Derrick Rose: Chicago Bulls PG May Be the NBA's MVP, but Is He a Top 5 Player?
Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose seems destined to earn his first NBA MVP award, but does that honor mean that Rose has now joined the company of the league's top five players?
There are numerous opinions on who should populate that esteemed list, but the names I have heard mentioned most often are Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard.
The players listed above make sense considering both Wade and Bryant, and James and Durant are clearly the top players at their respective positions, and there are probably no other centers that can even be compared to Howard.
But making an argument to include Rose among those players is a little difficult, especially since there are more than a few observers who don't even consider Rose to be the league's top point guard.
That designation usually falls on the shoulders of New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul or New Jersey Nets point guard Deron Williams, although players such as Steve Nash and Rajon Rondo have also been mentioned above Rose.
But while I have heard Rose described as a better point guard than Nash or Rondo, I have never heard anyone mention the same thing when it comes to Williams and Paul.
Trying to determine if Rose is better than Paul or Williams based on common statistics is equally pointless because the only individual category where Rose holds a distinct edge is scoring, and even that is not really a huge difference.
Rose averages 24.9 points per game compared to 16 for Paul and 20.4 for Williams, but both Williams and Paul average around the same number of rebounds as Rose; their higher assist totals would also suggest that Paul and Williams are better playmakers.
Some people point at the success of the Bulls this season as proof that Rose deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Paul and Williams, and while there is some logic in that line of thought, it discredits the contributions of Rose's teammates.
Rose certainly deserves credit for being the main catalyst for Chicago, but you also have to give credit to their frontline, which is definitely among the top five in the NBA.
The Bulls are also one of the NBA's best rebounding teams, and power forward Carlos Boozer may be just as important to Chicago's interior offense as Rose is to the perimeter.
The Bulls would certainly suffer without the services of Rose, but the same can be said of Boozer, Luol Deng or center Joakim Noah.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau also deserves praise because he instilled the schemes and defensive principles that have pushed the Bulls to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Furthermore, there are few people who even consider Paul or Williams to be top five players, so it would be ridiculous to place Rose in that company if he is not even clearly the league's best point guard.
The truth is, the MVP award is really nothing more than a glorified popularity contest. Although Rose is a worthy candidate, the people casting ballots are comprised of media and fans.
James' past two awards are a little different because most people felt he was clearly the league's top player when he won.
Can the same be said for Rose if he carries off the trophy this year?
