On the New York Times’ Off the Dribble blog today, Rob Mahoney eloquently explained why depth is so important in the NBA playoffs. The triple-overtime Game 4 between Oklahoma City and Memphis showed this. The younger, fresher Thunder prevailed that night and blew out the Grizzlies in Game 5 as players like Zach Randolph, who played 56 minutes on Tuesday, looked a step slow.

And it’s not just fatigue. In a league of stars who sometimes cancel each other out, it is how the bench performs that can be the deciding factor, as Mahoney notes.

The Hawks have struggled in part because Marvin Williams, the eighth man in the rotation, hasn’t been able to provide quality minutes. The Bulls, on the other hand, played Omer Asik, Taj Gibson, and Ronnie Brewer together for the entire fourth quarter in Game 5, during which those reserves (along with Derrick Rose and Luol Deng) outscored the Hawks by 11 in a game the Bulls won by 12.

Along these lines, one of the most critical factors in every team’s in-game consistency is how it performs when its floor general heads to the bench. In a sport that’s played up above, high in the blue, the shortest guys are becoming increasingly vital. They dictate tempo — making basketball’s big men look like statues as they scurry around the court — control the pace and judge the flow. So in the playoffs, it’s the back-up point guards who’re responsible for either building on his team’s advantageous play or turning the ship around and surging a comeback.

Neither is an easy task — both are unglamorous — but these guys are the last backups standing. For the most part, they may not be as talented or physically capable of breaking down defenses as their team’s starter, but they have a commendable mindset not everybody is born with. Nobody wants to be a reserve piece (especially Big Baby). The position is allergic to endorsements, creates little national exposure and reeks of uncomfortable inferiority. But right now, at this time of year, whoever’s able to give his team the most quality minutes will end up with newfound respect, elevating themselves from blanketed aid to crucial puzzle piece.

Here is a breakdown of all the back-up point guards left in this year’s postseason.

Jamal Crawford

Jamal Crawford isn’t your prototypical point guard and back-up floor general isn’t his role. But due to Hinrich’s injury, he’s had more responsibility thrown on his lap. I won’t get into too much detail with Crawford because you’re probably well familiar with his resume and basketball makeup, but he’s Atlanta’s second best scorer and, apologies to Barea, the most capable backcourt bench player when it comes to creating his own opportunities. He likes to shoot a whole bunch, and when Teague’s on the bench the team’s solid cohesion melts. Still he is without a doubt the most talented player of the group — but also the least capable at running the point guard position. It just isn’t in his DNA.

JJ Barea

Apart from Dirk Nowitzki’s overall annihilation of Pau Gasol, an argument can be made that JJ Barea’s dominance of Steve Blake, and the Lakers as a team, was the key difference maker in the series. He penetrated at will, made the pick and roll look like a series of unanswerable questions from a quantum theory exam, and in the end, was the unfortunate victim of an Andrew Bynum forearm.

In a recent SI feature, Bynum was depicted as a person who loves solving mechanical problems from the inside out: Fixing computers, watches, and clocks by taking them apart and then rebuilding the parts from scratch. For four games the troublesome irritant that is Barea was unsolvable, so the Lakers center resorted to resolving things like a frustrated five-year-old, breaking the Mavericks energy source and walking away.

Both J.J. Barea and Blake both played this season alongside two guys  who’ll go down as top 20 all-time players, but Barea was the only one who acted like he’s worthy. He makes the smart decision, doesn’t play scared, and when the moment presents itself he beats it to a bloody pulp.

Barea is tiny—listed at a most charitable six feet—yet attempts most of his shots at the rim., like a less athletic, Puerto Rican Allen Iverson. Watching the unbelievable aspects of his game remind me of an outrageous sequence in a daring action movie. When he drives to the hoop holding neither fear nor hesitation, eyes go wide and thumbs immediately rewind their DVR.

Earlier this season in a game against Boston, Kevin Garnett got into a small skirmish with Barea. There was brief shoving before the two were separated, and after the game Celtics captain Paul Pierce said it wasn’t anything to overreact about; both guys were their team’s inspirational spark plugs. Pierce’s decision to compare Garnett (one of the greatest players of all time) with a Northeastern graduate who averages 20 minutes a game was an attestation to how much respect Barea has around the league. Defensively he’s so in-your-face feisty that opposing guards have no choice but to back him down in the post and take advantage of the sizeable advantage. This is usually combated with an egregious flop, forcing the referee to blow a whistle. Just like that, Barea has the ball back in his hands.

Mario Chalmers

A player best known for making a national championship saving three, Chalmers was likely given a single instruction after the Heat signed LeBron James and Chris Bosh: Work on your shot. Playing alongside a decision maker of James’ ability, Chalmers’ role isn’t that of a normal backup point guard. He doesn’t bring the ball up the floor or initiate the team’s offense, instead hovering around the three-point line and finding open space to catch and release.

