One reason. Derrick Rose. Reason 1 A. I had hopes he’d be learning how to play the NBA game. You know, real offenses. Real defenses. Instead he’s learning to play 2 on 5 labeled as an NBA system. Reason 1 B. When I saw Rose at the beginning of the year, he was vocal on court. He was pointing out when other players made mistakes or bad plays, and figuring out what to do and when to take over. Now he’s gone silent and I can’t keep from thinking someone told him he needs to shut up because he’s only a rookie. Or perhaps he simply retreated on his own. I don’t know if that was VDN or someone else, but the fact that it happened on VDN’s watch and wasn’t set straight is a criminal indictment of him in my book. Rose is the franchise, and having him “taught” by an incompetent, on a chaotic, messed up team, is nothing short of ridiculous. There are several other steps that need to be taken, but that shouldn't distract from taking one step that can and should be taken.
Reason 2: Michael Beasley In January so far, 16.3 PPG on 55.6 TS%, 6.7 RPG, 1.5 APG Compared to Derrick Rose, 13.0 PPG on 44.3 TS%, 3.2 RPG, 6.7 APG. We threw Rose "into the fire". Miami put a tight leash on Beasley, and made him actually learn from his mistakes by putting him on the bench. And at this point in time, Michael Beasley is a better NBA player than Derrick Rose, which is scary, given how much of a lead Rose had coming in.
The difference is Beasley isn't the best player on his team, so he knows where he fits on the pecking order and it's a lot easier to accept. Rose is supposed to be the leader on the floor and already is arguably the best offensive player on the team, or a very close second. So the only person he should be listening to is the head coach. But I bet it's a hard thing for a 20 year old rookie to do to tell Larry Hughes to quit jacking shots, or tell Tyrus to run to the rim and stop waiting for the jumper. It'll come. It took CP two years before his team was worth anything, and the bulls have better talent around Rose than CP had. So Rose has to both learn what he is supposed to do and make sure everybody else is doing what they are supposed to be doing. And with guys like Hughes and to a lesser extent BG and even Gooden freelancing, it's even harder.
It's really not arguable. Rose isn't even close to the Bulls best offensive player. It's Ben Gordon by a pretty wide margin. Gordon has more volume and at a much greater efficiency. Although I'm not too worried about Rose's offensive struggles. Lebron's scoring efficiency was horrible his first season, and now he's a beast. He's young, so he still has time, but he needs a coach that will help develop him. Rose needs to take the game more seriously as well. He should be practicing his shooting before the game, not playing one on one with Drew Gooden.
