Derrick Rose: Why It Doesn't Matter if the Chicago Bulls Star Wins MVP
With the end of the season nearing, everyone's attention is closing on two things: playoff seeding and the awards races. Luckily for Bulls fans, Chicago is entrenched in both of these races. But for Derrick Rose, only one of those things matter.
Joakim Noah was quoted as saying: "When you have your star player at that level, it makes you want to go to bed early, eat right, do all the right things..."
This is where Rose has really earned his consideration for MVP. He is, for lack of better words, an inspiration to all of those around him.
Rose is a legitimate superstar. He is one of the most physically gifted people on earth. However, despite his excellence and God-given abilities, Rose puts in more work than almost anyone in the league.
A good example of this is his free-throw shooting. Against the Clippers on Dec. 18, Rose missed a potential game-tying free throw with under a second left on the clock. After the game, he vowed never to fail in that situation again.
He was put to the test against Indiana on March 18. With one second left on the clock, Rose was fouled and put on the line for three free throws to send the game to overtime, and he calmly nailed all three. Unfortunately, the Bulls lost that game, but by no fault of Rose.
Rose also makes a point to improve in the parts of the game that he's weakest. Again, let's look at his free-throw percentages. In his first two years in the league, Rose shot 78 percent and 76 percent from the free-throw line. Since that Clippers loss, Rose is shooting just under 90 percent from the free-throw line, and 86 percent on the season.
Let's compare that to the work ethic of the best player in the league: LeBron came into the league as a mediocre free-throw shooter at 75 percent. However, rather than improve by almost 10 percent like Rose has, he's actually stayed the same—and even gotten worse in some seasons.
As of right now, LeBron's career free-throw percentage is 74 percent. You have seen Rose make these kinds of improvements in his mid-range game, three-point shooting, passing and drawing fouls.
Despite struggling at the end of games during his first two years in the league, Rose has now become one of the best closers in the NBA, if not the best.
The best example of this is the game on March 26 against Milwaukee. The Bulls were down 87-83 with about three minutes left in the fourth. Then, the Derrick Rose show began.
Rose scored or assisted on 12-straight points, ending up with eight points and two assists in six possessions. On the other side, he helped to hold the Bucks scoreless in that span. The Bulls won 95-87 after Rose's 12-0 run.
Rose is also incredibly humble.
Brian Scalabrine was quoted as saying: "I'm way cockier than he is, and I never play."
You can sense that for Rose, it really is all about winning. He's willing to sacrifice stats, highlights and his body if the Bulls can be successful.
There are very few players in the league who are solely committed to winning, but Rose is one of them.
"Why can't I be MVP?" is what Rose asked at the beginning of the season. Some people seem to not want to give Rose the MVP this year, claiming he's too young, too short, doesn't shoot a good enough percentage—whatever the popular excuse is now.
Even though I personally think he should be a runaway winner, who cares whether he does or not. Even though it would be a huge honor, we know Rose will not be happy until he gets a Finals MVP.
So don't dismay if Rose gets robbed this year; his time will come. That we can be sure of.