In the Heat’s Game 3 loss, Chalmers had perhaps his finest statistical performance, going 7-9 from the floor (including 2-4 from deep) for 17 points. In the series clinching Game 6 win over Philadelphia, he attempted a season-high 12 long balls, making six of them and finishing with 20 points (another high for the year).

As a peripheral member of the most talked about team in basketball, Chalmers comes across as a figurative little sibling who yaps behind a chain fence of older, tougher brothers who’ve been around the block. When Chalmer’s shot isn’t falling he’s useless. When it is, Miami’s very difficult to beat.

Eric Maynor

When I was a student at the University of Delaware, the basketball team was an atrocious sight to see. Nobody cared how they did, knew when/where games were played, or could identify a single coach or player if they were standing behind them in a dining hall; the buzz they created hummed softer than a flickering mosquito zapper. Attention to the team was minimal…unless, of course, VCU’s Eric Maynor was in town.

Apart from the games that I covered for both the school and local paper, the only Fighting Blue Hen basketball games I took in were those memorable Maynor performances. He was the Colonial Athletic Association’s Chris Paul, dicing up opponents, throwing smooth yet innovative passes to teammates who weren’t ready to catch them, and launching his head coach into a higher paying job. Maynor was a sight to see in person, and ever since, I’ve respected and admired the way he runs a basketball team.

After being VCU’s go-to offensive option in college, he’s adjusted in the NBA, taking smart shots within the offense’s flow, rarely making the unnecessary highlight worthy pass, and accepting a role that offers just 15 minutes of action a night. In light of Westbrook’s increasing volatility, those minutes could, and probably should, increase since Maynor is the essentially the Cool Hand Luke yin to Russell Westbrook’s hot tempered, mercurial yang.

Greivis Vasquez

Before we get into Greivis, here’s a hypothetical, somewhat timely, relatable question for you: If you’re Memphis GM Chris Wallace, would you trade Vasquez and Marc Gasol to the Lakers for big brother Pau? Because that’s what that one-sided destructive deal from 2007 has become. Just curious.

On the court, Vasquez is an unafraid rookie who offers a change-of-pace scorer’s mentality whose audaciousness borders on stupidity when compared to Mike Conley’s sometime tentative approach to the position. As Kevin McHale repeats each time he calls a Memphis Grizzlies game, this is both good and bad news for Lionel Hollins. On one hand it’s nice to have a young, athletic player show a willingness to score baskets and create off the dribble, but on the other hand it must be excruciating to watch him play the game at such an unrestrained level in such important spots. Bad decision after bad decision will lower a player’s confidence, and while the big guys down low are Memphis’ clear strength and advantage, Vasquez’s contributions are imperative if the Grizzlies want to advance. (As was put on display during the triple overtime loss.)

So far in this postseason, Vasquez’s points, rebounds, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and assists per 36 minutes have been better than Conley’s. As mentioned earlier he’s 6’6”, which allows him to see the floor a little better than your average point guard. It’s up to Vasquez to take the information his eyes are transmitting to his brain and make the right choice. Memphis might depend on it.

C.J. Watson

By taking the league’s MVP out of the game each time he enters, Watson’s backup role is probably the hardest, and most internally confusing of any in the league. His job is to run the offense, make smart passes, keep his man in front of him, ease the tempo, and, more often than not, hold Chicago’s lead.

But sometimes Watson’s mind gets nostalgic, going back to his days as the D-League’s Derrick Rose when he held gross averages of 26, 5, and 5. Watson comes into each game after watching the real Rose writhe through complex defenses with an ease that would draw the envy of every point guard in the world. There’s no doubt Watson has moments where he asks himself, why not him? Why can’t he do it? And so he scampers away from his role, veers out of his lane, and flails in a desperate attempt to prove himself as a relative Derrick Rose equal. Who wouldn’t? And thanks to Carlos Boozer’s expected disappearing act, Chicago’s relying on Rose even more than they did in the regular season. The result is less time for Watson and less opportunity on the national stage.

When Watson was on the court during the regular season, he would look over towards the bench and through the corner of his eye notice Rose at the scorer’s table. His response a majority of the time would be to take a bad shot—a three-pointer with 18 seconds left on the shot clock or a head-down bull rush to the basket without initiating the offense—knowing he was about to get the hook. Watson’s career has been a constant wave of doubt.

His entrance into the league was a 22-day visit in Charlotte followed by a prompt dismissal. He then clung onto the Golden State Warriors for dear life with two 10-day contracts, playing well enough to stay on board. In his last four games Watson’s played 33 minutes of basketball. As far as normal rotation players go, Watson’s the Whitey Bulger of these playoffs; unseen, a man who’s vanished.

