Blooming Rose

Well, as the playoffs march along, we see the dominance of the Cavs and Magic as they appear destined for an Eastern Conference Finals rematch. This time, the Magic won't have Turkoglu and the Cavs will have Shaq and Jamison. Me thinks the Cavs are Finals bound. But who will they face?? It doesn't look like the #2 seed Mavericks will be there as they now trail the Spurs 3-1. What about the Lakers?? They are knotted 2-2 with the upstart Thunder. I still think they are the favorites to get there and you know the NBA wants to see a Lakers vs. Cavaliers finals...

Anyways, the point of my rant tonight is to discuss Derrick Rose. He is having an amazing series against the Cavs and is currently averaging 27ppg and 8apg. So, my question is, should the Golden squad protect him for next season for $29 bucks?

The Argument for Keeping Him --- He'll be entering his 3rd year and the Bulls should have a new look next season. I would imagine their #1 priority will be to get a shooting guard who can stretch the floor and shoot 3's (look at how poorly the Bulls shot from downtown this season). Wouldn't Joe Johnson look nice in a Bulls jersey? I also think that they will have a new coach patrolling the sidelines. Vinny doesn't have "it" - plus, he got into a shoving match with his GM??? Come on, the guy is out as soon as the Bulls lose this series 4-1. So, in his 2nd season in the NBA, Mr. Rose averaged 21ppg, 6ast, and 4reb per game while shooting 48.9 from the field. OK, he doesn't shoot 3's very well, but then again, he doesn't take a tonne of them anyways. He should only get better in his 3rd season as his assists would likely go up if he was driving and kickin' to a 3PT marksman like Joe. What is Rose was a 19 and 8 guy??? Isn't that worth $29 dollars in the draft?

The Argument against keeping him --- well, for starters, he doesn't get many steals (57 in 78 games). Also, as previously stated in the "FOR" argument, what if Joe Johnson comes into town? Couldn't that mean that Rose's scoring drops to the 17-18 range? Is that enough? Plus, he doesn't help in the 3PT% category like a Billups. Also, the trend in last year's JBL draft was the players went for more than expected or they went for cheaper than expected. Wouldn't it be prudent to take the wait and see approach on Rose to see if he could be had for less? Or has he actually become a big enough name in his 2nd season to warrant protection?

Where would Rose fit in this upcoming JBL draft class? Based on the 2nd half of the seasons' stats and looking at the TENDEX rankings of the top PG's - Rose came in at #6. Who were the top 5?? Deron, Curry, Kidd, Rondo, and Nash. Now, we all know Curry will be protected by Bangkok for $15 and it's likely Nash will be back in Arctic for $39. Deron went for $56 and Kidd went for $30. I get it that Deron is in a different league but it appears that $30 for a top flight PG appears to be about right. Guys like Rondo and Kidd bring some different attributes to the game than guys like Rose and Billups. Rondo and Kidd get the big steal numbers while Rose has become a scorer. Did you know that Rose was 14th in the NBA in scoring this season? (I didn't until I looked it up).

Another potential comparison for Rose could be Brandon Roy ($49 dollar player this past season). Now, don't go laughing your ass off when I compare the two players until you hear me out. In my opinion, Roy is superior, but when you look at the numbers, they are much closer than you think.

PPG - Roy 21.5, Rose 20.8
REB - Roy 4.4, Rose 3.8
STL - Roy 0.94, Rose 0.73
BLK - Roy 0.25, Rose 0.35
FG% - Roy 47.3, Rose 48.9
3PT% - Roy 33.0% (221 attempts), Rose 26.7% (60 attempts)
ATO - Roy 2.372, Rose 2.161

So, depending on how you look at numbers, maybe you're thinking that Roy is clearly superior. And yes, in most categories, he is, marginally, but my point is that if Roy is a $50 dollar player wouldn't you rather get Rose for $30 bucks?? Think of what you could do with that extra $20 bucks...

So...what do you think? Does Golden keep Rose for $29? We have all summer to find out...