Look, I know that Derrick Rose hasn't played very well against the Heat during the Eastern Conference Finals. He hasn't played up to his MVP-caliber play that brought the Bulls to the conference finals for the first time since the Jordan years. But there's been too much criticism of Derrick Rose as of late, thanks largely to the Bulls' failings against the championship-level team from Miami. I'd argue that the Bulls' failings are largely not due to Derrick Rose, but due to the rest of the team, as I will explain.
First, it needs to be pointed out that Derrick Rose doesn't have a legitimate scoring threat for him to balance off of. The criticism levied towards Russell Westbrook for shooting too much makes more sense. He has Kevin Durant, the NBA's scoring leader and one of the best shooters in the game. Rose doesn't have a Kevin Durant to play off of. Luol Deng is pretty good, but he's nowhere near the caliber of offensive player that Durant is. And Carlos Boozer? Too inconsistent, like Deng. The lack of a true scoring threat outside of Rose himself forces him to have to handle the offensive load for this Chicago team, resulting in a bevy of shots taken.
And speaking of his supporting cast, let me get to point number two: nobody is shooting well. Keith Bogans misses too many open threes to be counted on night in and night out. Ronnie Brewer is a defender, not a scorer, and the same goes for Joakim Noah as well as Taj Gibson. But the biggest culprit has to be Kyle Korver. The Bulls signed him to be an outside threat, someone for Rose to dish to when he's driving to the basket and drawing defenders away from perimeter shooters like Korver. Except, Korver has been terrible against the Heat. At the moment, he couldn't knock down an open three to save his life. Rose can count on some production from Deng and Boozer, but when there's no tertiary scoring at all, it puts an even bigger burden on Rose to force a lot of shots.
My third point has less to do with Rose's actions, and more about what drives those actions. Tom Thibodeau has had a terrific first year as an NBA head coach, but he seems to be in a bit over his head here against the Heat. He's made a number of poor coaching decisions, particularly when it comes to personnel and drawing up plays. He's either played players too long or not at the right moments. And what was with that final play at the end of regulation last night? Putting LeBron James on Derrick Rose was a brilliant move by Erik Spoelstra, and Thibodeau played right into the Heat's hands by letting Rose go one-on-one with a guy who has at least a six-inch height advantage. There are other players who can score in the clutch, Thibs.
I do, however, recognize that some of the criticism regarding Derrick Rose is fair. His shot selection hasn't been very good (firing a bunch of threes that rarely go in), and he's taken some wild shots around the basket. Give credit to Miami's defense for forcing Rose into these situations, and he (and Thibodeau) has done nothing to adapt. If Rose had a legitimate perimeter shooter or a low post scorer or any kind of consistent scoring threat (20+ points a game) to play off of, we'd no doubt see Rose play as a more traditional point guard: facilitating and running the offense while scoring only when the team needs him in beast mode. But until the rest of the team raises its level of play up, Rose will be forced into an Allen Iverson-like player because that's the only way Chicago can win.
Until next time, Orange Hat Guy
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