Bulls Mon Dec 01 2008

To The Hole: The Continued Ascendance of D.Rose

By Brian Lauvray

The startling quick emergence of Derrick Rose as one of the Association's best young point guards, has thus far not been a provincial affair by any means, however, most casual NBA fans across the country probably would still struggle to point him out in a lineup. However that's all about to change after 1) the Bulls managed to pull off three victories in their annual Circus Trip -that time-honored nightmare of drugged animals, terrifying clowns and far, FAR too much noise that fills up the United Center for two weeks every November* also happens to displace the Bulls; and hey! three road wins out of seven games, ain't bad. Besides, the four losses were all to quality squads (LA Lakers, Denver, Portland and San Antonio) that will likely be making the playoffs in the burly Western Conference. Rose, for his part, delivered and is, seemingly, hitting a stride that only a few rookie point guards have hit in this (admittedly) young century --Chris Paul and Deron Williams. On the recent 12 day road trip that concluded Sunday night with a victory in Philly, Rose averaged 17.7 ppg and 6.5 apg while also dropping the first double-double (18 points and 10 dimes against the 76ers) of his blossoming career.

2) Rose with all the hoopla and press he has garnered from the local Chicago press and the obsessive-NBA-blog-o-sphere, now is getting the big-game writers out of the forests; no less an authority than Boston-homer/blowhard, yet admittedly, damn-fine NBA scribe, Bill Simmons dropped some love in the direction of the Chicago Point That Could it's about a third of the page down from the headline. What I love about the praise is Simmons' tidy, subtle jab at the poor GMmanship of John Paxson and how, truly in spite of himself, Paxson found a winner with a Dexter-level killer instinct along with the grit mentality of a glueguy who is making the wretchedly incompetent Bulls look more and more cohesive on the offense. There's no question that Rose will, at some point, hit a wall in his rookie campaign; honestly, carrying the Bulls on his shoulders would even give Atlas a crick in his neck, in the meantime, drink in the majesty of Rose and vote him into the All-Star Game for this season. C'mon, we're Chicagoans, we KNOW how to vote early and often!

Other NBA News:

Somebody Forgot to tell Bosh that this LeBron's Year to Win MVP
Don't get me wrong, LBJ, aka: The MVP-Elect still has the League in a season-long headlock but Mr. Bosh has put the Eastern Conference on alert, letting everyone know that, for once, Bosh is set on having that breakout year that the people have been expecting for a few seasons now. Sadly, Bosh's statistical throwdown has not meant more wins for the Raptors as they are still stuck at .500 and looking up to both the mighty Boston Celtics and the surprisingly good New Jersey Nets. Bosh is averaging a double-double with ease and although he gets very little attention south-of-the-border is leading a minor bball revolution in the hockey-hearting Toronto.

Stephon Marbury, still Batsh*t Crazy
Marbury and the Knicks management met for twenty minutes wherein nothing was resolved, re: Starbury's playing minutes, status as a Knickerbocker or who in the Hell would actually want him on their team, but he did have this cherry quote to offer, "When things got bad and then worse, guys like Quentin Richardson say, 'I don't consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.' He didn't care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead. It's like we're in a foxhole and I'm facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn't even give me an honorable death." Nice. Marbury, who many thought sent to a stable, comfortable mental hospital in the summer of 2007, is back to his insane, diva status and oncologists everywhere are researching forms of chemo to treat this locker room cancer.