Gordon's up to 21.0 PPG and 4.0 APG after tonight. It'd be a bit unjust for Rose to make it over Gordon, especially given Gordon's defense superiority.
Sorry, as long as they continue to whenever possible hide BG on whoever is supposed to stand in the corner and wait for a kickout 3 attempt and put Rose on one of the guards, BG can not be considered the better defender. And until last night's debacle, Rose and BG had essentially the same PER. So no, it wouldn't be unfair.
Rose has been guarding the point guard every game? That's a crazy idea! Wasn't one of the complaints coming into the season that Rose would have to guard the bigger shooting guard? That hasn't happened yet. Mission accomplished, Gordon has guarded fine. Derrick Rose isn't a deserving allstar. He has become like any other rookie. His scoring efficiency is average, and his passing is good for a rookie, but not at an elite level within the league. Ben Gordon on the otherhand is scoring a larger volume at an elite efficiency, while getting a good amount of assists and rebounds for a shooting guard, and playing strong defense (2nd best in the league behind Ray Allen according to 82games.com). I like Derrick Rose, but he isn't that special yet. He's struggled everytime he's gone up against an elite shotblocker, and he hasn't done much more creating than Hinrich did. His scoring efficiency is average, and he is only averaging around 16 points per 36. Right now, Rose isn't even the best rookie, let alone the best player on his own team. Rose should get there, but he's not there yet.
Nuts to that. Gordon came into the league and became 1st rookie to win 6th man of the year. He's a hell of a player, an immediate impact player as a rookie and to this day. He's had no real extended down periods when his role was settled (become a starter, or pegged as 6th man vs. in between). Rose is a truly rare rookie. A PG who's a real impact player from game 1. He's gotten better, not worse, as the season's worn on. One bad game doesn't change that fact. Remember JWill came out of Duke with all kinds of awards and he didn't come close to being as good as Rose. Neither did Nash or Payton or any number of the better PGs in recent years. Rose is a rookie who plays better than most veterans, and he's certain to get better and better over the next few seasons. He may not be an all-star yet, but if he only makes a modest jump in his game as most rookies do over their first few seasons (as Deng did, for example, as Gordon did, too), he's going to be one of the most special players in the game. The fact that Gordon isn't guarding opposing PGs as he did in seasons past is simply due to the Bulls committing to playing Rose at the PG spot at both ends so he can be the best player he ultimately can be. You can't fault the team for it, and it's a welcome change from the way things have been done in prior years. It has nothing to do with "hiding" Gordon, but when you look strategically at who then he should guard, it could be him guarding very big and strong athletic types like Pierce where there is a major mismatch due to phyiscal size, or you put Deng on those guys and Gordon on a bigger guy who's way less of a threat.
Rose is guarding the point guard and Deng is guarding the bigger shooting guards, which is almost as big a mismatch for Deng given his athleticism. BG is consistently matched up with the weakest offensive opponent at the 1, 2, or 3 spot. And can we please get a link to whatever metric you are using to claim BG is 2nd Best. And BG's Ast/TO is still higher than just about everybody else in the top 20 in ast/48 at SG. Rose is also playing pg, so scoring isn't the primary concern. It's running the offense and handling the ball, which he does much better than BG.
Update: Iverson/Wade lead in voting. Ben Gordon: 21.1 PPG (57.9 TS%) 3.9 APG 3.4 RPG Derrick Rose: 17.6 PPG (52.2 TS%) 6.4 APG 3.8 RPG Vince Carter: 22.5 PPG (55.6 TS%) 4.8 APG 4.8 RPG Devin Harris: 23.8 PPG (60.1 TS%) 6.3 APG 3.3 RPG Joe Johnson: 23.0 PPG (56.6 TS%) 5.3 APG 4.5 RPG Ray Allen: 18.5 PPG (62.6 TS%) 2.5 APG 3.6 RPG Harris and Johnson are probably locks for this. Ray Allen looks like he has a good chance of of making it as a 3rd Celtic allstar. Hard to get mad at the Celtics getting a 3rd allstar when they've been so dominant in a team effort style. Derrick Rose is pretty much out of the running. Gordon and Carter look pretty even, Gordon probably should get the nod because the Nets aren't good enough to have two allstars. So that's: Wade, Iverson, Johnson, Harris, Allen. That's 5. Looks pretty bleak right now. Gordon needs executives to just give Pierce/KG allstar spots from the Celtics, while still beating out Vince Carter, or hope for an injury and appointment. I think Gordon has a pretty good shot if there is a backcourt injury of getting appointed. Hopefully if they have a front court injury, Gordon also gets under consideration, because outside of Howard, Garnett, and a few others, the big men in the East have been horrible. The guards have been awesome, and some awesome play by some of these guards will not be rewarded with an allstar spot.
