guard is simply putting on a brave face to deflect any perceived mental weakness, following the guidance of his coaches or advisors on how to discuss the problem, or if he has a negative association with the term mental or the practice of psychology.

To Chertok, though, thats almost irrelevant because the mental and physical are undeniably and powerfully connected.

If a basketball player walks to the free throw line and thinks to himself, Aw, [expletive], Ive banked the last few off the right edge of the rim, Im probably going to do it again, that probably leads to an increase in muscular tension, a rapid heart-rate, heightened body temperature, increased breathing patterns, and a shifting of focus, which then leads to kind of proving himself right, he explained, while dismissing the label of choking in this situation. An athlete might view that as a physical thing, thinking, My heart was beating, my arms were stiff, I have to work on my mechanics.

But what preceded the muscular tension was his own cognitive appraisal and expectation of failure, which led to the bodily reactions, which led to the performance diminishment.

Then, Chertok said, Rondo is left trying to oversimplify the situation in interviews when he may very well be lying in bed at night after his fifth shower of the day wondering what in the world is wrong.

There should be a measure of trust in your abilities, he suggested.

Basketball players at all levels are constantly trying different things to get themselves out of free throw funks, though the right methods to achieving better focus can be very successful.

During the first three years of Jason Kidds career, the Mavericks guard and current Bucks coach never reached 70 percent at the free throw line. Over the next 16 seasons, he never shot below 74 percent and consistently connected in the 80s for an overall 78.5 mark. His tactic for many of those years was blowing a kiss to his family before each attempt.

Others had distinct routines, like Jeff Hornaceks face-rub as a hello to his children, Jerry Stackhouses knee-bend that practically reached the floor, Richard Hamiltons side-dribble, and Gilbert Arenas passed the ball around his back three times before shooting.

Mailman Karl Malone could barely deliver on 50 percent of his free throws in his first two seasons in the league, but transformed into a career 74.2 percent shooter once he started using trigger words. A sports psychologist gave that guidance to him.

To this day, everyone wonders what in the world Malone was muttering to himself.

I havent thought about talking to myself, Rondo said, when asked if that technique might work for him.

Chertok supports the use of a trigger word, however meaningless the word, as a sort of motivator, but thinks its more important for a player in Rondos sneakers to just get out of his own head if in fact confidence at the line is an underlying issue.

If his head is problematic, get in other body parts  attention to fluid wrists or relaxed shoulders, say  or get outside the body to an external focal point or target, like the rim, he said. Get to a happy place; an image of a beach, even. We as humans have relatively adept capabilities of selectively attending to various stimuli in our environment, and shifting attention fluidly. He may have to learn to shift focus to something more performance enhancing. 

While its not unusual for an athlete to endure state-like confidence issues in one area while excelling in most others  in Rondos case, hes terrible at the line but a superior distributor and, for his size, rebounder  it is also quite common for inconsistencies to creep in during more tranquil moments when theres more time to think, such is the case with trips to the stripe.

Chertok believes the more tenuous moments, like what Rondo experienced in that tie-game with Chicago, can create more pressure in a single moment, but so can the anxieties of playing in a contract year because its possible to get caught up focusing on a desired outcome (hitting the shot) rather than the process of attaining success.

To that end, while it is a reporters job to question Rondo about his inability to sink a free throw, it can also be a hindrance to his progression.

I cant speak for Rondo, but I would imagine the constant inquiries make the problem worse, he said. In a situation like this, the athletes goal is to become solution-focused; that is, to dedicate his attention and energy to the cognitive and behavioral steps needed to enact positive change. Thinking about a slump gives the problem more value, whereas thinking about the steps needed to make positive improvements gives value to the solution. The media is undoubtedly offering constant reminders to Rondo about the problem.

Left alone, albeit with positive encouragement from teammates, coaches, and management, its on Rondo to solve the dilemma, be it through mental and physical repetition, in the gym, during games, and even at home.

Perhaps taking some time away from the court, rather than postgame free throw sessions, would be helpful, Chertok advised. Over-practice can lead to over-analysis, which can lead to paralysis.

Mentally rehearsing an action activates very similar neural pathways in the brain, as does the physical execution of the skill. In other words, whether Im mentally practicing a free throw or physically practicing it, the brain doesnt really know the difference and responds similarly to each.

That notion would support OConnors study, which showed Rondo has been a considerably better free throw shooter on his second and third stabs than his first entering this season, with an improvement of almost 13 percent (51.1 vs. 79.2). Over the last two years, the discrepancy for each campaign exceeded 20 percent, which is astronomical.

Needless to say, a mental rep couldnt hurt, especially for a guy whose best season at the line came as a rookie in 2006-07, when he shot 64.7 percent.

Im not concerned about [the misses at the line], Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge told 98.5 The Sports Hubs Toucher and Rich last month. Its early in the season. I think [Rondo]s just been in a free throw funk.

As is often the case for players on the court, Rondo needs to shoot his way out of this mess. He must do whatever is necessary mentally and allow the physical to naturally take over. Reaching the line 34 times in 19 games  an average of 1.8 attempts per game  isnt nearly good enough, particularly for a player who prides himself on his aggressive approach.

If Rondos ineffectiveness at the line continues, will it be the determining factor that prevents him from receiving a max-level deal from the Celtics or any other team? Unlikely, but its not the kind of glaring weakness hell want teams to key in on provided hes held off the floor in pivotal late-game moments with the Cs drawing fouls and the opposition looking for a miss.

Theres no telling if Rondo would be interested in chatting with a sports psychologist in an effort to return to his old habits, but it couldnt hurt.

After all, the All-Stars free throw shooting cant get much worse. Can it?

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