Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 3:10 pm  |  137 responses

Top 50: Derrick Rose, no. 23

The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.

by Ryne Nelson / @slaman10

Some people never change. Derrick Rose is one of them.

Yes, Derrick has always cried easily. And yeah, he cried in Chicago at the launch of his third signature shoe this summer.

He’s extremely close to his mom and brothers.

His drive, explosiveness and athleticism are second to none in the League.

Yes, Rose (still) has a sweet tooth. He has since managed to avoid diving on to sharp objects after he ate the most famous apple in Chicago sports history, but according to the directors of Rose’s incredibly successful internet docu #TheReturn, yes, Derrick Rose still just hoops, chills and eats mad candy.

He’s not the loudest voice in the locker room, but he earns respect by being a “giver” on the court—if you put guys around him who can play, he’ll make them better.

Just ask Ben Gordon, who after one season playing alongside Rose, netted a Top-50 spot and $58 million contract from Detroit the following summer.

He made Joakim Noah look like a top-three center and an All-Star. No really, I’m dead ass…

And while he struggled to stay healthy last season, Rose has led a painfully average Chicago squad to the NBA’s best record over the past two seasons. He’s added new elements to his game each season—most notably, becoming a consistent perimeter threat.

DRose has physically overwhelmed opponents at every level, and he wants the ball in a tough game with a minute to go. His quickness and speed are the best in basketball. He’s a dude who achieved nearly every basketball accolade before he turned 23.

Whether he’ll bring the Larry O’Brien back to the Chi is yet to be determined, but his immediate future presents more pressing questions.

Can you rank Derrick ahead of a player like Josh Smith, who’s perfectly healthy entering the ’12-13 season? Considering that Rose’s unlikely to return ’til after All-Star, is a top-25 spot blasphemy?

Yes and no.

Yes, because Derrick is easily deserving of being in the MVP conversation every season, when healthy. And no, because we have no clue how DRose will play when he’s back on the court—an ACL tear is serious business for a player, especially one as incomparably athletic as Derrick.

Everything is up in the air, but one thing’s for sure: He is working harder than ever to come back strong.

He may display an improved jumper. He may arm himself with a stronger core and better understanding of his body. He may just be even more focused.

Every season, you complained about how DRose ranked too high in the Top 50. And every season he outplayed his ranking. You laughed when he said he’d be MVP. And then he won it. After three seasons in the L, Derrick found his way into the top-five.

While I personally ranked Rose much worse this season, here Derrick Rose is at No. 23. It’s oddly fitting, because you can’t help but compare the apathy surrounding the Bulls’ season to when No. 23 left the Bulls in the mid-’90s.

Derrick Rose doesn’t need a top-five ranking. He doesn’t need another accolade. He turned 24 years old last week, and the only thing he hasn’t achieved is an NBA Championship.

If you still don’t believe in Derrick Rose, just listen to someone who’s known him since his high school days.

“In the next 15 years, when they’re talking about the best of the best, they’ll be mentioning him,” John Calipari told me over the phone during his DRose’s rookie season. “In 15 years, he’ll be thought of as one of the greats.”


Where should Derrick Rose rank in the SLAMonline Top 50?

Loading ... Loading ...
SLAMonline Top 50 Players 2012
Rank Player Team Position Pos. Rank
50 Greg Monroe Pistons C 8
49 Tyreke Evans Kings PG 14
48 Brandon Jennings Bucks PG 13
47 Stephen Curry Warriors PG 12
46 Ricky Rubio TWolves PG 11
45 Al Jefferson Jazz PF 14
44 Anthony Davis Hornets PF 13
43 Serge Ibaka Thunder PF 12
42 Al Horford Hawks C 7
41 Ty Lawson Nuggets PG 10
40 Danny Granger Pacers SF 6
39 Tim Duncan Spurs PF 11
38 John Wall Wizards PG 9
37 Monta Ellis Bucks SG 8
36 Zach Randolph Grizzlies PF 10
35 Roy Hibbert Pacers C 6
34 Tyson Chandler Knicks C 5
33 Eric Gordon Hornets SG 7
32 Kevin Garnett Celtics PF 9
31 Manu Ginobili Spurs SG 6
30 Amar’e Stoudemire Knicks PF 8
29 Marc Gasol Grizzlies C 4
28 DeMarcus Cousins Kings C 3
27 Paul Pierce Celtics SF 5
26 Andre Iguodala Nuggets SG 5
25 Rudy Gay Grizzlies SF 4
24 Josh Smith Hawks PF 7
23 Derrick Rose Bulls PG 8

