Derrick Rose Is Working On His Post-Up Game
If you spent your last New Year’s Eve watching the Nets and Bulls, then you saw Derrick Rose’s only post-up basket of the season. According to ESPN Chicago’s Jon Greenberg, he wants to do more of that.
Rose, the reigning Most Valuable Player, has a lot to lose, on and off the court, from the lockout. His ascent from All-Star to MVP was quicker than anyone anticipated, and now he’s become an international marketing star. He’s also a gym rat. The 6-foot-3 point guard has spent the summer developing a better post-up game.
It’s not the first time this has come up – Rose mentioned that he was developing his post game in an interview with HoopsHype a couple of months ago. This surprised me – there aren’t a ton of point guards who post up these days and I figured Rose would make mention of defense and outside shooting before any other kind of improvement. It’s kind of a scary prospect, though, right? With his strength, size, and touch, Rose should have an advantage over almost any point guard on the block. He showed so much improvement last season that it’s not crazy to imagine him coming back with more weapons. The fact that he wants to learn how to operate on the block at age 23 is encouraging — LeBron James avoided post play for years and, despite being incredibly effective down there, still doesn’t do it enough at 26.
While it would undoubtedly help Chicago if Rose can go down low and draw more fouls, create good shots, and free up shooters, It’s fair to wonder whether this should be his focus – Henry Abbott suggested that in LeBron’s case it’s more important to improve away from the basket.
James has fairly consistently made about a third of his NBA 3-pointers. Somewhere around that percentage is the point where you’re bad enough that defenses want you to shoot 3s.
As you improve from 33 percent, however, every opportunity you get to take an open 3 is likely to improve your whole team’s offensive efficiency. Open 3s for 40 percent 3-point shooters win games, and defenses know that and go to great lengths to prevent shots like that. Making more 3s would give James a way to move defenders away from the rim — which has the potential to vastly improve the entire team’s offense.
Rose made 33.3% of his three pointers last season. Yes, this was a huge jump from previous years and it means he was no longer a self-check behind the arc, but opponents would still much rather he settled for a three instead of getting into the lane. Just ask Luc Richard Mbah a Moute:
Letting him go to the basket is a mistake. He’s going to score no matter who is on him. But if you make him take a jump shot, over a bigger player, you have a higher chance of him missing those shots.
Me personally, I’ll play off of Rose because I know I’m long enough to contest his jump shot so I’ll give him a lot of space. He’s so quick that you can’t be tight on him, he’s going to get past you. You have to give him space and make sure you contest his jump shot.
Part of Abbott’s point about James is that things would be different if the Heat were full of consistent three-point shooters. For Chicago, the same applies – Luol Deng improved last season and Keith Bogans’s percentage looks fine, but neither of them are fantastic floor spacers. Kyle Korver is money, but only plays 20 minutes per game. While it’s generally a bad idea to make it easy for opponents to double James and get the ball out of his hands, it’s an awful idea for the presently-constructed Bulls to have anyone other than Derrick Rose try to create. Putting him in the post could create some easy scoring opportunities, but against good defenses it might also put his teammates in uncomfortable positions.
For the Bulls to improve their offense, the obvious solution is finding Rose some help at the two-guard spot. With few quality wing creators available, however, it may be up to Rose to top his MVP season. I’m positively giddy picturing Derrick Rose with, say, Dwayne Wade’s post game, but perhaps his team would benefit more in the short run if he could duplicate his lights-out December for an entire season. Here’s hoping he’s still working on those threes.
Oster-Tags: D-ROOOOOZE, Derrick Rose, posting up
