FJ had an interesting comment in the game thread that I though was worth exploring: This feels right but is it accurate? I've spent some time thinking about what it means to be a contender very early in your career and not win a championship. Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard are all players who've had their x-factor questioned. I think x-factor is a good word for what we're talking about, though you could just as easily call it heart or killer instinct or will or whatever. I think there's some accuracy to the aspersions. Lebron James' performance against the Celtics last year was striking, as was Dwight Howard's play against the Hawks and Anthony's season spent pining for a team that wasn't really as well situated to win as the one he was playing for. This begs the question: Was it always this way for these three players? My gut feeling is no. Howard went to the finals in his third season in the league before, losing in the conference championships last year, and the first round this year. Lebron James carried the Cavs to the finals in his fourth season before losing in the second round the following year, and the conference finals the next two years with 66 and 61 seasons. Carmelo Anthony went to the conference finals in his fifth season before losing in the first round last year. Going back to Rose, does something happen when you carry your team as a young player deep in the playoffs and don't win? Is this a trauma that we both overlook and underestimate? . . . something along the lines of Al Gore gaining one hundred pounds after he lost the Presidential Election.
Apples and oranges. MJ failed a lot. I don't anything has been easy for Derrick, and no one expected this from him. He's done the work, and nothing was handed to him. If he loses, it'll make him hungrier. Who knows if he can do it, I mean...who knows? But I think the problem with those guys was the sense of entitlement. Same with Gore.
Who knows if it will be the same or different for Rose ( in comparison to James, Anthony and Howard) Hope echoed my thoughts quite well, in that , Rose doesn't have the same sense of entitlement that the sychophants and parasites have implanted in their false prophets mindsets ( that have been dominated by these manipulative vermin)
Rose has the X Factor. He can close out games and he wants it more than anything. Lebron is a cold corporate entity and Howard is a goof who is playing in a league where you need the ball in your hands. Yes, they had early success, but personality wise I don't think they are the same as Rose. I don't know if he can do it either. But he's sure as hell is going to try. He's not built like Lebron or Howard bulk wise, which is what worries me more than anything. But, the great ones change their games as their athleticism wanes. We'll see if Rose can do the same. My reasonable expectations for this season are met if we get to the Eastern Conference Finals. MVP. ECFs. Won the division. Best record in the league. If the Bulls can't top the Heat (most likely team) with a gimpy Boozer and Rose not at 100% either, well, I can live with that but it will piss me off to see the Heat win. That won't be a failure on Rose's part. If GarPax can build a team around him, Rose should keep going back year after year, although you can never predict health.
I hope your right, of course. My broader point was not that Rose, Howard and Lebron have the same approach, because they don't. My point is that at some time in their careers, Howard and Lebron may have shared Roses' singular focus on winning, but somewhere they went astray. And perhaps their current mixed bag you get from them is due to the experience of coming close to a championship without winning at a very early point in their careers.
I think it's pretty clear those guys didn't have that singular focus on winning. They thought that would just be part of the territory of being awesome. When they were denied, they couldn't grok it.
