Hoop It Up

Not on board with James as the MVP, either, though I still think that he's inarguably the league's best. And has been for quite a few years, now.

well now that's just silly

the best player in the league is also the most valuable player if we're talking value-above-replacement

You're correct about James being the best and most valuable small forward on the Miami Heat, yes.

zappo wrote:Coach of the Year = George Karl. Thibodeau somehow finished in 8th. Nauseating.

BULLSHIT!

zappo wrote:Vincent Del Negro got both first- and second-place votes, according to what I read.

Any VDN vote should trigger instant lifetime revocation of Coach of the Year voting privileges.

Chris Paul is the best basketball coach in Los Angeles.

I can't wait for Game 3. If there are any suspensions at the end of this game the NBA should be ashamed of themselves. Also, if Rose doesn't suit up for Game 3 after seeing this game he is a heartless pussy.

wp64 wrote:I can't wait for Game 3. If there are any suspensions at the end of this game the NBA should be ashamed of themselves. Also, if Rose doesn't suit up for Game 3 after seeing this game he is a heartless pussy.

Agree with all of this, especially the part in bold. Pretty sure we'll just lose the next three, but I'll be enjoying this festering grudge for years to come.

yancy wrote:I hope they at least annoy the Spurs.

Yeah I think they're annoyed alright.

I can't believe what a pussy Derek Rose is.

you guys don't deserve Derek Rose if you can't accept his personal health decisions. Chicago sports media is pretty soft on their teams sometimes so it's nice it took this long for him to start getting killed for sitting again.

kid's PR team is terrible though.

He's been practicing full speed for over 2 months now. He should be out there.

jasperness wrote:his personal health decisions

Problem is, few people are convinced that the decisions fit any of those descriptors.

oh i forgot, it's a conspiracy by his brother to get revenge on the Bulls' front office, right

Something like that. Welcome to Chicago!

i'm just not buying that his advisers have too strong a hold on his decision making or that he's simply too "afraid" to get on the court.

i don't think Rose thinks he can play enough minutes with enough intensity on both sides of the court to make it worth jamming him into the rotation again. and i don't think he trusts Thibs to keep his minutes low. he's probably a bit afraid of coming back and not playing well for his ego's sake but why would that concern be the dominant one?

do you foresee rose eventually pushing out thibs then? presumably any reason for him to distrust thibs is because he has been told by his circle (his idiot brother & the perpetually scorned and little bitch BJ armstrong) to distrust thibs.

outside of generally staying out of trouble, rose makes some questionable decisions off the court (his brother, BJ, lou malnati's pizza, having jeremy lin take his SATs), and is still a young, quiet introverted stupid kid.

no i don't really think that. my view of the situation is that Thibs is known as a coach that will play you 40 minutes if you suit up for the game even if you're hurt. Rose is afraid that if he had come back two months ago he wouldn't have had the conditioning to play that amount of minutes at a high level. i have heard this criticism of Thibodeau all season long and its cited as a reason players like Noah/Gibson are always hurt.

all of the "he's medically cleared to play" stuff just means that his ACL injury met some minimum threshold for healing. it doesn't mean he can play 35 minutes, that he doesn't have a hamstring strain he picked up in rehab that makes him ineffective, etc. i just don't see what the point of having Derek Rose, as far as I know, still can't hit threes or jump shots at that great a clip, come out and steal 20 minutes a night away from Bellineli and Robinson, two guys who are giving it their all out there.

for sure Derek Rose is not a "high IQ" kind of kid.

i think it's interesting to look at Iman Shumpert's minute logs since the start of 2013 since, of course, he tore his ACL the same day as Derek and has been "back" for months:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/iman_shumpert/game_by_game_stats.html

there's definitely an argument to be made by the Bulls front office and coaching staff, to Derek, that he should be playing. or some kind of agreement that can be worked out. i don't know the details of the relationships that exist in that triangle.

this seems like a reasonable view:

petey wrote:He's been practicing full speed for over 2 months now. He should be out there.

he "should" be out there. that he is not is "disappointing".

Nick wrote:I can't believe what a pussy Derek Rose is.

this is closer to arguing that Derek "must" be out there and is the kind of thinking in the sporting culture that causes RGIII to limp dick around a field and tear his ACL trying to play hero ball.

Rose has supposedly been dominating and is clearly the best player on the court in practice. He should've returned awhile ago to work himself back into game shape. I really doubt Thibs would've started Rose/played him 40+ minutes/game right from the get-go.

Derrick*

If a pro athlete sits down due to injury, I’m inclined to take the player’s word that he can’t play. I don’t care if it is Jim McMahon, Scottie Pippen, Jay Cutler or D Rose.

You don’t get to be NBA MVP by being a pussy. If Rose doesn’t come back until next season, and the Bulls go deep in the post season, all will be forgiven.

I tend to think the same way but you can also understand the skepticism that stems from them being a star player. It makes all the sense in the world for the Bulls organization to suggest (or maybe demand, I don't know) that Derrick sit out the entirety of the season in order to preserve the future success of the organization.

Not only is he a star player capable of making a huge impact on the court, but off the court he is also a huge draw for other athletes who want to join Rose in the future and possibly win championships.

Derek Rose is just my nickname for Derrick Rose