CHICAGO -- Rajon Rondo has long been regarded as one of the most cerebral players in the NBA, but his ability to coexist with various coaches and teammates has been called into question at every stop during his professional journey. As the veteran point guard gears up for his 11th year in the league, this time as a member of the Chicago Bulls, the early returns have been surprising, given his track record.Bulls players, coaches and front-office personnel are singing his praises at every turn.The biggest thing that Ive been most impressed with with Rajon is, the minute he stepped on this floor, when he got back here in August, is he pulled everybody together, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said after Tuesdays practice. His voice -- hes got the best voice on the team.When you have your point guard out there that can get you into something and talk the way he does, that sets the tone for everybody. If you got a guy not only offensively getting you into something, but defensively making sure guys are pointing and talking and getting back and getting matched up in transition, thats where it starts. Hes been here. Hes been great. Hes a guy that [you] can watch film with -- in September before we got rolling here in camp. Hes been great, and today he got us off to a great start.It remains to be seen whether Rondo can maintain that level of both communication and production throughout the entire season, but Hoibergs words have been echoed for weeks by front-office personnel who have watched the impact the 30-year-old has had since signing with the Bulls in July. Rondo has set a tone for his teammates day after day in pre-training camp workouts that the young group is following. Rondo said during Mondays media day that he spent three hours talking to Hoiberg before signing with the Bulls, noting that Hoiberg was really intelligent. The plaudits being tossed Rondos way have come from all corners of an organization in desperate need of a stabilizing point guard presence after dealing with Derrick Roses injury woes for years.Hes super smart, Bulls All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler said. I think he really sees things before they even develop out there on the basketball floor, so it makes everybodys job a lot easier. And not only is he leading the team on offense, but hes constantly talking on defense, so hes letting everybody know where they have to be. And then [free-agent signing Dwyane] Wades the same way, so he makes everybodys job easier as well, and you learn from that, so you just follow suit for the most part.When the Bulls signed Rondo, the front office highlighted the fact that he was coming off a season in which he shot a career-high 36.5 percent on 3-pointers, but it is Rondos ability to see the floor and get his teammates involved that the Bulls are banking on. He averaged 11.7 assists per game a year ago, tying a career high, and sounds confident he will set up the Bulls offense the way Hoiberg wants.I think if you followed me in my career, thats what I do best, Rondo said. Its making guys jobs a lot easier. Thats what I do. Its not a concern if I will be able to do that. Its just a matter of us buying into the system, continuing to run the floor and getting stops defensively.Butler has been struck so much by Rondos passing acumen that he has already offered up an apology for events that havent even transpired on the floor yet.Ill tell you right now, Ill apologize to Rajon early, Butler said. Hes going to fake me out with one of them damn passes. Hes going to do something crazy, and Im going to take off getting back on defense and the balls going to be coming to me in the corner. Its just incredible, because he sees everything. Oh, the defender took a wrong step this way, and Im like, Welp, hes going to shoot a layup, but he wants you to get a basket, man. And thats an incredible feeling. So Im sorry, Rajon, because youre going to definitely get a turnover from me one game.The Bulls were criticized throughout many corners of the league for signing Rondo over the summer, in large part due to his reputation for not being able to fit in well at times in various locker rooms. But Butler and the rest of his teammates dont sound concerned that Rondo will fracture the foundation the group is trying to build in Hoibergs second season. Butler, who struggled to gain footing in the Bulls locker room last season as the unquestioned leader of the team, is outwardly welcoming of the possibility of Rondo challenging him on certain issues.Im good with that, Butler said. I better challenge him right back if I see something hes not doing correctly. I want him to hold me accountable, me to hold him accountable. Everybody holding everybody accountable. Because then everybodys going to learn from their mistakes, theyre not going to do it again. But if you dont speak up on it and tell somebody what theyre doing, they dont know theyre doing anything wrong, so theyll just keep doing it.Ultimately, whether Rondos signing is a success or failure depends on the bottom line of wins and losses -- as is the case with any transaction in professional sports. But in order to do that, Rondo has to prove his critics wrong and show that he can help fit in with star players -- and big egos, like those of Wade?and Butler -- and mesh with younger players in the process. Hoiberg admitted that some of the Bulls