Now, I do not wish to come across as insensitive to D-Rose and his newest injury. In fact I am terribly sensitive to it. So much so that I have analyzed his latest injury and am offering a reason as to why it occured and how he can avoid future injuries.
Journey with me if you will back to the yester years when the D-Rose mania had its birth. Lebron had just journey'd across the map to establish roots in South Beach and the entire nation took their seats on either side of the isle to watch the Heat succeed or fail. Thanks to Lebron's televised decision, haters () abound. The Heat started out rough but found their footing and fought their way into the finals only to fall to a resolute Dallas Maverick TEAM behind Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd. Alongside the eventual flameout of the Heat was an Eastern Bull rush in Chicago. Tom Thibideau instituted a system on defense that made everyone stand up and take notice. In fact, some began to predict a potential Bulls upset of Miami as the two squared off in the Eastern Conference finals. History would not see it that way as the Heat roasted the Bulls in 5 games, but the buzz on the Bulls had grew to a crescendo. D-Rose was in the arguments for league MVP and the Bulls defense garnered Thibideau a Coach of the Year honor.
For all of you not blessed to be living in Colorado you must know that the beauty of the Mile High air is the 5280 perspective. From my perch I could see clearly what D-Rose was doing and I saw an extremely explosive player beating triple teams to score instead of attracting triple teams to pass. On occasion D-Rose will make a pass within the framework of the offense but rarely does he let go of the ball without a dribble (or 10). Mostly he pulls off the dreaded jump pass when defenses force the ball out of his hands. What I saw was a player who was exciting to watch for his shot making ability but who wasn't scoring at a super high percentage. I saw a player and a team taking advantage of a strong defense & rebounding which allowed them to ride out their MANY cold spells. With Lebron you had a player that many () accused of being afraid to take the big shot at big moments. D-Rose is not only taking the big shot, he's initiating every shot and opponents as well as everybody in the free world is watching and expecting the same thing. To his credit, he is amazingly fun to watch whether he makes it or misses it because it is clear that there is enormous weight he carries to the rim with him.
For most young NBA players, one of the biggest challenges is adjusting to the speed of the game. D-Rose never had this problem. From day one and to this day he is still way too fast for basketball. There are only a couple of players in the world with D-Rose explosiveness (Lawson, Westbrook, Irving...) and even they look wide-eyed at what this cat can do. Yet, with all that you can do, the NBA is a league of big dudes with big egos. In other words, just because you can do an inside outside crossover dribble to freeze one defender, blow past him and get airborne to explode past the help man and keep flying through the air to kiss a reverse layup on the opposite side of the glass (past two more outreaching hands of course) doesn't mean that you should. D-Rose is often landing on one leg while carrying the weight of some spoiled Chicago fan base who thinks 6 championships is hardly enough when my Nuggets have yet to play for one. You can pull such moves off a few times in a season, but they come with inherant risk, especially on 82 games per season legs.
Will D-Rose undergo the mental transformation that will prolong his career? Altering your game in basketball takes intense work to accomplish and is usually the by-product of a serious failure or a serious injury. Keep in mind that the sports world is full of stories like Terrell Davis and Greg Oden. All of our bodies have limitations that we will stare at face to face one day. D-Rose will heal, however if D-Rose has legs that were meant to carry him into a long NBA career, he had better learn the lesson of discretion being the greater part of valor. Better yet, just get all of that damn excess weight off of your knees. MJ was a special breed, yet he, like Lebron got it done alongside Hall of Fame players (yes Bosh is a Famer). The Rose is another flower altogether who is currently planted in a somewhat sparse garden. These Bulls need to fertilize and seed for the future and stop waiting so desperately so da'Rose can stop thinking he has to pull off miracles to carry his team to glory. All of you who keep looking for the second coming of MJ might miss out on the beauty of a Rose.
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