Derrick Rose

Last night in Oakland Derrick Rose was the man down the stretch. He was clutch, go to, prime-time, a closer, and what ever other clichés you want to throw out there. His 12 points in the quarter don’t even tell the whole story. Every time the Warriors pulled close toward the end there was Rose hitting jumpers with ease and getting to the basket with electricity and explosion. We all got a scare when he went down late but it sounds like he his okay. With a player of Rose’s talent it is always easy to jump the gun on declare him the next great NBA point guard. But guess what? he is. For a Bulls franchise starved for a true star since you know who hung it up early, this Rose smells sweet. His 18.8 point, 5.5 assist, and 4.3 rebounds a game suggest he has arrived as a superstar in this league. His relatively low 2.69 turnover average should only go down as he gets more and more experience. Lou Deng and Kirk Hinrich may be paid like All-Stars but in Rose the Bulls have a legitimate shot to send a player to the mid season event for the first time in a long time. Even optimists figured it would take Rose a season or two to approach Chris Paul levels of productivity. Well he’s pretty close. His scoring numbers are nearly identical and Paul’s superior assist numbers are slightly aided by the fact that he is surrounded by talented shooters and isn’t playing for a coach that really doesn’t even run an offensive system of any kind. Amazingly Rose has turned the ball over at a lower rate than Paul. Rose’s numbers look pretty good compared to Steve Nash’s as well. Simply put,

Continue reading "This Rose Smelling Oh So Sweet for The Bulls"

I am supposed to be enthused about the new season and Derrick Rose’s rookie season, but I cannot help but look at the direction management is continually taking the team in. They sign Vinny Del Negro as the head coach after major screwing up with Mike D’Antoni. I though John Paxson would realize that Chicago is no longer the basketball force, in reputation or talent that it was when he was winning NBA Championships. You need to act fast when the Mecca of basketball is trying to give the chance to earn New York’s undying love by saving a floundering franchise.

Continue reading "Rose to Thomas, yes, Noah, noooooooo!"