The Bulls may well head into the playoffs with the best record in the entire NBA. San Antonio is one game ahead of us in the loss column, but they play the Lakers and Suns their last two games. I think we will win out and go into the playoffs with a 9 game winning streak, basically the hottest team in the league. It's been my experience that if something seems too good to be true, it generally is too good to be true. So I remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the Bulls' chances, but in the back of my mind it's a possibility the Bulls fall flat against a seasoned playoff team like the Magic or Celtics (or Heat), or even fall in the first round. The question I want to raise in this thread is whether Rose gets the MVP should the Bulls lose to Indy in the first round. How about if the Bulls lose in the 2nd round? I mean, expectations were low, now they're high. If Rose can't lead us to playoff success, will the MVP voters look to a LeBron or Howard who does lead his team to playoff expectations?
I thought the MVP voting occurs before the playoffs, no? As for the other stuff, it's hard to be a longtime Chicago sports fan and not have creeping doubts. This playoff run is going to be a tough emotional ride.
At first I was pro-Howard, but the fact that the Bulls have this many more games than the Magic changes my vote.
And if he can't keep himself in games . . . I mean, what's the deal? His team is relying upon him. Regardless, I can't really say that I care too much about the award. It mattered to me earlier in this season when I didn't consider the Bulls a "real" contender. Now I'm ready to show it in the playoffs. (The irony, of course, is that the MVP is only given out to players on contending teams.) I think Derrick Rose is playing the best basketball of any player in the league right now. I don't think you it's safe to bet against him in any series, and I can't wait for Saturday.
Rose is very young. I don't remember a championship team whose superstar was this you young who didn't have an older veteran superstar teammate. Like Kobe had Shaquille and Wade had Shaq and Duncan had Robinson, etc. The good news is there are exceptions to every rule and a first time for anything
It's not so much a rule is it? DMD and I were speaking about this yesterday. Can anyone think of precedent for this season? You're looking for a young team with no playoff experience that steamrolled its way into a virtual tie for the best record in the league. I can understand how playoff experience is a good thing theoretically, but I'm not aware of any team that failed because it didn't have enough playoff experience, despite being one of the best teams in the league. Does this makes sense? Edit: Try number two. There is no precedent for a team becoming a contender over the course of one season on the back of 22 year old star. So if there is no precedent for a team becoming a contender under these circumstances, how can we extrapolate that the team will fail because it doesn't have playoff experience. I am not aware of any similar circumstance in professional basketball. How can we begin to understand what will happen next?
History is full PF teams with young stars who don't excel in the playoffs. Jordan is a good example. More recent might be Cleveland w/LeBron, Orlando w/Howard, Utah w/Williams...
I question whether Lebron James failed was because he was too inexperienced. I think it's more likely that his failure was due to a lack of killer instinct down the stretch and that he still suffers from the same weaknesses despite his experience. Howard and Williams aren't great comparisons either. I think Rose is better designed for the playoffs than both of them and has better teammates. I like the Jordan comparison because then we're talking about a player who was designed for the playoffs but still failed in the playoffs. Here's the tough question about Jordan though: Is Rose more conducive to winning than Jordan was during the early parts of his career? Is it crazy for me to even ask that?
My point about LeBron is that he won MVP as a young player, but failed to win a championship. If he wins this year, it fits the pattern because of Wade. I am also making the point about really young guys not historically being THE man on championship teams. Not experience but age. Jordan won the first time at 27! Jordan went off for 63 against Boston in a first round game. That's conducive to winning, IMO.
Damn SST, I tried to prove you wrong as it seemed MJ's Bulls and the Kobe/Shaq Lakers and other teams need to learn how to win in the playoffs. Turns out they just needed to learn how to win. They were losing to higher seeds until they improved and had a 1 or 2 seed.
Okay. I've got it. '94-'95 Magic. That team had Shaq in his third season and Penny Hardaway in his second season as the anchors. They went 50-32 in '93-'94 which isn't bad but not contending, and then went 57-25 in '94-'95. That was the team that beat the Bulls before they lost to the defending champion Rockets in the finals. That's about as comparable as you're going to get to this years Bulls. The vets were Dennis Scott, Nick Anderson, Darrell Armstrong, and Horace Grant, all of whom were pretty good. I don't know if there's anything to be taken away from their performance though. I'd consider this season a success, even given my raised expectations, if the Bulls made the finals.
Again, I don't like the Lebron comparison because I think it's easy to find other reasons for his failings in the playoffs, besides inexperience, that we don't see in Rose. We're really having a couple of conversations. The most interesting to me is whether there is any precedent for the Bulls this year that would allow us to project for what we can expect. I think that Orlando team is as close as you're going to get.
Okay, this shit is unreal. [video=youtube;R_asXb49e5Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_asXb49e5Q[/video]
I'm a big history buff and all, but I don't see that Rose's age or relative inexperience will be any sort of deciding factor in these playoffs. And unlike some of the comparisons, despite his age, Rose is the undisputed leader of his team, and unlike some of the others, the Bulls are a very good team and have HC advantage in their conference. This isn't to say that I'm not worried about these playoffs...I've got all kinds of worry, but Rose isn't even on my list.
I'm not equating age and inexperience. At 26, Jordan had plenty of experience, but no titles. LeBron is completing his 8th season, and is 26 now. He lost in the NBA finals at 22, and hasn't been back.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2009.html FWIW Cleveland had the best record in the NBA, lost to the Magic in the ECF. LeBron was 24. It's hard to see LeBron doesn't have this "killer instinct" when he's played on teams who finished with better records than this Bulls team.
I would say the jury is out if it was youth that held Lebron back from winning. If he learns how to play more of a team game and his teams start taking how championships, then that would be true. If he never wins a championship or just grabs one, then let's call him Wilt.