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’12-13 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Maurice Bobb, Rodger Bohn, Brendan Bowers, Franklyn Calle, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Adam Figman, Eldon Khorshidi, Eddie Maisonet III, Ryne Nelson, Ben Osborne, Allen Powell II, Sam Rubenstein, Jonathan Santiago, Abe Schwadron, Leo Sepkowitz, Dave Spahn, Ben Taylor, Tzvi Twersky, Peter Walsh, Tracy Weissenberg, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Dave Zirin.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , ,

Newer Comments →
  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    I AM SO PROUD OF SLAM

  • http://slamonline.com/ Ben Osborne

    I voted him 45…and that’s hoping he comes back in January. Derrick is awesome—but if he’s not on the floor is value is mitigated (obviously). I think early response on Twitter is angry because he’s so low? But these rankings are for THIS SEASON.

  • Anthony Dixon

    when i read the article, i felt like he should be higher. But its cool because now it get’s interesting.

  • Kadavour

    comments section isn’t going to like this…

  • nhm

    i’d like to see him healthy. really healthy.

  • Ryan Saltzman

    I don’t even normally leave comments like this but this is one of the dumbest rankings i’ve ever seen. I mean did you even look at ESPN’s? What PG’s are better then D-Rose? Let alone 23 different players then him!! Youngest MVP ever, Rookie of the year, 2 all star teams and you rank this man 23. Wow, im really disappointed in SLAM. I love all your stuff but I may not come back to the site after this.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    Ryan, you do realize he tore his ACL and might not even play this year right?

  • upnorthboss

    if i see mario chalmers anywhere coming up on this list all my slam mags are going in the trash straight up

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Rankings are for this season. ESPN’s rankings are different. If he doesn’t play until February, March or none at all, how can he be ranked as he normally would be? No need to mention what he’s done. For those of us who have been paying attention, we all know what he’s done. Don’t overreact. For this season, this is a good ranking.

  • JR

    I was totally expecting this type of a comment.

  • north

    I wonder if old D Rose, which is who is #23 here is the D Rose we will see this season. I can’t help but think of the PG’s of the past who had serious knee injuries. 23 could end up way too high for a guy who may never get over the mental hump of ACL surgery. Only time will tell.

  • Caboose

    ANGRY PERSON ARGUING ABOUT HOW LOW HE IS WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE RANKING SYSTEM.

  • danpowers

    what nbk said plus they robbed lebron when rose received the mvp award. that his value was high but not that high showed past season when the bulls still won without him. he is a very good nba player but just the 3rd or 4th best pg there is no arguing about that

  • BRAVO

    After taking in what NBK posted on my comment……” Rankings are based solely on projected ’12-13 performance.” should be put in BIGGER font size…………As far as this rating goes I totally agree with D.Rose’s selection. Yes, he was the youngest MVP but if your not playing in this coming season your ranking will definitely decrease.

  • TR

    Above everything else, this article just made me realize Joakim wont be on the list.

  • danpowers

    thank you slam

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Rose deserved the award. How could LeBron get the award when the Bulls had a better record than the Heat with Rose carrying the offense almost by himself? Do you forget that they were only supposed to finish 4th in the East according to most analysts who made predictions before that season? He averaged 25 and 7. Boozer and Noah missed chunks of the season. In two years, I have yet to hear a good argument that could be made for LeBron winning over Rose other than “he’s the best player in the league”. That’s not what the MVP award is about. As for PG rankings, it’s subjective. You’ll find people who say he’s first. Some say he’s 2nd. 3rd. 4th. So there are discussions that can be had about that. People focus so much on the Bulls record without him last season that they forget to look at their record with him which was better than their record without him. If you want to really know how important he is to that team, look at what happened in the playoffs. They went from being contenders for a championship to being eliminated in the first round by the 8th seed. You can get away with wins without your superstar during the regular season if you have a great coach and play defense really well which the Bulls did, but the playoffs are much different. They found that out.

  • Scott

    Bulls still won without him? They crumbled in the playoffs without him. Yes, they still managed to get the best record in the league, but they were FAR from a dominant force without him. They were completely outmatched by Philly. That would have been a sweep with Rose playing.

  • Da-Meat-Hook

    Ryan, if you’re gonna base your argument on past accomplishments, then Tim Duncan should be #1 on everyone’s list for the 2012 season. Rose is projected to miss half of the season and has even hinted on sitting out the entire year if his knee isn’t where it needs to be. The fact that Slam ranked him this high despite being projected to miss half the year shows just how highly Slam thinks of him.

