If you were a shooter, maybe Ben Wallace or Andris Biedrins.  A defender, perhaps Jason Kapono.  A winner, potentially Vince Carter.  Good teammate, probably Andray Blatche or Gilber Arenas.

But who would be the worst player you could be compared to, if you were an intelligent NBA point guard?  It just might be one of the two players Kevin Garnett compares to Rajon Rondo.  (Jimmy Toscano, CelticsBlog)

Asked to compare Rondo with previous point guards that Garnett has played with, Stephon Marbury and Chauncey Billups, Garnett had even more praise for Rondo.

“Rondo just doesn’t score the ball, he’s just as intelligent as Steph or Chauncey.”

I know Garnett didn’t mean it as an insult, but a compliment.  But to say somebody is “just as intelligent” a basketball player as Stephon Marbury?  The man who never seemed to know when to shoot or pass, to be aggressive or passive?  That’s nothing short of a backhanded slap across the mug.  Pretty severe, as far as insults go.

To be fair, KG did play with Steph (the first time around) when Steph was a rising stud, and one of the NBA’s top young point guards.  Back then, he was a dime machine and could get to the rack on anybody.  But even though he put up big numbers, Marbury was never a winner.  His intelligence — even before people started to try to put Marbury in a box, even before vaseline became part of his diet, even before selling dirt-cheap sneakers became more important than his NBA career — could always be questioned.

I’d like to think Rondo’s a smarter player than Steph, and that it isn’t even close. Anybody with me?