Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah: 10 Reasons They're The Next Big 3
There is little argument against this. The Chicago Bulls are the best they've been since Michael Jordan retired. It's not hard to figure out why either. Emerging in the Windy City is one of the best trios in the game right now, and perhaps in recent history.
Now you might be thinking it's too much to say that Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah are on the "big three" level of some of those in history, or with the nefarious new group in Miami. I'd agree they are still a bit shy of that, but not nearly by as far as you might think. The Bulls Big Three (BB3) are right on the cusp of being as big. That's why this is an article about the next big three. Here are ten reasons why they are on their way to history.
10: They Are a Lot Closer Than You Might Think
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Let's begin with a snapshot of the numbers. I concur that stats don't mean everything, but they don''t mean nothing either. I wanted to look at some of the other well known big threes to see how they compared. You might be surprised at the results.
There were five other "Big Threes" over the last dozen years that I measured against them. The table shows the combined production of each group of players.
| Team | Trio | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Total |
| '11 Heat | James, Wade, Bosh | 67.6 | 21.5 | 12.9 | 102 |
| '11 Bulls | Rose, Boozer, Noah | 58.8 | 26.4 | 12.9 | 98.1 |
| '10 Lakers | Bryant, Gasol, Bynum | 60.3 | 25.0 | 9.4 | 94.7 |
| '98 Bulls | Jordan, Pippen, Rodman | 55.3 | 27.9 | 10.2 | 93.4 |
| '07 Spurs | Duncan, Ginobili, Parker | 55.1 | 18.2 | 12.4 | 85.7 |
| '08 Celtics | Pierce, Garnett, Allen | 55.8 | 18.0 | 11.0 | 84.8 |
In terms of how they rank in each of the three categories listed, the BB3 are third in scoring, second in rebounding and first in assists. Does this prove that they are already there? No. It does show that at a minimum they are on the way to it though.
9: They Are Young
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Not only is the BB3 already comparable statistically with the other groups, they are younger. That means they have time to continue to get better. Look at the ages of the Bulls big three compared to the others.
- '11 Bulls: 25.3
- '11 Heat: 27.0
- '10 Lakers: 27.3
- '07 Spurs: 27.7
- '08 Celtics: 31.0
- '98 Bulls: 32
It is the case that some of the teams won earlier in their careers, but I selected the years based on each trios best statistical performance in a year that they won the title. In other words, the Bulls trio is already producing at a level that the others produced when they were at their best.
8: Coach Tom Thibodeau
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Of the trios who have won the championship they've had one thing in common, great head coaches. Whether it was Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, or Doc Rivers, the prior great trios have had a coach with a tremendous grasp of the game that utilizes the talents of the three and helped them to mesh together. So far in his rookie season as a head coach Thibs has established himself as a Coach of the Year contender, ranking second only to Pops on ESPN's Award Watch. Great coaching is going to help the BB3, particularly the younger two, develop.
7: Harmony
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When the Celtics big three were put together they went on a vacation to Europe together. They agreed to not give out individual interviews. They really came together as a big three. The big three being together placed a kind of harmony on the whole team.
The same can be said of the other big three combos. They like each other. They don't vie against one another but fight for one another on the court. When you have players competing against one another for star power it wrecks a team, no matter the quality of the players. Just think back to Shaq and Kobe's feuding and what it did to the Lakers.
The Bulls trio seem to genuinely like and respect one another. Carlos Boozer may be turning into one of the biggest Derrick Rose "homers" in Chicago. It's hard to see an interview with Carlos without him using the words "Derrick" and "MVP" repeatedly.
6: The Collective Bargaining Agreement
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I know this might not sound like much of a reason, but it's actually pretty important. There is a lot of feeling that there will be a hard salary cap after the next CBA. The Bulls are financially better set than any of the elite teams in the NBA. While teams like the Lakers and Magic are way over the cap, the Bulls are almost two million under it.
This means that while teams are trying to cut players to get under the cap, the Bulls will have the opportunity to be bidding on their services in a buyers market. While they won't be needing huge stars, they will be able to secure scoring two-guard to spread the floor better and give the BB3 better role players.
5: Synergy
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The BB3 doesn't just like one another, their games compliment one another. It's easy to think that Boozer and Noah might be running into one another. However in their last five games together there is very little difference between those numbers and when they have played apart from each other.
