Derrick Rose has taken the mantle from Kobe Bryant as the NBA’s whipping boy, but the chatter is well deserved. Rose has been arguably the most damaging player in the NBA, posting a 9.7 PER and playing 32.9 minutes a night.
The guard is changing in Chicago. Longtime coach Tom Thibodeau has been replaced by Fred Hoiberg, Joakim Noah is no longer starting, and shooting guard Jimmy Butler has become the best player on the team. Butler’s superiority to Rose is painfully obvious to anyone watching more than five minutes of Bulls basketball, but Rose hasn’t noticed.
Jimmy Butler Is The Bulls Alpha Dog, Derrick Rose Just Doesn't Know It
Rose is shooting 15 times a night – almost the exact same number of shots that Butler is hoisting – but connecting just 37 percent of the time. His 3-point shooting has been an embarrassment (22.4 percent), and yet he still chucks 2.4 of them a game. Rose still seems quick, but he can’t get to the foul line anymore, and defenders are able to contain him.
ESPN contributor David Thorpe thinks there’s a no-brainer solution to getting Rose right – the D-League.
“To me it’s a no-brainer, he should be playing in the D-League,” Thorpe said. “If you can’t gain traction in a clearly inferior league, where they’re not really playing any kind of NBA-level defense, there’s not a lot of intelligence in that game because it’s all young guys, then how do you expect to get in the world’s best league?”
Thorpe compared Rose’s situation to that of an MLB player doing a rehab assignment in the minors, and said Rose must ignore the stigma of a status downgrade and regain his confidence. While going from league MVP to the D-League could be a bitter pill to swallow, Rose’s shooting percentages are equally tough to stomach.
If the Bulls want to trade Rose, then the D-League is the only chance they have of him returning any value. If they still believe in him, then the D-League still represents the best chance of saving his game. Right now, he’s just a inefficient chucker.
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