GLOVE HATING ON RONDO

Gary Payton made some comments on NBA TV about Celtics PG Rajon Rondo and his role on last year's championship team, essentially calling the young guard a 'towel waver.'

Yeah, you know the type. The guys on the end of the bench in close games, rooting for their starters to pull through with a W. John Salley on the 1996 Bulls (and 2000 Lakers). That Guy.

Pretty strong words, considering GP's role on the 2006 Heat squad where he picked up his career's only ring.

Check out the numbers...

2006 NBA Finals

Gary Payton, Miami Heat
6 G
22.2 MPG
2.7 PPG
2.0 APG
1.0 SPG
.368 FG%
.143 3P%

2008 NBA Finals

Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics
6 G
27.0 MPG
9.3 PPG
6.6 APG
3.8 RPG
1.5 SPG

You gotta give the Glove some love, though. He was able to lead his Sonics team to the 1996 NBA Finals when he was in his prime (where they lost to MJ in 6). But the year he won his ring, the man wasn't even starting. Rondo was an important cog in the Green Machine, and was arguably the most important player on his team not named Kevin, Paul or Ray. Don't forget the way he burned the Lakers in Game 6 with a statline that read: 20 points, 8 assists, 7 boards and 6 steals.

Now we don't want to be pointing fingers at anybody, but if someone was qualified to do a little waving during their championship run -- it might not be the kid.