Here’s an NBA reference from his latest freestyle (video below).

Fuck being a waiter, I don’t make enough paper
I wanna be sideline with Jack watching Lakers
But I ain’t from LA, so sorry I beg ya pardon
I’d meant with Spike while I’m chilling at the Garden

Nice.

Danny also had a track on his demo that featured one of my favorite NBA-related lyrics of all time (and I have a lot). One of the better ways you could ever describe your potential, I thought.

I’m frightening to your squad, like Miller to the Knicks
I’m young with a future like Jordan in ’86

You can catch some of his other work over on YouTube.

Kobe Bryant likes you. He has told reporters that you are really good. He even sat down and had a conversation with you recently. But his torch? You can’t have it. (via Ball Don’t Lie)

When the Lakers beat the Bulls in Los Angeles last month, Kobe Bryant had a private conversation with Derrick Rose afterward.

Asked if that conversation might have any symbolic passing of the torch undertones to it, Bryant flashed his legendary competitiveness.

“Oh, sure, but I ain’t passing (expletive),” Bryant said.

Asked if Rose has to come take the torch from Bryant, the Lakers’ superstar smiled.

“He can certainly try,” Bryant said.

Sure, Rose may have taken Sprewell’s signature dunk (see here, here and here).

But I doubt he can take the champ’s torch.

The Champ who never lost his torch. (Image: Chris Stanford/pool/ALLSPORT)

Try again, Luol Deng. (video via The Big Lead)

It is a discovery that many have made before.

But few have made it quite like this.

Deron Williams proved to be even more amazing than we thought. The Spurs stole home court from the Mavs. Josh Smith has devoured four souls. Dwyane Wade learned new and more vengeful ways to hate his teammates. Joakim Noah went to war with the city of Cleveland. Gerald Wallace suffered 14 undiagnosed concussions. And J-Rich had the best game of his career.

Still, the best development of this postseason thus far has not happened on the court or even within Joakim’s scrunchy — it has happened in Photoshop.

Doc Funk has been dropping masterfully captioned photos after each game, and every batch is better than the last. LOLz for dayz. So to help spread awareness and revisit some of the awesome, I’m planning to do a little “best of” recap each Friday until the trophy is handed out by posting my fav five (don’t call it that) of the week.

Be sure to check out Doc Funk’s Brain on Funk for many, many more everyday.

And please let me know in the comments if I missed your favorite.

Here goes:

Matt Barnes and some ref from Magic/Bobcats Game 2

Kevin Durant and Phil Jackson from Lakers/Thunder Game 1

LeBron from Cavs/Bulls Game 2

Vinny of the Black from Cavs/Bulls Game 3

KD and Russell Westbrook from Lakers/Thunder Game 3

You mafugging terrorist. How do you live with yourself?

Dwight blocks a ton of shots. But not like Nate Thurmond. (Winslow Townson/Associated Press)

There are some bear analogies.

Are my bear analogies as cool as an actual, real-life, three-legged bear walking upright through the woods on its hind legs? Well, no, of course not. I’m not Mark Twain. But I have included a video of that very situation right here for your enjoyment. (It gets good around the 0:50 mark.)

The bee noises creep me out, too. I had to mute it.

“I’ve dreamt of being famous. But I’ve never dreamt of being that famous.”

(video via, who else, @jose3030)

Celtics/Heat

Series Preview: The Unknown (This Is Not an M. Night Shyamalan Movie)
Game 1: The Celtics Remind the Heat that “Defense Is Our Backbone”

Cavs/Bulls

Game 1: Bulls Prep for Losing Games 2, 3 and 4 by Losing Game 1

Why don’t you cry about it?

(Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Even better, you can now purchase it on an iPhone case. Yup, UNDRCRWN and UNCOMMON have paired up to create a phone case out of this as well as several other beats, hoops and life-inspired designs. The other MJ one is sweet and so is the Iverson joint. (via @jeskeets)

And in a true-to-life design, Patrick Ewing has disappeared.

Just like in every big game.

If you don’t get why this image of MJ is so great, (a) C’mon, Son, and (b) familiarize yourself with the inspiration now. In related news, I love Phife, but gravity doesn’t float, dude. I also bet you’ve had at least one cavity. File under: Not Rapping, Lying About Dental Hygiene

I love Derrick Rose.

Not only do I love Derrick Rose, but if you, by any chance, do not love Derrick Rose, chances are that I don’t like you as a person.

He is young. He has the sort of athleticism that is usually preserved for mutated cyborgs. In his free time, he teaches Slovenian basketball players where babies come from. And – don’t let the NCAA hear this – he would have led his college to the national championship as a freshman if it weren’t for Mario Chalmers. It’s impossible not to relate to that – every single one of us, at some point in our life, has had our dreams ruined by Mario Chalmers.