young core has already started gravitating toward Rondo over the first few weeks of the new year. What will be more interesting to watch as the season progresses is whether Rondo -- and Wade -- can impart some of their championship wisdom toward Butler as the 27-year-old tries to elevate his status as a star player.Both Butler and the Bulls organization are trying to focus on how Rondo can help them in the present and future, not on any mistakes he might have made in the past.When you put good basketball players out there on the floor, you just go, Butler said. Everything falls into place, falls into line. You dont have to worry about too much of anything. And with him, hes an incredible leader, and he just wants everybody to be successful and hes going to put you in a position for you to do just that. Ray Knight Jersey . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Yogi Berra Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/1330l-jed-lowrie-jersey-mets.html .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Jeff McKnight Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. Stitched Mets Jerseys . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. had a jack bolt confiscated from his car during an inspection before qualifying Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, but NASCARs top competition executive said a points penalty is unlikely.Truex went on to win the pole for the playoff elimination race, turning a lap of 193.423 mph.NASCAR typically announces penalties Wednesday after the race weekend and has the option of issuing a points penalty that could be 10 to 25 points, depending on how severe NASCAR views the violation.NASCAR occasionally takes parts from cars and evaluates them after the race weekend in determining the penalty.But NASCARs initial reaction was that this would not warrant a points penalty. Scott Miller, NASCARs senior vice president of competition, compared it to a car failing body measurements before qualifying, then fixing it and going through without penalty or a warning. Miller said it was not a competitive advantage.I would say [a points penalty] is unlikely, Miller said. It has to go through our [evaluation] process. ... It could be [a safety issue], but it wasnt to the point to where we would think it was a safety infraction.Truex crew chief Cole Pearn said in a tweet Saturday that the jack bolt was a mistake and?also indicated it was clearly unintentional because, he said, common sense says center of gravity doesnt matter at Talladega.Truex, who has four wins this season, has a 13-point edge on the current cutoff spot in the standings heading into the final race of the Chase quarterfinal round of 12 Sunday at Talladega.If Truex is penalized, it could affect whether he advances in the Chase; he could be placed among the four Chase drivers who are winless in the round and have the fewest points.But if Truex was worried about a penalty, he didnt show it Saturday afternoon. After winning the pole, Truex said he was calm all day knowing NASCAR occasionally takes parts from cars.All the crazy talk going on today is nonsense, Truex said. People speculate on things and dont know what they are. The jack bolt issue is really not a big deal. ... It was a part manufacturing issue.Pearn said he hopes the team does not gett a points penalty, but teams are never sure until they get a final decision from NASCAR.dddddddddddd The team changed left front springs Friday, and the issue with the new bolt wasnt discovered until they went through tech Saturday.It was a stupid mistake, Pearn said. Obviously, youre not trying to lower the center of gravity on just the left front corner of one part of the car. ... Were not perfect.I know people like to think were brilliant geniuses that have malicious plans to cheat the system somehow, but sometimes were just stupid and make mistakes.While initial reports indicated that the bolt was hollow, Pearn said the jack bolt was not.Its got threads on the outside and its got an adjuster where you put it in on top, and its recessed in to allow the adjuster to go in, Pearn said. When they broached it down in, it was broached down in too far. Half of [the bolt] was solid, it was just recessed in too far.Brad Keselowski, in nearly a must-win situation Sunday, qualified second. He won the knockout race in 2014 to stave off elimination and said his best starting position at Talladega bodes well for him.I feel like qualifying well is certainly a very strong omen for Talladega and Daytona, he said. I think all of the races Ive won here, weve had good starts and the races that we havent won or been super-competitive we usually dont have any speed in qualifying, so its certainly a confidence-builder.Its not a guarantee by any means, but a confidence-builder that you carry into this weekend and carry into (the) race.Matt Kenseth qualified third and was followed by Chase Elliott, who is also in a must-win situation on Sunday. Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were fifth and sixth, and Roush-Fenway Racing put three of its cars into the final round of qualifying as Trevor Bayne was 11th.Rounding out the top 12 were Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Paul Menard and Reed Sorenson. It was a huge drop-off for Sorenson, who was the fastest car in the first round of qualifying.The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '
