Despite his most productive season in a long time, which saw him at his most effective since sustaining his first substantial injury during the 2011-12 season; Derrick Rose found himself as the only active MVP winner to not make the Sports Illustrated Top 100 NBA rankings.
Rose qualified as a snub more so due to the popularity of his name than the actual product on the court, despite averaging 18 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game. After playing 64 games in the season, Rose shot a career-high 87.4 percent from the free-throw line and committed a career-low 2.3 turnovers per game while playing the most minutes in the last four seasons.
The Chicago native showed flashes of brilliance through spurts, displaying occasional explosiveness driving to the basket, but has now completely shied away from any three-point shooting or the rare post-up game he would use on smaller, less-physical point guards during his heyday.
More unnerving than that, Rose’s inability to defend has proven to be a problem in a league whose point guard quality has gotten progressively and almost explosively better than before, with four finishing in the top 10 in scoring and seven in the top 20.
Eleven total point guards averaged 20 or more points last season.
While Derrick Rose’s numbers look decent in a box score, his impact on winning has been merely minimal, if not nonexistent — a likely reason why he only garnered a minimum contract from the Cleveland Cavaliers instead of the extension he was at one point hopeful with the New York Knicks.