All this, and more, does nothing to change the fact that Derrick Rose, as presently constructed, is overrated.

Now, before I am stoned to death by angry Bulls fans, allow me to clarify what I mean by overrated. The word overrated is defined by the free online dictionary as “to overestimate the merits of; rate too highly.” And yet, it is usually taken to mean “absolutely terrible.” For example: I think Kobe Bryant, until this season, has been overrated as a clutch performer. What I mean by this is that Kobe, while a great clutch performer, had an overblown reputation as an absolute clutch assassin, before catching up to that reputation this season (and man, it’s been mind-blowing to watch). What most people probably see in that sentence is “I hate Kobe Bryant and want him him to spend the rest of his life in Siberia without a coat.”

Such is the case with Derrick Rose. He is currently a very good basketball player and will hopefully evolve into an extremely good basketball player in the near future. However, the general conception that he has already made the leap to superstardom (as evidenced by his All-Star appearance and by numerous “is Derrick Rose a top 5 point guard/top 20 player” discussions throughout the web) is premature.

So, what makes Derrick Rose overrated?

First of all, he is an inefficient scorer. He’s not nearly up to Monta Ellis levels, but his 20.4 points per game average is much less impressive once you factor in that he needs 17.6 shots per game to reach it. In fact, his true shooting of 52.4% is a staggering 195^th in the league in the league amongst qualifying players (228^th overall), and 35^th (of 67) among point guards. Pretty mediocre for a player whose main skill is scoring the ball.

But Rose’s offensive deficiencies go deeper that a random number that turns out to be middle of the pack. His overall offensive arsenal just isn’t there yet. Most of Rose’s points come off the same move: he uses his elite speed to blow past his defender, before either stepping back for a mid-range jumper or taking a floater/layup at the rim – usually the former. This is a problem with Rose: he has a very good mid-range jumper, making 43% of his long 2s while only being assisted on 34% of them (courtesy of Hoopdata), but it is still the least-efficient shot in basketball. And yet, of Rose’s 17.8 shots per game, 7.2 of them come from between 16 to 23 feet, with an additional 2.4 from 10 to 15 feet. In fact, Rose is 3^rd in the league at shot attempts from that range, despite being only 112^th in the league in percentage from that range. This is an obviously skewed stat – better players take more shots, regardless of the range – but it does tell you that Rose is taking way too many long 2s.

On the flip side, of the three most efficient ways to score the basketball – taking shots at the rim, getting to the free throw line, and making threes – Rose only excels at the first. His three point shot is nearly non-existent, making 22% of his 0.4 attempts per game, and he shoots only 4.1 free throws a game despite the athleticism and skill to get to the line whenever he wants to.

In fact, let’s take this analysis of Derrick Rose’s scoring habits one step further. Up until March 13, Rose has scored over 29 points 8 times this season in 64 games. No way around it – that is an impressive figure, especially considering how Rose was clearly far from full strength until mid-December.

However, a closer look reveals that every one of those games can be placed into at least one of three categories:

Category A – Rose took an excessive amount of field goal attempts (season average: 17.8).

Category B – Rose made an excessive amount of long jumpers (16 to 23 feet. Season average: 3.1 makes).

Category C – Rose took an excessive amount of free throws (season average: 4.1 attempts).

Let’s look at those games, again, with the irreplaceable help of Hoopdata.com:

December 19 vs. Atlanta, 32 points

Category A: 24 shot attempts, made 14
Category B: 7 of 13 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 4 of 6 from the free throw line

Verdict: Categories A and B

January 2 vs. Orlando, 30 points

Category A: 23 shot attempts, made 11
Category B: 7 of 11 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 8 of 10 from the free throw line

Verdict: Categories A, B and C

January 1 vs. Washington, 37 points

Category A: 33 shot attempts, made 16
Category B: 4 of 12 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 5 of 7 from the free throw line

Verdict: Category A

January 22 @ Phoenix, 32 points

Category A: 21 shot attempts, made 15
Category B: 7 of 11 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 1 of 3 from the free throw line

Verdict: Category B

February 3 @ Philadelphia, 30 points

Category A: 22 shot attempts, made 10
Category B: 4 of 11 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 9 of 10 from the free throw line

Verdict: Category C

February 16 vs. New York, 29 points

Category A: 18 shot attempts, made 14
Category B: 7 of 10 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 1 of 1 from the free throw line

Verdict: Category B

February 26 vs. Portland, 33 points

Category A: 25 shot attempts, made 15
Category B: 8 of 11 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 3 of 4 from the free throw line

Verdict: Categories A and B

March 6 vs. Dallas, 34 points

Category A: 22 shot attempts, made 15
Category B: 10 of 13 from 16 to 23 feet
Category C: 4 of 4 from the free throw line

Verdict: Category B

Final Tally for 8 games:

Category A: 4 times
Category B: 6 times
Category C: 2 times

Now, granted, 8 games is a pretty small sample size, but to my humble eyes, the correlation here is too large to ignore: for Rose to score big, he has to either take an excessive amount of shots, get hot on long 2s or get to the free throw line.

