andere Teams » Villar stole his 59th base, passing Reds

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. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys . Philadelphia is 2-0 against the Senators this season and scored five goals in each victory. The Flyers recorded a 5-0 win in Ottawa on Nov. 12 and then earned a 5-2 home decision on Nov. 19. The Flyers have claimed three straight and four of the last five encounters with the Sens overall and Philly has won two in a row and three of its past four tests in Canadas capital city. NFL Jerseys Cheap . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. http://www.wholesalejerseys.xyz/ . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. MILWAUKEE -- Dan Straily kept up his domination of the Milwaukee Brewers this season.Straily pitched into the seventh inning and Joey Votto hit a two-run homer to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-1 victory over the Brewers on Saturday night.Straily (14-8) allowed just one run on five hits with five strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts against Milwaukee in 2016.It was good, Reds manager Bryan Price said. A lot of contributors. Certainly it was a good start by Straily. Joey hits the two-run homer in the first to give us a cushion.Vottos 26th home run gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Brewers starter Taylor Jungmann (0-5).The Brewers lone run came on Domingo Santanas homer in the second.Hes been tough against us, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. I give him a lot of credit, hes pitching well. Hes very locked in to what hes doing. We havent figured him out.Scott Schebler had three hits for the Reds, while Votto and Adam Duvall each drove in two runs.Straily left with two on, two outs and a 4-1 lead in the seventh, but reliever Michael Lorenzen struck out pinch-hitter Hernan Perez to end the threat.Lorenzen stayed on to work a scoreless eighth before giving way to Raisel Iglesias for the ninth.Ive been preaching it since day one, I want to go as deep as I can and keep us in the game, Straily said. Each night dictates how late that is because each night is different.Cincinnati added insurance runs on an RBI infield single by Eugenio Suarez in the sixth and a run-scoring groundout by Duvall in the seventh.It was the third run that gave us a little more cushion, Price said. Then we got the squibber that drove in the fourth run with the bases loaded.The Reds broke the game open with two runs in ninth off Michael Blazek, whho was pitching for the first time since Aug.dddddddddddd. 13 due to an elbow injury.Jungmann settled down after allowing Vottos home run, giving up just those two runs on three hits and four walks over four innings in his first start in the big leagues since April 28.I pride myself in battling through outings like that, Jungmann said. It was an outing where I had a non-existent curveball. I felt OK. I was a little rusty. A loss is a loss, so I take it for what it is.FARM HONORSIn a pregame ceremony Saturday, Milwaukee honored INF Isan Diaz as its minor league player of the year and RHP Brandon Woodruff as its minor league pitcher of the year.TAKING THE LEADBrewers SS Jonathan Villar stole his 59th base, passing Reds OF Billy Hamilton for the league lead. With Hamilton out for the rest of the year due to a strained left oblique, Villar should finish as baseballs stolen base leader, as he leads Pirates OF Starling Marte by 12 steals.TRAINERS ROOMReds: After being scratched from the lineup Friday due to a sore left wrist, OF Tyler Holt was available to play off the bench Saturday.Brewers: OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis (strained abdomen) is expected to ramp up baseball activities in the coming days, according to manager Craig Counsell. Nieuwenhuis hopes to be able to play on Milwaukees final road trip of the season.UP NEXTReds: LHP Brandon Finnegan (9-11, 4.10 ERA) will make his 30th start of the season Sunday against Milwaukee. He is 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA in three starts against the Brewers this year.Brewers: RHP Wily Peralta (7-10, 5.21 ERA) will start the series finale. He has gone 3-3 with a 3.26 ERA in eight starts since being rejoining Milwaukees rotation on Aug. 9. ' ' '