So to spark some emails today, I sent this link. I'm not exactly sure why, but these "Derrick Rose is overrated" articles are fascinating to me. I guess I'm trying to understand the logic, and what makes people continuously say these things ...
Derrick Rose: Perfect Storm of Overrated?
A week ago, Beckley and I parsed the notion of Derrick Rose. Certain readers were angry at the personalities within our schizoid dialogue, particularly the Derrick-hating takes. Some mistook a conversation for an argument. To those, I say, “Here’s your argument.” Not only do I think Rose overrated, I think him the potential Perfect Storm of Overrated. It’s written with no hate in my heart, I love watching D-Rose just as much as you do–which is in part why he’s the P.S.O. With Noah out, I expect the “Rose for MVP” chant to mute as the Bulls slide to a 5th seed. But the chant will reverberate across the future, for reasons listed below:
Big Market: Market size is measurable, influential. The “Second City” might actually be third, but the bronze medal is enormous. If Chicago was a female kangaroo, it could easily fit the Oklahoma City metro area inside Chi-town’s marsupial pouch. Chicago could even jump high, higher than Joakim Noah’s arc. But that wouldn’t be safe–like making bad puns a stone’s throw from comment sections.
Great Aesthetics: This is impossible to measure, fun to describe. I call Derrick “close-range Kobe,” as my girlfriend wonders what I’m screaming in my sleep. Bryant boasts an ability to make thrilling, difficult, long-range jumpers. When Kobe drains double-teamed fadeaways, fans gasp. Then, they exhale the air that inflates Bryant’s legend past the point of fact. It’s because every impossible shot delivers an adrenaline jolt, a Pavlovian fist-pump–and most importantly, a memory. Our brains cling to that moment over one hundred effective Pau hook shots. We recall what surprises, credit the shocking-jock.
As Henry Abbott points out, Rose specializes in the thrilling, shifty, contact-avoiding layup. It’s memorable for all the reasons Kobe’s long-distance bombs are. By the time Derrick’s shot ricochets off glass, our brains have already tricked us into over-loving his trickery. How can we blame that brain? How could any human being turn that flying contortion into points? D-Rose as “number one point guard” is a lie, inspired by an optical illusion.
Well, after I posted that link, Kmart (BBS writer and AudiBULL host) read the article and posted what I thought was an awesome response. Here it is:
I hate reading how "overrated" Derrick Rose is. It's one of the dumbest arguments ever. I think he's perfectly rated. I think most Bulls fans would peg him as 3rd-5th best PG right now chasing Paul and D-Will and somewhere with Rondo and Westbrook. What about that makes him overrated?
If it's about being deemed in the discussion for MVP, then based on his numbers alone, he at least deserves to be in the discussion. If you also measure how much he means to the team, the Bulls would likely be 5 games under .500 without him. Without Rose the Bulls are a 35-40 win team. With him they're a 50-60 win team. (Also, we're not sliding to a 5 seed without Noah, hate to burst that dude's bubble but the East is terrible.)
He's 22 and in his 3rd year and probably has the highest ceiling of any PG in the league. All he does is win (Simeon, Memphis, now Bulls) and he's done nothing but prove his ability to make his weaknesses, strengths in a ridiculously quick period of time. The 2 big knocks on him last season were that he's terrible defensively and he can't shoot. He went out and got much much better at both of those things, and now he's overrated? How? People are running out of shit to complain about, so this year it's "he doesn't draw enough fouls." While this is true, who wants to bet it's the only thing he works on all off-season? He came out and mentioned that he needs to work on this. He's said all his life on the playground he's been avoiding contact/fouls because they don't call them on the playground. Makes sense, and to piggy back on what Dan said... who can do what he does in the lane? And why is that a knock on him?
I appreciate reading things like this, but it's the Colin Cowherd/Skip Bayless make dumb arguments just to make them. HPBasketball, JonesontheNBA, Hollinger, and this guy all love to call Rose overrated, but I'm curious if they were starting a franchise and got to pick 1 player to build around... how many names would they call before Derricks? 4? 5? 8 tops?
It's arguing just to argue. Nationally Rose is perfectly ranked. Bulls fans are allowed to overrate him by a smidge because they get to watch him every night and every city ever overrates anything their home teams/players do/does... also we got to watch Jordan every night, so I think we're pretty familiar with what greatness looks like.
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