Of those three categories, only one is dependable. Taking too many shots is bad and inefficient in a team game. Getting ridiculously hot from 16 to 23 feet every now and then is nice, but can’t be counted on when you’re a 43% shooter from that range. Once again, only one conclusion can possibly be drawn from these figures: Rose needs to get to the line more frequently.

Sadly, of these three categories, getting to the line is the rarest.

This is something Rose simply HAS to improve if he is to ever become an elite scorer. And there is no reason to believe he can’t: again, he can get by his man at will. It’s just a matter of finishing aggressively and drawing the foul instead of pulling back for the long jumper.

Same with developing a three-point shot: if he can make them from 22 feet, he should be able to make them from 24. Once he gets those two things down, he can be unstoppable as a scorer on a nightly basis. He might even develop a post game down the road – he is certianly tall enough for it to be effective. But that will require adding a lot of muscle.

From scoring we move to Rose’s other supposed strength: passing.

Coming out of college, Rose was touted as the point guard of the future, and yet he seems to lack the see-all court vision possessed by the true greats of the position. It’s not like Rose’s 5.7 assists per game are bad – it’s good enough for 15^th in the league. And he’s still only 21 years old. But one expects so much more from him. Also, that figure becomes much less impressive when you factor in how much Rose is on the court, and how much he handles the ball. He is just 82^nd in the league in assist ratio among qualifying players and a startling 56^th among point guards. He is also 45^th in the league (35^th among point guards) in assist to turnover ratio. He ranks better in assists per minute (26^th, 23^rd among point guards), but this still isn’t the stuff of legends.

Again, let’s use some numbers to create a slightly unfair yet still intriguing argument.

The Chicago Bulls’ second best passer is Kirk Hinrich, who weighs in at 4.5 assists per game. Simple math shows that this is 1.2 less than Rose. Now, using Hoopdata.com. let’s look at the way Hinrich and Rose get those assists.

As you can see, from 15 feet in both players get their assists more or less the same way. The difference is caused by the long 2s (+0.5 Rose), and the three-point shots (+0.9 Rose).

Why, then, are Rose’s and Hinrich’s assist numbers identical from inside 15 and different from outside? Well, it’s simple: Hinrich and Rose pass to the exact same players … except that Hinrich passes to Rose, and Rose passes to Hinrich. And, indeed, Hinrich makes 1.4 threes per game, and is assisted on 1.29 of them while Rose makes 0.1 per game and is assisted on 0.02 of them.

The difference: Hinrich is assisted on 1.2 more threes per game than Derrick Rose. Derrick Rose gives 1.2 more assists per game than Kirk Hinrich. If both those numbers look like the same number, it’s because they are.

Now, the previous sentence probably has you thinking one of two things: “Wow, now isn’t that an interesting coincidence, I never thought about that” or “this guy is completely incapable of creating a valid statistical argument.”

And yes, as I said, this is hardly a complete stat. Obviously, saying the difference between Rose’s and Hinrich’s assist numbers are caused solely by Rose having more one more three point shooter to pass to than Hinrich is foolish. Hell, I just dismissed it with the chart above. But personally, what I’m looking for (and also seeing) here isn’t an absolute solution to all unanswered questions – just an unusual occurrence that might show more than it seems.

There are plenty of factors which could affect this stat in Hinrich’s favor, meaning the difference should be bigger than 1.2: Hinrich has Rose to pass to and yet trails in passes to long 2s (as mentioned above, Rose’s favorite zone) and inside 15 feet, where Hinrich only 1.1 makes a game and is assisted on 0.4 of them, and Rose makes 5.5 shots from inside 15 feet and is assisted on 1.6 of them.

Then again, there are many factors that show Rose is not a better passer than Hinrich: Hinrich plays less minutes, plays much more off the ball and plays most of his point guard minutes with the second unit, which is pretty inferior scoring wise. (Flip Murray and Hakim Warrick are nice, but Loul Deng is a beast). Not to mention Hinrich’s far superior assist ratio.

Whichever way you turn it, this is an interesting exercise. Comparing Rose’s assist numbers to Hinrich’s is much easier than comparing him to other point guards on different teams, since, as mentioned above, Hinrich and Rose have pretty much the same supporting cast. And until we have stats that show us not only the zones to which players pass their assists, but the players who receive them, the best we can do with these stats is say that to the naked eye it seems that much, if not most, of Rose’s assist advantage over Hinrich is due to Hinrich being a better option to pass to behind the arc.

All these considered, I find it hard to say that Rose is a much better passer than Hinrich.

