The Chicago Bulls are no longer completely reliant on Derrick Rose to win an NBA Championship, but Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote that the bulls will “never win a title with the current version” of Rose. The Bulls are clinging to a one-game lead over the Cavs for the No. 3 seed in the East, and they’ve won six of their last seven despite Rose’s largely subpar play after the break. But is Rosenbloom right? Can the Bulls win a title, or even reach the Finals, with Derrick Rose playing at his current level?
Here’s a few snippets of Rosenbloom’s column [subscription only] where he unloads on the current play of Derrick Rose:
The Bulls know they’ll never get back the original Derrick Rose model. They also must see that they’ll never win a title with the current version.
[…]
Rose never has been a true point guard. He always has been his team’s best player. He’s not the Bulls’ best player now. He needs to be if the Bulls are going to win anything. But he has given no indication he can be that guy.
Smart of Rosenbloom to add the caveat to that last line. The offensive numbers on Rose aren’t pretty this year. He’s barely shooting above 40 percent from the field, and the fact he’s attempting 5.5 three-pointers per game and only connecting on 28.7 percent of them is a cause for alarm.
But fans have to be happy that the 2011 MVP has played in 46 of Chicago’s 57 games so far this season. This after he appeared in just 10 last year and none the year before. He’s trending down in his three games since the All-Star break, and it’s unclear if his game will develop any semblance of consistency before the mad sprint to the playoffs concludes, and we’re in the thick of the real NBA season. But is he really hindering Chicago’s title hopes?
With Jimmy Butler turning into an All-Star wing, and a rejuvenated Pau Gasol getting his fist starting nod in an All-Star Game (thanks, Eastern Conference), it’s no longer on Rose to lead them to the promised land. Despite this, some numbers suggest that Rose isn’t as detrimental to Chicago’s title fortunes as Rosenbloom makes him sound.
For the year, the Bulls performed better with Rose on the court than they do with Gasol or Butler. The Bulls give up fewer points per possession with Rose on the court than they do with Gasol or Butler, and they’re scoring the same number of points per possession with Rose and Butler, who are both above Gasol.
The numbers don’t tell the entire story, but they’re the crux of Rosenbloom’s argument, so he should look at the entire reason, rather than just last week.
True, Jimmy is fourth among shooting guards for ESPN’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rankings, and Pau is 10th among power forwards. Meanwhile, Rose is ranked No. 25 among point guards, trailing such luminaries as Darren Collison, Elfrid Payton, Marcus Smart and Jeremy Lin. But he’s still feeling his way back, and point guard is the deepest position in the NBA right now.
Rosenbloom is playing troll when he wrote that the Bulls will somehow lose out on their first championship berth since MJ pushed Bryon Russell aside simply because of Rose’s presence. As Rosenbloom mentions, Derrick missed 12-of-13 shots from the floor in Chicago’s win over the Bucks on Monday night. But his three-game slide after the All-Star break could simply be a post break lull, his first such stretch in a few seasons. The team’s performance on the court with Rose helming the point for the year works as an indicator for his actual effect on the team’s overall performance.
Everyone wants 2011 and 2012 Derrick Rose back, but he’s at least staying on the court this season. His improvements might seem microscopic when judged against his previous accolades, and some would say he’s regressing, but the man is coming back from back-to-back surgeries on each knee. Let’s continue to give him time.
Maybe Rosenbloom is right when he wrote that the Bulls won’t be a true title threat until Rose is caroming around the paint, drawing fouls, and opening up shots for his teammates, but isn’t the same way he destroyed both knees? Shouldn’t he be learning to play smarter basketball? We should let Rose get through an entire season and postseason before we castigate him for his reluctance to attack the trees protecting the rim.
Rose is doing pretty well, even if it turns out he’s not good enough to get the Bulls to the Finals. We can’t predict the future, but we’re no longer convinced that the Bulls need a superstar Derrick Rose to compete for an Eastern Conference title. Then again, even when Rose won his MVP, the Bulls still didn’t make it to the Finals.