“When you have a point guard this smart,” Gentry said, “you should let him run the team.”

Earlier this week, after the Pelicans clinched their spot in the second round, it was Rondo who announced to the players on the practice floor — after most of the coaches had dispersed — that they needed to play a shirts-versus-skins scrimmage to shake off rust.

And when a group of Pelicans staffers met to decide what day the team should fly out to the Bay Area to begin preparations for the Warriors — Wednesday or Thursday — Gentry briefly left the room to seek Rondo’s input. (Partly at Rondo’s suggestion, they chose Thursday.)

Reason being: Rondo has the pulse of this team like no other. Long regarded by various teams he’s played for as a headstrong handful, and by some members of the news media as chilly (or worse), Rondo has been a popular teammate almost everywhere he’s played, reminiscent of the media-averse former All-Star forward Rasheed Wallace.

In New Orleans, though, Rondo is flat-out beloved by his teammates.

“Sometimes they don’t agree, coaches and him, because he likes to do what he thinks is best for the team,” said Nikola Mirotic, the sharpshooting New Orleans forward. “But I always say, with Pau Gasol, he’s the best teammate I ever had.”

Said Gentry: “You can’t go in that locker room and talk to one guy that doesn’t believe in him.”

Despite Rondo’s reputation for being, at the very least, relentlessly contrarian and challenging to coach, Gentry compares him to Nash often. He said that Rondo’s former coach in Boston, Doc Rivers, dismissed his own ups and downs with a younger Rondo and strongly assured Gentry that their partnership would be prosperous.

Even after everything that happened with the Mavericks, Rondo’s former coach in Dallas, Rick Carlisle, insists he’s not surprised by the success Rondo has found in New Orleans given “the assortment of shooters and finishers they have on that roster.”