Rajon Rondo says the Bulls’ explanation for his 5-game benching was ‘bulls***’

Chicago Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo got an explanation from a Bulls staffer for why head coach Fred Hoiberg benched him at the end of December. He just didn’t think much of it.

“I thought it was bullshit,” Rondo told reporters on Tuesday. “Save me from myself. I never heard that before in my life. But I guess he was trying to do the best thing for me.”

Rondo had been benched for the five-plus games leading into the Bulls’ Tuesday loss to the Washington Wizards, starting with a DNP in the second half of the team’s Dec. 30 loss to Indiana. He told reporters he had little contact with Hoiberg before he found himself riding the pine.

“I got a slight explanation from another guy on the staff,” the 30-year-old point guard said, according to The Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson. “A guy told me that he was saving me from myself. I don’t want to say any names. But that’s what the explanation was. In Cleveland, they told me I had a negative 20 (plus-minus rating) in Indiana at halftime. I think that was part of the reason.”

But Rondo returned from his benching on Tuesday as the Bulls’ sixth man. Without Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler, Chicago’s point guard posted numbers comparable to his old Celtics self with 12 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals in 27 minutes.

Hoiberg said he spoke with his point guard about his role beforehand.

“In my mind, it was a matter of time before he got the opportunity to get back out there,” Hoiberg said. “He took advantage of it. And you should see him more.”

The current Bulls point guard used to butt heads with his high school basketball coach, Doug Bibby. The two broke down film together, but according to The Boston Globe, Rondo would clash with his coach because he could feel the game on the court.

When he got to Kentucky, then head coach Tubby Smith benched Rondo for six games after they continually argued with one another.

And after a generally quiet relationship in Boston with then-coach Doc Rivers, Chris Sheridan reported the two almost fought after an “F-bomb” laden shouting match that nearly led to fisticuffs.

Wrote Sheridan:

It isn’t just that he doesn’t want to be a part of a rebuilding situation; it is because he has an intense dislike for point guard Rajon Rondo.

A source close to the Celtics tells Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com that Rondo dropped an F-bomb on Rivers in the locker room during a team meeting, and Rivers went after Rondo and tried to fight him before the fracas was broken up.

Boston later dealt Rondo to Dallas, and his second NBA stop was full of promise before things tailspun in the second half of the 2014-15 season. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle benched his new point guard midway through his second stint in the league.

Then the two had a heated exchange during a timeout, and during the Mavericks’ first round playoff series that season, ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon reported Dallas made up a back injury as a cover-up for benching him.

Surprisingly, Rondo got along with Kings head coach George Karl during his one-year stint in Sacramento. He even had DeMarcus Cousins on his bandwagon.

“The way we compete and the type of competitors we are, it’s hard for us not to get along,” Cousins said of Rondo, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Michael Lee. “We damn near think alike all the time. I’m soaking in all I can. He’s a champion. I basically look up to him.

Now in Chicago, Rondo’s relationship with Hoiberg has been cut from the same cloth as his relationships with past coaches. The two are cordial, he said, but “there’s nothing much to say.”

”When I signed here, why I wanted to come here, it’s a lot different than what I anticipated,” Rondo said.

And if history repeats itself, as it has proven to do, especially in his case, Rondo could have a few more run-ins with his coach if things don’t straighten out in Chicago.