I Would Love To See Derrick Rose Win The 6th Man Of The Year

I found this interview from last night fascinating. Few players in NBA history have had as high of highs and as low of lows as Derrick Rose, and to see him talk with this new found perspective was pretty interesting. We all know he isn’t the same MVP caliber player he was pre-injury, and honestly if you had the magical powers of removing injury issues from a players career, it’s probably a toss up for me between Rose and Grant Hill. We just never saw anything quite like a healthy Derrick Rose, and it’s a shame that was taken away from us. Anyway, I like how he talked about wanting to win the 6th Man Of The Year award this year. That’s what we call having the right amount of self awareness. He didn’t say he wants to get back to his MVP ways because he’s no dummy. He knows he’s 30 and doesn’t quite have it like that anymore.

In terms of NBA history, just Bill Walton and James Harden have ever won an MVP and a 6th Man Of The Year award, and honestly Rose is off to a pretty promising start. He still has an uphill battle, but here’s how he stacks up this season compared to other guys who are usually in the discussion for this award

Lou Williams: 16.7/1.8/3/0 on 44/3% splits in 24 minutes

Eric Gordon: 14.4/3.4/1.6 on 35/23% splits in 33.4 minutes (has been spot starting due to injury)

Derrick Rose: 14.3/4.0/4.9 on 38/25% splits in 28.4 minutes

Knowing both Gordon and Lou Williams will be in the conversation come this summer, I also think we should give some serious consideration to JJ Redick (19.6/3.6.3.3 on 40.40% splits) and guys like Julius Randle (18.8/8.4/2.4 on 55/44% splits). I wouldn’t say Rose is the favorite or anything like that so far, but he’s certainly played his way into the conversation. He looks a MILLION times better than he did last year and honestly is one of the few bright spots the Wolves have had so far in this disaster of a season.

Watching this interview all I kept thinking was about how wild it was that this is where we are with Derrick Rose given how his career started, you’d think we’d be talking about multiple MVPs/All Star appearances etc. Instead, things went in a drastically different direction, and while other guys may have just hung it up out of frustration for not being able to return to their former glory, I credit Rose for adapting to his new reality and coming at it with the right mentality

That still doesn’t mean we can’t relive the glory days and remember what a goddamn force he used to be. That’s what the internet is for