Now, this isn’t a knock against Hinrich. He’s been much more successful doing what he does best (playing basketball) than I’ve been at what I do best (umm… eating? Let me get back to you.) Still, if you’re creating a world-class point guard from scratch, chances are you’re not saying “Oh, before I forget, you gotta give me Kirk Hinrich’s passing.”

But let’s move on from Rose’s offense to Rose’s defense, which is far from spectacular, to say the least.

It’s much harder to fully analyze, seeing how defensive stats are harder to come by, but the numbers we have are sub-par at best. 3.6 boards (2.8 defensive), 0.8 steals and 0.3 blocks per game – all fit perfectly into the “well, it’s OK, but that’s it” mold. What’s disturbing about this numbers, though, is how they compare to last season: 3.9 boards (2.7 defensive), 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks. Basically, Rose has done nothing to improve on where he was last season.

This defensive stagnation can be attributed to what seems, to my eyes, to make Rose a bad defender: effort. Rose just doesn’t seem to try enough on defense. Probably the most telling figure here is that Rose has only drawn 5 charges all year. Drawing a charge is 100% effort – even bad defenders can draw charges effectively. Derek Fisher and Steve Nash, for example, are probably among the worst players in the league defensively at this point, and have drawn 46 and 34 charges, respectively. Even younger, less experienced point guards, like Stephen Curry and Aaron Brooks, have much more charges credited to their favor (24 and 18) than Rose.

Ditto with committing fouls.

Rose commits only 1.2 fouls per game: the league average is 2.1 fouls in only 24 minutes. If you’re playing 36 minutes a game and you commit just over 1 foul in that period, you are either fantastic at defending with your body and not your arms, or you’re avoiding contact and not trying hard enough. Rose hardly qualifies for the first category. Obviously, scarcely fouling is a good thing, but it’s a symptom of lacking effort, and that is inexcusable.

Again, this is something Rose has the tools to improve. He has monster athleticism and good size for a point guard, meaning he could be one of those Dwyane-Wade-esque freaks that average a block a game from the guard spot or those Jason-Kidd-esque freaks that average 7 boards.

But he’s nowhere near there yet. It’s not just the highly publicized things, like Rajon Rondo exploding against him for a near triple double average in a 7 game series last postseason. It’s also the small, random, unnoticable 16 and 9 from Randy Foye in February, or the Mike Conley drive that was just too easy. And sure, defense comes with time – Lebron James was a terrible defender early in his career and is now a 1st Team All-Defense kind of guy. It doesn’t mean we should ignore an entire half of the game when evaluating a player. And right now, Rose’s defensive half of the game is atrocious.

All in all, I hate knocking on the guy.

As I said, he’s a joy to watch, and I can’t wait to see how good he is when he matures and has a good team around him. And for all his faults, he’s still a very good basketball player. You don’t average 20, 4 and 6 just by playing 36 minutes a game and being a number one option – you need to have the skills to pull it off. It’s just too soon. Too soon to call him an elite player. Too soon to call him an elite point guard. Too soon to call him elite, period.

He’s great. He’s young. He’s exciting.

But not elite. Not now.

Let’s not make the mistake we’ve made so many times with so many guys. Let him develop. Let him learn what to do and how to do it. How to take those 9/21 shooting, 21 points kind of nights and turn them into 9/21 shooting, 13/14 from the line, 35 points kind of nights. How to find his teammates for 3 quarters and take over in the fourth.

And believe me, when he does all those things – when he’s the best guy on a title contender and smashing everybody in his way – you won’t need me or anyone else to tell you why he’s not overrated anymore. Everyone will know.

There won’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind.

Once the rest of his game catches up to his athleticism, Derrick will be destroying the League.

Head over to The NBA Breakdown to listen.

This one of Barack is obviously the best, but the ones featuring Bill Clinton, The Slap Chop/ShamWow guy, Henry Kissinger, Nelson Mandela, Uma Thurman, Elton John, Reese Witherspoon, Daniel Craig, Christina Ricci and George Clooney are pretty great.

Anyone mind if I just post old Jordan photos all day?

The answer to that question is always “no” for obvious reasons — the main one being that it allows photographic gems like the one below to be unearthed to the masses. Check @SI_Vault in the near term for like 10 others, including this one of Money, Mike Schmidt and Sir Charles in the midst of a golf round and this one of MJ in a tux leaning on what I believe is a mid-80s Chevy Blazer.

UPDATE: This is all because today is MJ’s birthday, which I forgot to mention.

Plan your listening accordingly. Then check out some of his work over at SLAM Online and Hawks.com and be sure to tune into NBA TV every Tuesday night at 6:00 pm to see Lang on the network’s new show The Beat.

