Monday, March 19, 2012

Overrated: Derrick Rose


In my last Overrated blog I went after Hall of Famer Tom Brady http://bayaniflores.blogspot.com/2011/11/overrated-tom-brady-and-giselle.html.

Derrick Rose is a much smaller fish but when you win MVP you have been put on a short list of the greatest players of all-time. When you don't deserve to be on that list, you are by definition Overrated.





Rose is a very good young point guard; but the league MVP? When was the last time a player won MVP when they were only the third best player at their position? Answer: NEVER. Well, until last year of course. Handing him 3rd best might be generous since there's some people out there that think Westbrook and Rondo should be in the discussion. Take a look at these two players statistics:








                              FG%       3pt%      FT %      Reb        Ast         Blk          STL         TO          PTS
Player A               .422         .330       .842         4.6         8.2          0.4           1.9          3.85         21.9
Player B               .445         .332       .858         4.1         7.7          0.6           1.0          3.43         25.0

These two players are Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook. Westbrook wasn't on anyone's ballot for MVP. So why was Rose handed MVP when he's a very similar player to Westbrook?
Because the media/voters hate Lebron James and conspired individually to not allow him his third straight MVP award. So they chose the flashiest player on the team with the most wins. (yes, I do realize what I did there)


I'm tired of these hack sports reporters pushing their personal agendas while giving credit to the most polarizing offense player and discounting defense:
               Denver's defense/special teams plays amazing and lead the Broncos to victory. The hero is Tim Tebow and his 10 completions.
               Patriots defense neutralizes one of the best offenses in NFL history. Tom Brady wins MVP throwing 145 yards and one touchdown.
               The Bulls win 62 games on the shoulders of the best defense in the league. Derrick Rose wins league MVP as the LEAST important part of the number one ranked defense and the most important part of the 15th ranked offense.


Of the 8 Bulls that qualify for enough minutes Rose is the 6th most important player according to adjusted +/- statistics (According to basketballvalue.com since 2011). Luol Deng being far and above the most valuable Bull in terms of team performance with or without him. I'm not saying he's the 6th most valuable player on the team, but I'm just saying.



















If everyone were free agents and there was a draft for the 2012 playoffs, Rose would be taken somewhere between nine and fifteenth. Here's eight players that would unquestionably be chosen before Rose: James, Wade, Paul, Howard, Bryant, Nowitzki, Williams, Durant.

I concede that the league MVP doesn't always need to be the best player in the NBA but he should be close. Rose received 113 first place votes to Lebron's 4. Is he that much better than Lebron? Let's see how they stack up side by side?

Rose is a better free throw shooter.

Lebron is better at 3-point shooting, mid-range shooting, finishing around the basket, posting up, penetrating, passing, shot blocking, stealing, team defense, individual defense. If you don't believe the comparison then you obviously didn't watch the Eastern Conference Finals last year. 



Lebron is probably the best all around defender ever. Not only can he guard every single player in the league; in almost any circumstance he would be the most effective defender versus that player. Lebron is so good on defense that players have trouble scoring when they're on a fast break with a 10 foot head start.  





The truth is, the media had a personal vendetta against James and Rose was the recipient of this. He will probably never win another MVP. If you went down the list of players that have won MVP you will see that Rose is by far the worst player to have won this award. (List Below)





Edit: I wrote most of this last year. Last night I was watching the Bulls beat the Heat (the NBA's overwhelming favorite to win the championship) last night without their MVP. All I ever hear is how the Bulls would have no offense without Rose and how he has no help. Well, they scored 106 points against the vaunted Heat defense. Not too shabby for a team without their "only" scorer.
The Bulls offense seems to become stagnant when Rose is on the floor. This is not all his fault but it wouldn't surprise me if Rose becomes the next Carmelo Anthony. A great isolation player and that's it.


This year the Bulls are 10-4 without their MVP. 




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2 comments:

  1. The mvp wasn't given this year The bulls would have never won all those games last year if it wasn't for d rose he caried the team much like lebron did for cavs last year year bulls wouldn't have gone nowere with out him so how is he not mvp? And for lebron not geting mvp it is given by votes and when you act like he did going to the heat celebrating and all that he did obiously no body will want to vote for you.

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  2. Dear Anyonymous,
    You are right. The MVP was for 2011 and not 2012. However, I will argue that the Bulls are for the most part the same team as they were last year and are doing very well without Rose. The Cavs team with Lebron won 60+ games. The next year with a very similar team minus Lebron they were one of the worst in the NBA.

    I don't have a problem with hating Lebron for how he acted. But, when voting for the NBA's most prestigious award it should be based on on court performance. If a voter feels the need to insert personal bias they should not be allowed to vote.

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