The replay of the first play in this video gives you a good idea of what I mean by looking like a running back. I've seen quite a few of his drives where he protects the ball with both hands. [video=youtube;D5tOyemuk18]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tOyemuk18[/video]
To continue the analogy a little further, Barry Sanders with a basketball in his hand is a pretty apt comparison for Rose.
Dan Bernstein has discussed how Derrick Rose handles the ball with two hands a fair amount on the score. Bernstein has said it's a South Side thing, where the guards protect the ball expecting contact. In Rose's rookie year, I remember Bernstein saying he thought Rose would have a tough time with teams the second time he played them because they'd be gaming for this tendency. It turned out not to be true, of course, but I thought it was a pretty insightful comment nonetheless.
Looks more like he's protecting the ball against defenders swiping at the ball trying to poke it away. Should be reach in fouls, but they're not called. That was my point.
Spoke too damn soon :-( The league has got to wake up to this. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way they are calling fouls regarding Derrick. I refuse to believe it is his problem. He's doing what he should do. The League Officials need to do what they should do to protect him. He's a treasure, and they're about to smash it open and spend it on a lifetime supply of Slurpees.
Yeah, look at the first drive. He tucks it in, carries it into the paint, and then unfurls when he's got the slightest angle toward the basket. Amazing.
It's really horrible to hear that, isn't it? I don't trust Hollinger's statistics. I question whether he's a good enough statistician to really eliminate false positives in his numbers. His method seems to rely upon a player's ability to draw fouls, but with the exception of Rose, most good players seem to be gifted fouls. So, the ability to get to the line might be a false positive for star treatment, and a star who does not get that treatment may read in his method as a non-star. That being said, if his method is accurate, and Rose should change his methods to draw more fouls, I can't see how that's good for the game of basketball in any respect.