Additionally, drop me an email or leave a note in the comments of any other teams or subjects you would like to hear more about. I have some guests and topics in mind for the next month or so, but will try to accommodate any requests as much as possible. We talk about practice for the people, after all.

And as always, be sure to subscribe to Talking About Practice on iTunes, where ratings and reviews are encouraged.

Here’s the proof and, thus, some other stuff you can read.

• Over at Hardwood Paroxysm, I chronicled the best performances of the weekend. Find out who had the best/worst games on Friday night as well as Saturday night.

• The Pacers had two of the worst offensive performances that any team will have this season on Friday and Saturday evenings. Recount the horror against the Jazz on Friday and against the Clippers on Saturday.

• Jarrett Jack ties his shoe in the middle of a game while holding the ball —  and Luol Deng just lets him do it.

• My thoughts on the Sacramento Kings over at Cowbell Kingdom for Zach Harper and my more specific thoughts on Sacto’s future Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans. I really dig these Kings, mostly because of Tyreke and their other rookie Omri Casspi, who is the first NBA player from Isreal, a guy who I will be writing something more in depth about on here at BTPH rather soon and a guy who I categorized in that CK piece as “a Santa sack full of never-ending awesome.”

I guess that’s it, other than a bunch of other Pacers stuff you can’t possibly be interested in. Might be slow around here for a couple more days, but I will have something more on Casspi eventually and something on Donald Sterling, which is already long overdue.

It’s weird that I like Omri Casspi so much cause, normally, I hate Jews.

Step #1. Some Australian graduate student at the University of Melbourne named Anna McCallum discovers a new type of shrimp.

Step #2. She puts the naming rights for the shrimp up on eBay and plans for the proceeds to go to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, a fundraising strategy that has become a fairly common in scientific circles.

Step #3. Former Bulls center and three-time NBA champion Luc Longley, who is apparently into the whole marine conservation thing, wins the rights with his $2,900 bid and named the shrimp Lebbeus clarehanna after his daughter Clare Hanna Longley.

Got it, mate?

Some more about and from Luc:

Longley [is] no stranger to supporting marine conservation in his native country, having helped halt the construction of a resort near the Ningaloo Reef, a vast coral ecosystem off the west coast of Australia. “That gave me a taste for it,” Longley says. Coincidentally, Longley is from the Western Australia city of Freemantle, which is not far from where McCallum found the shrimp.

Longley says that he was as excited to name the new shrimp species as he was to help the AMCS protect the marine environment. “You get to name a species and you get to donate to charity at the same time,” he says. “It’s a fabulous concept.” He named the shrimp Lebbeus clarehanna, as a birthday present to his eldest daughter, Clare Hanna Longley, who turned 15 this August.

Good for Luc. Nice to see that at least one guy from those Bulls teams is outspoken about something a little more socially ambitious than selling sneakers to Republicans.

Still, my favorite part of the story resides in a quote from the woman who found the shrimp.

“It was a total surprise that a basketballer would be interested in this little deep-sea shrimp,” McCallum recalls.

I just like the fact that she uses the term “basketballer.”

Silly non-Americans being all … non-American.

[insert hilarious shrimp on the barbie joke here]

It’s not the best job, but I make it much better. I steal. A lot. I’d say that out of any given ten letters I pick up, I thieve seven or eight. And ya know who writes a ton of letters? NBA players. I was shocked too. But I’m talking, like, a ton. In fact, the only thing they mail more than letters are postcards. Yup. Postcards. They send em to everyone. They send them to each other. They send them to their coaches. People send postcards to them. And sometimes they even send postcards to themselves.

These are the ones I stole last week.

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Detroit Pistons

Indiana Pacers

Milwaukee Bucks

]]> http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/10/27/nba-postcard-preview-09-the-central/feed/ 2 http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/10/26/the-nba-logo-ranking-project2-the-chicago-bulls/ http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/10/26/the-nba-logo-ranking-project2-the-chicago-bulls/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:41:53 +0000 Jared Wade http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/?p=5553 It’s probably impossible to be objective about Chicago’s logo as purely an element of design.

The mythos and success of Michael Jordan combined with the fact that the bull imagery accompanied the creation and rise of what was perhaps the biggest global marketing personality of all time means that when I look at the the Bulls’ logo, I’m not just looking at a logo. I’m looking at six rings. I’m looking at Mars Blackmon. I’m looking at the Double Nickel. I’m looking at ProStars. I’m looking at the Flu Game. I’m looking at Wheaties. I’m looking at 63 in Boston Garden. I’m looking at the Dream Team.

I’m looking at the hangtime. I’m looking at the flying motion.

It might not be quite as iconic as the Jumpman logo in this regard, but looking at the Bulls logo is essentially looking at the coat of arms for basketball perfection — or at least the memory of basketball perfection that my adolescent and teenage mind created, which is what really matters in this case.