All four of those guys make the team before our guys do, and they deserve to make it before our guys do.
If Gordon keeps up his improved play, he could be in very serious consideration. Gordon might have the votes to get into the allstar game. Skiles/Spolestra (on Riley's demand) will vote for Gordon. That's already 2/14. I assume he would just have to find 5 more votes, and 7 would be enough to get him in. Too bad Isiah doesn't coach the Knicks anymore. Gordon could benefit from the Celtics, Hawks, and Nets trying to vote for a guard without votin for their player's main competition. Rose for the most part out of the discussion. Gordon/Carter are the two odd guys out imo. It's unfortunate that Allen Iverson will get in from the fan voting.
Bah... KC is full of it too. Also, if the Bulls trade Gooden for Miller, they've erased most of the salary room they need to try to re-sign Gordon. I hope they can get around that with a second trade. If they get Miller. I'd much prefer to figure a way to get Miller and keep Gooden, also.
I agree...we need to keep Gooden if we go for Miller....Gooden is proving to be good....and it would be a sad day if we had to give him up now....give up "Joke" Noah instead.
After tonight's game: 20.9 PPG 3.8 APG 3.3 RPG He's still very much in the race. Carter/Harris did okay tonight, got their points and assists. But I can't see the Nets getting two allstars any more. Ray Allen as a third Celtic allstar looks good. Gordon is one of the 12 best players in the East. 1. Lebron James 2. Dwyane Wade 3. Kevin Garnett 4. Paul Pierce 5. Ray Allen 6. Devin Harris 7. Vince Carter 8. Chris Bosh 9. Allen Iverson (fan vote) 10. Danny Granger 11. Ben Gordon 12. Dwight Howard 13. Joe Johnson 14. Zydrunas Ilgauksus That's pretty much the main 14 for the allstar. The most Gordon friendly situation would probably be the Cavs only getting one allstar and one of the Nets not making it. But that involves them going light on big men in the East (which should happen, because the East big men suck for the most part, definitely a guard's conference). If there are any injuries, I think David Stern will probably appoint Gordon. Derrick Rose will be a star no matter what. It'll help market the new Bulls with a second star. Gordon still has plenty of time to raise his stats further to improve his chances. He's averaging 24 PPG in the month of December, so he just needs to keep it up.
Sigh. Players in the east more deserving 1. Rashard Lewis - Orlando is easily good enough to justify having two allstars. 2. Caron Butler - On a horrible team but his all around numbers are better than Gordon's 3. Antawn Jamison - Nearly at 20-10, shooting a great percentage, it would be EITHER him or Butler from this team. 4. Michael Redd - Might not be more deserving, but he's having a solid year, and is more likely to garner coach's votes. 5. Rip Hamilton - Same thing as Redd, also depending on where Detroit stands at the break coaches might pick him. 6. Rajon Rondo - We've already had this debate, regardless of why he is good, he is good, plus champs command respect.
I'd agree, but a lot of people seem to be buying into the hype. And to Rondo's credit, he's a role player that does multiple things well, which is rare. Not trying to be a pain, but as far as the other guys who I listed, don't you are agree that a lot of them are arguably more like than Gordon to make the team? In the end a lot of it will come down to team records at the end of the next few weeks.
Rondo is an all around better player than BG...BG is a better scorer and that's it. Rondo is a better defender, passer, decision maker, and ball handler. Rondo is even proving that he can score a little bit better than he used to. Gordon has work to do.
Only Rashard Lewis. He's a forward, so he has a great chance of making it. Wizards suck to much to get an allstar, and Butler/Jamison aren't doing anything too great to justify putting a guy on a crappy team onto it. Rondo, no. Allen/Pierce/Garnett is enough for them. Can't see Redd/Hamitlon, two inferior players this year, making it given their team's positions.
