One of the more heated debates at Room of Zen was before the 2008 draft about whether the Bulls should take Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley. I think it is fair to say that round one of this ongoing debate goes to us in the Rose camp, and decisively so. I will pick on Larocque here because he was the most outspoken proponent of Beasley, but after watching them both play in the NBA, I simply cannot foresee Beasley ever being considered a better player than Rose. I won't go into the stats analysis because they are both rookies, but anybody who watched Rose play saw a future superstar who can drive by anybody in the league and will be lethal when he develops a consistent jump shot. After seeing Beasley play, I will be surprised if he lives up to the potential of Elton Brand, who was the player I compared him to at the time. At least Brand tries on defense sometimes. I saw Beasley play a handful of times and he seemed to simply not care at the defensive end of the court. He is a great scorer, but plays the kind of defense that will kill his team. I don't want to go into detail on this and the argument is far from over, but round one goes to team Rose. Here is a link that highlights how Rose was clearly the best rookie this year:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=ROY-0809
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3 comments:
I concede defeat on this one for the time being.
However, I still believe Beasley will be great. He will need to improve defensively, but I think that will come. And, the guy is unstoppable on offense. He scores from everywhere and anywhere regardless of the defender's position. And, he was basically coming in and playing the same role as Udonis Haslem (with more of a green light to shoot). If Miami had made more of an effort to make him a primary scorer, he would be very dynamic.
Beasley could average 30 points per game right now.
But, he didn't. And, as you said Casten, he gives up quite a few on the other end. And, I always wonder how much that offensive production is worth in that case. I feel like Al Jefferson has the same problems. Scores 25 a night, but can't defend anybody.
Rose has certainly been the better all-around player. But, great things are coming from Beasley. I wonder how much better Rose can get.
Let me reign it in for a second. averaging 30 per night is an exaggerated way of me saying that he could be one of the league's elite scorers.
I concede his scoring ability, but interior D is much more imprtant than perimeter D. Because of this, a team can more easily afford to have their defensive weakness on the perimeter as opposed to on their last line of defense.
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