If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking I should slow my brakes on all this Derrick Rose talk. Some may think it’s an attempt to over hype Derrick Rose, other may find this as hope given how the stars are aligning for the Chicago Bulls.
Honestly, there should be a lot of optimism heading into next season if you’re a Derrick Rose fan. For the past three years Rose never had a summer to work on his craft. The last summer Rose had to work on his game and not have to worry about rehabbing his knee was the summer that led him into his MVP season. Derrick Rose finished the playoffs with 20.3 points per game and 6.5 assists per game. Those averages were well above his regular season averages, which indicates Rose getting back into game shape.
Sure, I could tell you that Westbrook and Rose’s trainer raved about Rose during their summer workouts. If you like to hear Rose’s trainer say “Rose and Westbrook are neck and neck again”, then you don’t need to read this for anymore optimism. However, if you’re still looking for more reasons to believe why Rose will be a Top 5 candidate for the MVP race given a healthy season, there’s a lot more to go through.
Besides Rose having a strong summer, it’s important to understand the politics and dynamics of the NBA when it comes to awards. For example, Coach of the Year can go to Gregg Popovich or Phil Jackson every season in their prime days but it didn’t. Tom Thibodeau sure as hell deserved more than one during his tenure in Chicago. That award is generally given only once if not twice to a coach, rarely does that award repeat itself despite how deserving a coach is.
How does this effect MVP conversation? Well, the MVP topic is more or less on the same page when it comes to politics. First things first, one thing to understand about MVP winners are they’re usually top two in the win column of their conference. This is why Kobe Bryant has only one MVP in his career while Lebron James walked away with four. Russell Westbrook clearly was a statistical monster last season, but top 2 in the conference matters when it comes to MVP debate; just check all the previous winners.
Now that that’s cleared up, you can eliminate names like Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Chris Paul. If you’re thinking Spurs and Warriors will be claiming the top 2 positions in the West, then you can knock off Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook off that list as well.
Assuming this unspoken rule stands of serious candidates needing to be top 2 in their conference, that narrows the list down a lot. For all intensive purposes, we’re going to assume the Chicago Bulls are the number two seed behind the Cleveland Cavaliers. The only way the Bulls can obtain the number two seed is if Derrick Rose is playing at a high level; MVP level dare I may say. This leads us with Lebron James, Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, and LaMarcus Aldridge. For the sake of making this a Top 5 debate, it’s worth throwing Anthony Davis on that list.
So Derrick Rose is on that list assuming the Bulls obtain the number two seed. To further argue that he’ll win the award is a long shot considering Curry walked off with a ring and MVP last season and Lerbon James is consistent contender for that award. It won’t be a shocker if Aldridge gets bumped off that list given the Spurs unselfish style of play. Anthony Davis unfortunately probably won’t have a record that’ll convince the voters that he’s the MVP of the league.
Derrick Rose’s chance of winning might be due to politics, but it’s still worth mentioning that Rose may have another MVP left in him. After all, everybody loves a good comeback story; including the voters.