Their Points+Rebounds+Assists are only up 2.6 when they are apart. That's about 96 percent of the production as when they are apart. Keep in mind that those numbers playing together are when Boozer was coming back form injury and Noah was playing with an injury that was so severe the Bulls trainer said he'd never seen anyone play through that before.
It's not unlikely that as they play together they will get better. They are both excellent passers in the paint and as they adjust to one another's games, they will see their numbers actually improve. Noah and Boozer, while they both get their points in the paint, they do it from different spots and in different ways. Both are excellent rebounders and should be able to dominate the boards when they are able to play together.
With Rose' ability to drive to the rim, pop the three, or kick it out to Korver or Deng, it will be lethal to double team and it will be lethal not to. Noah's absence on defense is commonly noted, but his absence on offense is often overlooked. Surprisingly Noah leads the Bulls in Offensive Rating. His speed and energy on offense is an enormous factor in their fast break game.
In short, on both ends of the court the Bulls are a better team with all three on the court, they just haven't had much of an opportunity to be there together.
4: Championship Pedigree
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It's not stats that are going to put this group on the map with the others. It's rings. While the Heat don't have one yet, they are in the same boat. If the Heat and the BB3 want to be numbered with the rest, they are going to have to hoist the trophy.
Carlos Boozer won a National Championship with Duke in '01. Joakim Noah won back to back National Championships with the Florida Gator in '06 and '07. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament in '06 and Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in '07. Derrick Rose led Memphis to the finals and put in a huge performance although the team lost in the finals.He was named to the all Final Four team. This is a trio with real championship pedigree.
All three players have a history of significantly boosting their performances in the postseason. Rose has seen both his assists and scoring go up in the playoffs. Noah has improved across the board in every postsesason he's played in. Boozer's playoff career averages are well over his regular season averages.
This is a group that plays better when the games mean more. Heart, courage, fortitude, pulling extra fight out of your socks. These aren't "coachable" traits. You either have them or you don't, and these guys have them in spades.
3: Defense
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While a lot of this has focused on the numbers, the thing that might be as important if not more important than those to winning it all is defense. Currently the Bulls are first in the NBA in Defensive Rating, with an average of 99.9 points surrendered per 100 possessions. This is in spite of the fact that they have been playing without their best defensive player for the last few weeks in Noah.
When they are all playing together the Bulls will be even better. Derrick Rose has improved his defense immensely and the aforementioned Tom Thibodeau is a big part of the reason for that. Both his oPER and his DRtg are among the best of all starting point guards in the NBA. Even Boozer is having a career low in his DRtg. Defense wins championships and the Bulls have a championship caliber defense.
2: Work Ethic
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Kobe Bryant caused a stir when he all but "passed the torch" to Derrick Rose earlier this season. A part of the reason Kobe is impressed with Derrick is that Rose has one thing that is remarkably Kobeesque about him, and that's the manner in which he keeps working on his game.
He was a defensive liability. Now he's becoming an elite defender in the NBA and was named the starter for the US team over Rajon Rondo—an elite defender himself— because of it. He had trouble getting to the line so he watched video and figured out how he could get to the line more. Since he figured it out he's been averaging ten free throws a game, and shooting 90 percent from the stripe. He didn't have a three point shot, so this year he's increased his three-point percentage by half, and has already almost doubled his career total in just the first half of this season.
Joakim Noah is built the same way. He spent the off season getting stronger and working on his shot. The evidence of both were apparent before he went down with injury. Carlos Boozer has had a reputation for a work ethic throughout his career. The rapidity with which he got himself into full playing shape is indicative of that.
These three guys aren't afraid to work hard and work to improve. That's why at least Noah and Rose will continue to get better and Boozer won't see much of a decline for a few more years.
1: MVP
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The number "1" might not just Derrick's number at the end of the season, it might be his ranking in the MVP ballots. All of the previous trios and the Heat have an MVP among them. Boozer and Joakim are excellent players, but to be among the greats you need an MVP and Rose is that man. He's even been getting the "MVP" chant at the stripe on the road lately.
Through his humble leadership, his constant improvement, and his clutch play, Derrick is very much worthy of all the MVP talk he's been getting, and a more than worthy front ma of the next great big three, the BB3.
