Peppers to the Rescue? Pt. 2
The Rose Connection .
by Peter A. Coclanis
In the first installment of this “thought” piece regarding how and why Julius Peppers could help the Bulls, I cast my argument in a very general way. In this installment, I get down to specifics, two in particular, both of which revolve around the future of the Bulls’ franchise: Derrick Rose.
Point Number 1: Can anyone spell pick and roll? It’s difficult to overstate the de
gree of pleasure Bulls’ fans everywhere would feel just contemplating Rose and Peppers working a two-man game, including, of course, the pick and roll. Stockton-Malone who? Now that’s a stretch—those two guys were pretty good—but still.
Point Number 2: It’s also difficult to imagine a purported “Superman” out of Orlando knocking Rose out of two consecutive games if Peppers was in a Bulls’ uniform and on the court. And it’s extremely doubtful that the same “Superman” would be lecturing Rose—as he has– about the proper way to drive the lane in the NBA if he knew Peppers was covering Rose’s back. With all due respect to Joakim Noah, Brad Miller, etc., Peppers is instant kryptonite. Indeed, in comparison to Peppers, the Orlando “Superman” (and other NBA bigs) seem more like Clark Kent –if not Jimmy Olsen–something the Bulls need to think about if they want to keep Rose healthy long enough to build a championship-caliber team around him in the years ahead.
Peter A. Coclanis is Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he also directs the Global Research institute.
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