Rose has made improvements, but he was a great player last year. The system is what has them in first place. Without those incredible defensive numbers, they are not a top 3 team in the east. The system is also responsible for his defensive improvements. On ball defense in Thibs' system is just a funneling process. Very rarely does Rose even play man defense, he overplays to one side and leads the opponent into the teeth of the defense. Offensively, I think he was just as good last year, he just had less options around him and ended up getting all the attention. He has become better at dealing with double teams, something that I thought was a weakness last year. I would have rated him a 7 out of 10 last year, now he's an 8 or 9. The team, though, has gone from middle of the pack to top dog. I still think the coaching is the biggest reason for that.
kelly Dwyer said Rose is not MVP even though he will get it. Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...lt=AkjvPh6a4NF9JgpmBcr2hbC8vLYF?urn=nba-wp476
I've been saying this for months now, Thibodeau deserves COY more than Rose deserves the MVP. Love Rose, but i'd put him #2 behind Dwight. He's nowhere near the force on D, and 1.5 the offense (but that could be argued since he takes so many shots).
Howard, like Shaq was in his prime, is under-appreciated. Steve Nash has more MVP trophies than Shaq. That says it all.
I would honestly trade Noah and Boozer for Dwight and sign a really good (borderline all-star) player from FA.
The thing that is perhaps most interesting about the Rose for MVP talk is that it is directly tied to most peoples' feelings about Thibodeau as COY. Those who are not high on Thibodeau winning the award seem to invariably advocate that Rose should be MVP; and the reverse. I don't think I'm quite as high on Thibodeau as some people are around here, though I could be convinced either way. I'm still bothered by his many in-game mistakes.
Honestly, I think it's narrow minded to say its one or the other. They couldn't do it without each other -- not to this extent. And the fact that they are working with each other to lead the team to superlative heights shouldn't count one against the other. Certainly wouldn't be counted against Lebron if Lebron and Dwyane had it all sorted out. They're both deserving of whatever accolades they can get for this season of dreams.
Bottom line: SVG may hate it, but he's right. Rose is the MVP lock. Some said Pops was a lock and I still think he'll win COY, but Thibs is now very much in that race. The really nice thing about if the Bulls sweep these two is that both will credit the TEAM. And they'd both be correct.
Hmm, well I mean it's not like Rose doesn't deserve to be a top 3 candidate, I just don't believe he's far-and-away the MVP of this league, and if he were, then that would be a really weak MVP race. Dwight imo, has been as much, if not more, valuable than Rose this season. And while I digress Rose's MVP chances, I do think this team's 180 (on D especially) has been because of Thibodeau and his defensive schemes, slightly moreso than Rose's staggering development as a player.
We are not a #1 seed without Rose. True, Thibs defenseive philosophy has a lot to do with where the team is. That being said, If you can't score clutch baskets, all of the defense in the world won't get you a win every time. How many times have we seen Rose take over games in the 4th quarter and will the Bulls to victory! He is the reason we have the number 1 seed. Again this team has had major injuries all season, Rose has not been hurt enough to miss more than 1 game. We keep winning.
TBF, No one would argue that without Rose we wouldn't be a #1 seed. But i'm sure the same thing can be said about Dwight. That team is a top 6 lottery team without him. So thats moot. I guess right now, the main argument would be, how much piece of the pie to the Bulls success is Rose? Thibs? The rest of players? Because God knows that Magic squad has a pathetic supporting cast in comparison to ours.
Yeah. This is exactly what I'm getting at. We're just barely on the opposite sides of the fence. I think Thibodeau has done an admirable job and should be in COY converstations. But I think he also had a dream job in certain respects. The core members of this team are all exceedingly coachable. Rose, Noah, Deng and Boozer are all intelligent, driven basketball players who are not opposed to structure. I think there are probably eight or nine guys who could do a comparable job coaching the Bulls although, obviously, we will never know if Thibodeau did just a little bit better. I would put Popovic, Jackson, Rivers, Carlisle, Bird and maybe the Van Gundys in the group. On the other hand, I'm not sure there is a person alive besides Collins who could have coached the Sixers into playing the caliber of ball they've flashed over the last few months. Collins needed to get his veterans on board and ready to compete as well as simply implement a system. Iguodala and Brand are solid teammates, but they're not the type of driven stars that make building a team easy.
My thoughts about Rose and the Bulls' defense, exactly...from Sam Smith And SST...I don't know. Thibodeau is not a perfect coach. But he has had a huge impact, on Derrick as much as anyone. He's exactly what I wanted him to be. Someone who can help good players get better, and even top players become the best. That is a rare gift, and it is a blessing on this bulls team.
