Is Sports Illustrated Right To Leave Derrick Rose Off Its List Of Top 100 Players?

Over at Sports Illustrated, Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney have once again put together a list of the top 100 NBA players for the upcoming season. These sorts of lists are always fuel for debates. Everybody has a player they think should be higher on the list or lower on the list. Then there are the players who don’t make the list at all; these are the snubs.

Golliver and Mahoney put together a list of 25 players who missed out on making the top 100. The snubs list includes young players who haven’t quite been able to make it over the hump yet, like Jabari Parker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Then, there are veterans on their last legs like Tyson Chandler and Joe Johnson. However, there is one particularly notable name on the list. That would be former league MVP Derrick Rose.

The former Bull and current Knick clocked in at No. 60 on last year’s list. Clearly, Golliver and Mahoney didn’t like what they saw from him last season, which makes them different from Knicks czar Phil Jackson. Rose, remember, was close to a consensus top-10 player before injuries began to plague him in April 2012.

Some may see Rose’s name outside the top 100 and think this is an overreaction. However, as Mahoney writes, “Rose’s name and reputation were able to give him considerable cover last season. Yet ultimately, this was a point guard who finished 438th (!!) in ESPN’s real plus-minus because he couldn’t contribute positively to an offense nor fill passable minutes on defense. That, plainly, isn’t a Top 100 player.”

It’s hard to argue with that type of logic. Perhaps Rose will rebound this year in New York and reclaim some of his former glory. For now, though, we’re looking at a guy on the outside of the top 100 looking in.

(Via Sports Illustrated)

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