I don’t say that to say Rose has played well, but I don’t quite get your “no heart” or "no motor’ comment. First, I would characterize what I see from Noah as outwardly emotional, which is to say he wears everything about him on his sleeves. For anyone who saw him in college, its nothing new. I imagine he was like that in high school as well.

As for Rose, I didn’t see him in high school, but my friends tell me his demeanor then was the same as it appears now. I did watch a lot of his games at Memphis, and again, his demeanor appears to be the same. And yet, I thought he was the best player I saw his freshman year even though I thought Beasley displayed more skill offensively. I just thought the latter would have a harder time in the NBA b/c of his height (or lack thereof) relative to how he played in college.

As for Derrick’s on-court actions, I’m beginning to think that we’re all seeing completely different things out there, and I’m open to the notion that I’m missing (or not seeing) what perhaps is obvious to you and others.

Believe it or not, I just re-watched a lot of last night’s game (specifically to watch Rose). Generally speaking, when the Bulls are on offense, I don’t necessarily watch Rose when he has the ball in his hands. I actually watch what everyone else is doing (particularly the defense). I can tell you that the Raptors (as bad as they might have been statistically coming in) we’re doing the equivalent of a cornerback jumping routes b/c he knows what plays have been called…seriously.

If you have league pass and can re-watch the game [without throwing up], pay attention to how Bosh and/or the other big not involved in the pick ‘n roll play defense. The fact the Bulls run so many pick n’ rolls for Derrick tells me he’s either still hurt or VDN is just incompetent. Not only is the screener’s man trying to bracket Derrick, the other big (be it the PF or C) is actually planted right in the middle of the lane staring right at Derrick. B/c the man they’re guarding (be it Taj or Noah) is never more than a foot outside the paint, they can stay within an arm’s length of their man and more importantly, stay in the paint longer than the 3 seconds that would otherwise prompt a whistle.

As a quick example, early in the game, Bosh swatted one of Derrick’s layup attempts and Funk said he had come out of nowhere to do it. But if you look at the play again, Bosh was standing right under the basket and was looking at Derrick (not Taj) the whole time. The big difference between last year and this year…..with BG on the court, its not just that he can hit the three.

Last year, with Derrick at the center or either side of the court, BG would typically be working to get open by way of a screen. Because he was a threat to shoot on the perimeter, the big on his side would frequently have to help or at least be in position to help until BG’s man could recover. As a result, if Derrick (on the other side) beat his man or used a pick to do so, the helping big on BG’s side would usually have to run over to try to contest Derricks attempts at the basket. Fortunately for us, Derrick was usually quick enough to beat him to the basket. Nevertheless, bigs weren’t usually planted underneath the basket waiting for him. They were usually coming over to help, but only after Derrick was already at the basket.

This year, Fish and Deng are either so terrible at using picks that they aren’t forcing the same kind of big help that BG warranted or teams have decided to just allow Deng and Fish to catch it on the perimeter and protect the paint against Derrick at all times. What’s more troubling is the fact we’ve been struggling all year and we’re still running the same basic things on offense. When we run a pick n’ roll with Derrick, there’s virtually no movement by the other guys on the court. This allows the defense to ball watch Derrick. B/c we don’t have shooters, the defense can not only ball watch, but sag further away from the perimeter and closer to the paint.

By comparison, if you ever watch Phoenix play, you’ll frequently notice that even as Nash and Stat run a pick n’ roll, there’s some kind of action (screens, hedges, etc.) by two guys on the other side of the court and the final man is usually on the three point line awaiting a catch/shoot. By occupying the defenders not involved in the pick ‘n roll, its harder to help on Nash coming in the lane or Stat slashing to the basket. But that brings up the other point, the man setting the pick for Nash is actually a threat on the court. With the Bulls, running a pick ’n roll creates a defacto 4 on 5 situation b/c the defense doesn’t have to guard the screener. When you consider that the other big is also ball watching Derrick (as I pointed out above), what many on the blog consider Derrick being passive, I see as Derrick deciding not to go 1 on 3.

Maybe VDN thinks that setting a pick for Derrick at least brings one of the bigs away from the basket. However, this is meaningless if everyone else is consistently standing around b/c it allows the opposing team to plant more people in the paint. You’ll notice that Taj always seems to catch the ball open for a jumper (about foul line extended). That’s not a coincidence. His man is not guarding him, he’s guarding Derrick.