ESPN Chicago's discussion of DRose and Thibs' focus on defense: I really liked this part: It's an interesting approach to help Derrick's "killer" attitude both offensively and defensively. Looking forward to it.
Did his defense really make that much of a leap? From the 3 preseason games i've watched, he's only gotten a little better.
I agree about Rose's defense still being bad. At least he is staying in front of his man now, though. That's a big leap in and of itself.
I agree completely -- and think Rose wants it. I don't think it comes naturally to him and that's not unusual for guards who are scorers. The fact that he is paying some attention to progress on the defensive end is encouraging. I don't think its coming overnight. I don't remember the very young MJ being an Ultimate D guy. It took some work and he remains, IMO, the GOAT. Drafted in 1984, by 1988 he was DPOY -- but there was development along the way to get there. I don't put the mantle of GOAT on Derrick Rose -- although anything is possible I guess. I'm just saying if it took some effort on MJ's part to become The Lead Doberman there is no shame in it taking Pooh a couple of years to develop on the lunchbucket/lockdown side of the floor.
For the most part I agree, but Jordan won the first of many All-NBA Defense 1st team awards in his third season. I think he had hair back then
Oh, don't nit-pick the hair comment. Point is, MJ didn't come out of the box, batteries included, as a finished product. I think we can give Rose a little time to develop his D and he seems to have motivation to improve -- which is a good thing, for sure. And he HAS shown improvement, even if its not end of season award type improvement -- YET. (Oh, and I had edited out the hair comment anyway but our posts crossed -- point remains the same).
I think that Dr. J is a better guy to bring up in the discussion. Jordan played great D in college, too. Dr. J, on the other hand, worked his butt off after joining the NBA (later in his career) to become a pretty good defender. His PF, Bobby Jones, was one of the best defenders ever.
OK. We'll go with that. Pretty good company. Different game as a 6'7" SF but the point is mostly the same, except that I see Rose becoming a very good defender earlier in his career and the motivation, skills and with Thibo, the support to do so.
I was watching Jordan's 63 point game against the Celtics, which was his second year in the league. He had this play where he doubled down on the post and slapped the ball away from a big. I didn't understand who wildly impossible a play it was until they slowed it down for a replay. He was bringing his arms behind his head and swinging down with full force. He got like three swipes in before the big even moved the ball across his body -- and none of them were fouls. It was just a silly, impossible play.
Rose was also about two years younger than Jordan when he came into the league. Give him some time. Rose hasn't had nearly the same coaching that Jordan had either.
I'm not in the least bit worried about Rose's defense. Back to the killer attitude thing, it's always seemed odd to me that he sometimes takes over but often plays sort of differentially. It killed me there were so many times last year he'd be standing there while the play happened. I don't think it was because Rose just wanted to take a play off, and I'm cautiously optimistic Thibs is going to make a real difference there.
"deferentially"? Yeah, this is what gets me excited. Thabo has been hitting the right chords as a player development coach. This would be a big one. If we're going to catch Miami or Orlando, it's going to be development of what we have.
