Derrick Rose: Watch Him Take the Elevator To the Top Floor (and Keep on Going)
The way Derrick Rose started the season it was implausible that he could actually get better. But since the turn of the year, even though the Bulls had their brief two game struggle, Derrick Rose continues to improve both offensively and defensively.
In tonight's game against the Pistons, he took over in a stretch from the last three minutes of the third quarter and continued through the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. Over that stretch the Bulls outscored the Pistons 17-5 and turned a 5 point deficit into a 6 point lead.
The run was punctuated by one of the more spectacular plays of Rose's career when he in Bulls' announcer Stacey King's words, "took the elevator to the top floor" and slammed home a resounding dunk that brought the house down and the Bulls bench up.
It's been the theme of the season for the Bulls young superstar and emerging MVP candidate. The game also featured Rose hitting nine free throw attempts in nine tries. It marks a decided uptick in his getting to the charity stripe since the start of the new year. In that frame he's averaged ten trips over the six games the Bulls have played.
It's not a coincidence. According to Nick Fridell the ESPN Chicago Bulls beat reporter, he's been watching tape and learning what he can do to get to the line more.
"Instead, Rose sat in front of a television and watched replays of himself. He watched and tried to find ways to improve his chances of finally getting consistent calls. Over the past few days, Rose sat in front of that screen and picked up something he had never realized before.
"I think I'm learning how to get fouled," Rose said after the Chicago Bulls’ 90-79 win over the Boston Celtics, in which he dropped 36 points. "Where instead of me taking off pretty far, I'm finding the extra dribble and going into their body."
It's what makes Chicago fans believe that Rose is the best thing to happen to Chicago since the Jordan days. Already in the MVP conversation, Rose isn't going prima dona, he's trying to figure out how to get better.
What has been a weakness of his is rapidly turning into a strength. Over the last six games he's been scoring 1.67 points per shot attempt, a very efficient scoring rate. That's up from the 1.22 that it was before the new year started. It's even more impressive when you consider that his best game came against the NBA's top ranked defense, the Boston Celitcs.
And if that weren't enough he's also improving his defense. His counterpart's PER has dipped 13.5, down from 18.1 earlier this season. His defensive rating over the last 15 games has been 96.4, the lowest of any point guard in the NBA.
If you were looking for a fall off from Derrick Rose, you're going to be disappointed. It's looking like he meant it when he said at the beginning of the season, "I don't see why I can't be the MVP." Now we're starting to see why he might, and it's not just the highlight real dunks. It's because he's willing and ready to put the work in to keep getting better.