For me, even more than a decade removed from the MJ era, trying to see the Bulls’ logo as just a cartoon beast of burden is as difficult as trying to see a swastika as a sacred emblem of Navajo culture; intellectually, I know it’s just a symbol, but my brain attaches an emotional memory to it that clouds rational thought. (Although the connotation and physical reaction to the sight of the symbol is obviously very different.)

Still, the Bull is undeniably hardcore. You definitely don’t want this guy chasing you through Pamplona. And if you’re the matador unlucky enough to run into this dude in the ring, you might just wanna hang up your cape before this happens.

Not to be outdone, ESPN has seemingly also partnered with the Jordan Brand to put together a Jumpman-laden, online feature that presents Mike’s 23 greatest moments in both video and written form. While the inclusion of so many logos might make Sportscenter anchor Josh Elliot’s head explode, I kid about the sponsorship part (I think). Regardless, the thing looks very good thus far.

Unfortunately, they have made it a countdown where you can only see those videos that have been released already, meaning that you can only watch moments number 23, 22, 2 and 20 as of today. But the videos do come along with written commentary from the likes of Coach Bobby Cremins, whose Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets got lit up for 39 by Jordan in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1983 for moment #23, and Joe Dumars, who got lit up by Jordan many, many times and had to watch helplessly from the ground as MJ drilled a 30-foot, game-winning three over him in 1992 for moment #20.

Writes Dumars:

It was only a matter of whether I’d be able to force him into a tough shot. I did. He was so far behind the 3-point line, but that wasn’t enough.

Keep your head up, Joe. You certainly did better than Craig Ehlo.

I’ll be looking forward to seeing/reading the rest, and ESPN advises us to “Check back daily as new videos are released, all leading up to his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.”

Slam magazine, too, is all about Jordan this month with a full issue dedicated to him that’s aptly titled “Slam Presents: Jordan.” I bought this “Hall of Fame Tribute” that’s “100% Mike” the other day and, while it’s nice to have all this stuff bound together in one place, avid Slam readers will soon realize that it is mostly just rehashed coverage from the past. It’s all good though, since we get to read some classic pieces from former editors @RussBengston and Scoop Jackson as well as relive some old Slamadamonths and “walk down memory lane” (wait for it…) in a feature that breaks down all the Air Jordan “sneakers” (…there it is) from I-XX3. (The piece is similar to Nike’s online timeline of Air Jordans, but even though it doesn’t have the cool interactiveness of the corporate spot, it does have some nice factoids and descriptions that you probably won’t hear about as succinctly elsewhere.) All told, this “Special Collector’s Issue” is probably worth your $7.99 — particularly if you haven’t previously read all the pieces that Scoop and Russ did back when Mike was actually playing. (And if you still have $24.99 left over, buy the Ultimate Jordan DVD collection. It’s the best value I’ve ever gotten out of a sports DVD set other than this one about Muhammad Ali.)

While it’s great that all this stuff is out there, fear not, sports fans; Springfield, Bristol and the Slam Dome aren’t the only ones getting in on the predictable commemoration/coronation/nostalgiation of the man widely viewed as the best to ever lace em up. Yours truly is also writing about the one they call Air Jordan aka MJ aka Money aka Hir Airness aka Johnny Kilroy aka Motorboat Jones aka Superman (?) aka Mike … … Okay. Wait? What? Basketball-Reference actually lists “Mike” as an official nickname for the man on its Michael Jordan page? That seems like overkill, particularly when the well-known, French point guard in San Antonio whose full name you probably don’t even know (William Anthony Parker) doesn’t even get a “Tony” mention. (Nor is there a “Fiery Francophile,” a “Parisian Torpedo” or a “Main Butter & Egg Man” mention, it should be noted. Watch this video if that previous sentence understandably makes no sense.)

Sorry. Where was I?

Oh, right. Here’s the MJ piece I wrote for Hardwood Paroxysm.

It’s about how even if someday someone somehow comes along who is better at the sport of basketball than Mike, it will be very hard to convince anyone of that fact given that we all lived through MJ’s perfect career trajectory and are still experiencing the expanding mythos of MJ everyday. For evidence, see all the stuff discussed above. Keep in mind, however, that in no way is any of this at all intended to be disparaging to the G.O.A.T.; the post is just talking about how it will be nearly impossible to ever change the perception of perfection that is so deeply ingrained into our collective fan psychology.

Whoa. Sorry for all those polysyllabic words. I blacked out for a minute. Will not happen again.

UPDATE: In related news, the fine print regarding an upcoming Michael Jordan mini-golf tournament might be the best thing I’ve read in weeks.

You guys hear about this Jordan guy? I believe it’s “Jordan” … or “Your-dan.” It might be a soft “J.” Apparently, he’s going into the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’s supposed to be wild.