  • danpowers

    18-9 without him and sure they crumbled without him. sweepwith rose? not even the red hot heat would have swept this philly team.
    but how did they do against miami with him the year before? the whole team played bad when it mattered the most and he made a ton of bad decisions. this is no offense on rose, he is a gifted player and i really like him, he is actually a great player. just being overhyped by media and fans because his baby face sells to the kids n fans out there. dont get me wrong this aint no “hating” on him, i wish him a good recovery and many great seasons to come. i am also not downplaying his performance, as i said, he is the 3rd or 4th best pg in the league and just THAT successful he playes for thibs in this chicago team.

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    even with a ranking system.. I’m still surprised he’s put this low

  • Abe Schwadron

    By FAR the hardest player to rank this year. Downright depressing to have to consider that he may not play much (or at all) this season. Top-3 for me injury notwithstanding. In my 30s for 12-13 production, though. Most people won’t read far enough to understand why he’s ranked here, which is sad.

  • Onions Baby Onions

    I think most importantly we can all conclude that Ryan perfectly exemplified Caboose’s all caps lock comment above, while concomitantly degrading his own credibility and perceived intelligence (sorry Ryan). I’m kind of proud of the comments section in general though, way fewer of these types of comments than I expected.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    He had 23, 9 and 9 in Game 1 and he wasn’t fully healthy. He was rusty. Meaning he probably would have gotten better as the series went along. The Sixers had nothing for him. So yes, they could have swept them. They got beat 4-1 against Miami because the Heat had ample time to prepare for him. The Heat could throw LeBron and Wade on him as much as possible because the Bulls had no 2nd player who could step up and help with the scoring and playmaking. After having to carry so much for so long, Rose got tired. That’s why Miami won. They would have probably lost to the Pacers in the 1st round without Rose that season. He’s not overhyped. He wasn’t really hyped at all until he really began to produce on the floor. Adidas didn’t guarantee him a shoe until he took care of his business on the floor. The media didn’t hype him at all until he began to play like a top 5 player in the NBA during his MVP season while Boozer and Noah were out. They kept winning. He kept bringing them back from 4th quarter deficits almost by himself. Everything outside of the game with commercials (which he still hasn’t done a lot of) has come only after he became a superstar. His fans love him because he’s a genuine dude who just wants to play ball more than anything else. He’s not manufactured by any company. He sells mostly because he is a great player who almost by himself put the Bulls, his hometown team, back towards the top of the NBA. Not because of his baby face.

  • danpowers

    saying rose is just the 3rd or 4th best pg is no insult when you got cp3, dwill and rondo at this position.plus, hate me now, westbrook. you could exchange these guys almost at will by having reasonable arguements for and against each one. i think that the bulls winning record is a product of both, rose’s play, his supporting cast (which is better than bulls fans love to complain about), the stunning team defense and coach thibs.
    rose was the best player on the best team but bron was still better and he proved exactly that when they faced each other. it was not only james’ individual performance (almost any relevant numbers by james were better than rose numbers plus his playmaking and “making teammates better” equals or even surpasses rose’s ability and james is not even a point guard. that was during the season. in the playoffs james then finally outplayed rose and many of rose weaknesses were exposed in that series.
    these weaknesses did not have anything to do with a lack of talent, that was mostly his decision making which will only improve with experience. people hyped him above his impact.

  • danpowers

    he had the likes of deng and boozer on his team. they struggled through the first games and then rose did what a pg and leader is not supposed to do. he often refused to pass em the ball on many occations and his kick out passes on drives were hardly precise. i remember many situations when rose drove and decided to take wild shots against two, sometimes three defenders instead of dishing the ball to boozer or deng even though they were standing almost right next to him totally open. sorry but that is not a number 1 pg to me. not yet.

    dont get me wrong, i love that kid too. am just not a fan of hype that lifts players too high too early.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Neither Deng nor Boozer can create offense for themselves or their teammates. Only one player on that Bulls roster could…Derrick Rose. Boozer was his own problem. His lack of aggressiveness had him looking like he didn’t belong on the floor with Chris Bosh at times. Rose had nothing to do with that. I watched almost every game that season and I never saw him refuse to pass them the ball. You won’t find one person who will say that Rose is selfish. Players who refuse to pass the ball are selfish. That’s not him. You won’t find one player who makes perfect decisions all the time. Every PG you can name who you think is better than Rose makes the same mistakes he does. There’s no difference there. Rondo passes up open shots that he should take. Westbrook gets out of control. CP3 and Deron turn the ball over. We could sit here and pick apart all of them. None of them play perfectly every night. The hype around Rose hasn’t lifted him. His play has lifted him to being a top 10 player when healthy.

