Does Derrick Rose know who he is? I mean, I thought his genuine lack of self-awareness was him just being confident in his abilities… now he just comes off disillusioned and unaware of his place in the NBA as well as among the fellow point guards.
Sports Illustrated rated Rose as the 60th best player in the league before the season started in their Top 100 Players, and The Sporting News ranked him as the 13th best point guard, his on court play hasn’t exactly forced those publications to change their minds.
What is crazy is, someone actually thought to ask Rose if he felt snubbed by not getting an All-Star nod (that someone was ESPN’s Nick Friedell, which makes sense), and Rose actually thought to answer the question like this.
“Nah,” he told ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “Just the year I’ve missed too many games. That was about it. Missed too many games.”
Ah, yeah… Rose has missed a lot of games this season.
Wait.. he’s only missed six? SIX GAMES!?
So in Derrick’s mind he missed the All-Star game only because he has missed six of the Bulls first 41 games. Makes sense, in a weird world where subpar play gets you rewarded by naming you one of the best in the league.
Not that I’m a Rose hater, in fact I’ve been a huge Rose supporter, but I am absolutely a realist and am able to tell the difference between someone playing good basketball and someone playing bad basketball. Rose is the latter, unfortunately.
In fact, Derrick Rose is 12th in scoring (15.7 ppg), 28th in assists (4.6), 39th in assist to turnover ratio (1.7), but that’s just the half of it. According to ESPN, they rank Rose as the 81st out of 83 point guards in plus/minus. 80 freaking 1st out of 83! And somehow Nick Leisure Suit Friedell still asks if Derrick Rose felt snubbed by not getting an All-Star nod. Did he follow that up by asking Emmanuel Mudiay or Norris Cole (the only two point guards to finish worse than Rose in plus/minus) if they felt snubbed also?
Rose has had spurts in which he’s played well, and even near the level which won him a MVP. But it’s incredibly inconsistent, seems that he turns it on when he feels like it, and then carries himself as if he no longer has anything to prove in the league and making an All-Star game is almost an entitlement.
He’s actually played his best basketball when he’s relinquished some of the leadership duties to Jimmy Butler, but far too often Rose demands control and sets his game back.
If Derrick Rose plans on continuing to talk like a NBA super star, let’s hope he either regains his super star ability (unlikely), or re-learns the humility that we all loved as Rose first came into the basketball spotlight.
Featured pic courtesy of Slam Online