  • RedDragon10

    A reason I love this site is because it gives me unbiased information about bball. This article proves my point.

  • danpowers

    i am only talking about the bulls heat series. then he did that many times. even i could make a layup or shot in the positions rose had boozer or deng open in these games, the pass just didnt come in the last two games. i also know that expecially boozer needs dishes. so what? its rose’s job to dish he is a pg and he found a nice ballance between scoring and passing during the season(with few exceptions but nobody is perfect). i just said that bron was still better and the heat were not segnificantly worse than the bulls. as much as i was disgusted by james behaviour and “the decision” by that time it was obvious that he got robbed. even howard wouldve deserved the mvp award more than rose did. once again: saying that the undisputed most dominant players in their positions deserved mvp honors more than rose by that time doesnt mean that rose didnt deserve it at all. just saying that there were at least two guys out there who played better and still had teams with strong records. take james off the heat and see how far a banged up wade takes em now in the long run. take howard off the magic? we will soon see how this plays out for them. take rose off the bulls and they go 19-8 and ended up 1-4 in the playoffs against a sixers team that also gave the celtics a tough ride.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    The MVP is a regular season award. LeBron played better during the playoffs, but Rose had a more valuable season. That’s not really debatable given that the Bulls won 62 games out of nowhere. No one expected it. LeBron and Wade had trouble playing together that season before they finally got it together somewhat. From the beginning of the season to the end, Rose was consistently the most valuable player to his team. The Bulls beat the best teams. Miami had a not-so-great record against the best teams. They got blown out by San Antonio in San Antonio. The Bulls beat the Heat all 3 times that season. So Rose and his team had a better season. Again, all anyone can say is that LeBron was the best player in the league that season. If the MVP was for that, Steve Nash would have none. It’s not about their abilities. It’s about what happened on the floor every night. The weaknesses of the Bulls had everything to do with a lack of talent compared to the Heat. The gap between Rose and Boozer is much greater than the gap between LeBron and Wade. Two superstar playmakers and defenders vs. one 22 year old superstar. He was not hyped above his impact. He was beaten by a better squad.

  • LakeShow

    Co-Sign.

  • http://twitter.com/niQknacks niQ

    IS YOUR CAPS LOCKS BROKEN? MINES TOO!

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    He was not robbed. Rose earned the award. LeBron did nothing to deserve it over him. You have yet to make an argument for him deserving it other than he is a better player. That’s irrelevant when talking about the MVP award. As for Dwight Howard, exactly what kind of argument can be made for him deserving it over Rose? It’s not about dominance. If it was, Shaq’s mantle in his house would be full of MVP awards. How many does he have? That season, for anyone to overlook Rose and give it to LeBron or Howard, that individual would have been crazy to do so given that the Bulls had a much better season than both teams especially the Magic. The best player on the best regular season team that year was Derrick Rose.

  • Scott

    Boozer is rarely even on the court at the end of games because of how unproductive he has been. He may be the worst player on the entire roster when it comes to creating offense. His numbers are from easy layups (because he doesn’t dunk) and wild mid-range jumpers. Neither of which will happen, or should be trusted, with a game on the line. Thibs knew Rose was THE guy in those situations, triple-teamed or not. THAT’S what the problem was two years ago. It wasn’t the fact that Rose hogged the ball, it was the fact he NEEDED to hog the ball for the Bulls to even have a shot.

    Boozer stepped up a bit against Philly, and the Bulls have Rip to bail Rose out. Combine that with a healthy Rose and Noah and the playoff picture is completely changed. But with Rose going down, Noah going down, and Deng playing with a torn ligament in his shooting hand, it was a brutal ending, giving Miami a relatively easy road to the finals.

  • manu

    This guy is #3 when healthy no question…easily the best PG in the league

    5-0 against paul is all that needs to be said

  • danpowers

    shaq had contemporaries like olajuwon, jordan, garnett and duncan. that doesnt compare to today. imo he got robbed when the award was handed to malone but ok, that was just a life-time award which makes it somehow ok one time but two times? bitch please! (not you)
    brons output was simply better in almost any individual category in traditional and advanced stats. most importantly, believe it or not, even his win shares were clearly higher than rose’s win shares.
    the argument for howard once again: take rose off the bulls and they will somehow stick around a playoff berth being a sloid team even though not as good as they are with rose. take howard off the magic, a 50+ win team and you got one of the worst teams in the league.
    and this is a valid point for the mvp award. it is about value which should also be determined by how a team does without its best player. besides being the best player on the best team being the best player overall should also at least play a little role in that award imho. and thats why i think dwight and bron deserved it more.

  • Ron

    Straight trash ! Slam magazine has always been hating on rose. How can he be ranked 9th at point guard too ? Fuck that

  • Caboose

    ARE YOU MOCKING ME? I PLAY BALL AT A HIGH LEVEL AND DROSE IS MY BOY! HE THE YOUNGEST MVP! PUT HIM AT #2 AFTER KOBE, THE BEST SINCE JORDAN!

  • danpowers

    idiot

  • danpowers

    i aggree that he has to carry the most of the offensive load for the bulls to be successfull. but now matter how bad a player is. an open layup is almost the best shot. if you have a passing lane and you drive against two or three guys instead is NEVER the better option. i saw the bulls heat series and boozer played in decisive stretches when exactly this happened multiple times. he was in a slump but as a pg u dont get ur guys out of slumps by not dishing to them. plus rose took a tripple step back jumper against james to fuck it up too. was not a good decision neither even though he is a great player overall. it is out of question if he fully recovers from his acl that he will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game. but he just wasnt the best out there yet. arguably not even at his position.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Stats aren’t the biggest factor either really. Nash had great stats but they weren’t mind-blowing stats the 2 seasons he won. Players had better statistical seasons. But what he did impacted his team to the point where they were 1st in the West both seasons. Your argument for Howard doesn’t work. Take LeBron off the current Heat team and Wade goes back to playing his full game as well as Bosh and that team is still a top 5 team in the East. So that means LeBron didn’t deserve the award this past season? This isn’t about yours or my opinions. It’s about the trend when it comes to who wins the award. The trend is the best player on the team with the best record in either conference, the player who has the most impact in the success of the best team. Kobe was the best individual player for a good 4 seasons and only got 1 award. Tim Duncan only has 2. There’s an obvious trend there.

  • danpowers

    more valuable regular season? please check on that and then get back to me: http://www.basketball-reference.com/

    and i aggree. handing out nash TWO mvps just lowered the value of this honor.

    i get your point tho. it is just that the bulls were not that much better than the heat as i would see it to justify having rose over james.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    He was the best option on his team, it’s not about being the best out there or the best at his position. Those step back jumpers that he took were the shots that Thibs wanted. They were the best options for them given that Boozer either wasn’t on the floor or simply acted like he didn’t want the ball late in games.

  • Caboose

    I take it neuronal firings aren’t your strong suit.

  • Caboose

    Is he going to be healthy next year?

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    I don’t need a reference site to tell me anything. I watched the games. Nash getting that award twice doesn’t lower the honor at all. It makes it greater because giving the award to the best player every year would be a boring and pointless deal. It makes much more sense to give it to the player who has the most impact on one of the two or three best teams in the league. The Bulls beat the Heat every time they played. They had a much better record against the better teams. Rose deserved the award, period.

  • Caboose

    Good points, though I can’t put Rose as #3. Assuming it’s 1. Bron 2. KD, I can’t put Rose (Very TO prone and middling defender) over Dwight or Paul.

  • danpowers

    saying how far wade wouldve taken the heat without james cant be answered. i actually doubt that they wouldve been THAT great because wade played through nagging injuries and i dont know how this grind wouldve impacted his health and so his game. thats why i mentioned james win shares.

    i cosign the rest of your statement. but would you aggree that nash actually deserved 2 mvps? i started to doubt reason and substance behind this award since that.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    The season before LeBron arrived, the Heat won 47 games with a new head coach in Spoelstra. Wade played with a mercurial, underachieving Michael Beasley, old Jermaine O’Neal, Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers. They won 1 game in the 1st round against the Celtics before getting eliminated. So you mean to tell me that Wade, playing with Chris Bosh who would have been the number 2 option instead of 3 if LeBron wasn’t there, wouldn’t have won at least 3 more games getting them to 50? That makes no sense.

  • Redd

    This is bull, no pun intended. Actually I expected 20-15 but it’s fair he’s not healthy.

Newer Comments →
Advertisement