The Chicago Bulls Are NOT Better Without Derrick Rose

Well, in many regards, this reminds me of the oft-referred and despised axiom: It’s better to have loved, than to have never loved at all.

True, you could be a Houston Rockets or Sacramento Kings fan—teams that are in perpetual flux with a trajectory of sideways for more than a decade. With the Bulls, the arrow had been pointing up since that miraculous bounce of the ping pong balls to give them Derrick Rose.

Fans—fixed or not—have never been apologetic about that fortunate break for a team that was good enough for the occasional playoff run, but never serious enough for a chance at the title. Derrick Rose has changed all that; Tom Thibodeau has helped.

Three days since Rose went down for the season, and we’re still smarting. A small, but vocal portion of the devoted fan base actually believed the Bulls were still championship contenders, still good enough to overcome the impossible odds of beating the Miami Heat with three stars and the Bulls now without a single go-to offensive option.

Which is all the more puzzling when you consider that many of these devoted fans believe the Bulls are just as—by some accord—good without Derrick Rose. Don’t they watch the games we watch? Even Skip Bayless, who like Jay Marriotti is clearly a troubled man with troubling thoughts that have nothing to do with reality, was on the Bulls are still contenders bandwagon.  But he essentially schemes for the most implausible scenario and stake his claim. He’s an ass who shouldn’t have a job.

Scottie Pippen was playing cheerleader this week, but that’s sort of his job as an ambassador for the team so I can appreciate his zeal, I suppose.

Sure, a lot of us HOPED that the Bulls would make a run and somehow test Miami a bit for a fun series, but should we THINK that’s a real outside possibility? I can fish off the shore of a farm pound and pull out crank bait with hooks the size of a coat hanger, begin casting among blue gill and hope for a 30 pound Muskie, while the guy next to me has a worm and a bobber.

Tuesday night’s loss was a blueprint on how to beat the Bulls sans Rose: Play everyone man-up and let the shots fall as they may. This gave the undersized 76ers the chance to out-rebound the Bulls—a rarity in this league.

In several stretches I saw Luol Deng circle around and fight for the ball, only to dribble and wait for the clock to go down to 3 seconds. He then took an off balance jumper…nothing.

One of my theories about losing Rose is that the Bulls will eventually lose this 76ers series (though I still doubt it) because they have had to fight all year in anticipation of his return. This time around, they might have to be hopeful for next March or April.

Everything goes through Derrick. You can even see that on the defensive side of the ball as opponents continue to chew them up from the perimeter as C.J. Watson—bless the lad’s heart—doesn’t have the foot speed or length that Derrick does. Derrick is lazily labeled as a poor defender these days, but that’s a reflection of his stereotype coming into the league. He’s a much smart defender than given credit for and is among the better defensive players at his position in the league.

While the 76ers hit every shot they took in the first half, they continue to get easy looks and more dunks that 

I can remember the Bulls giving up all season. For some reason Elton Brand, who is basically identical to 

Carlos Boozer with better length and defensive effort, is killing the Bulls with fadeaway jumpers and the Bulls are not making them pay in transition.

Doug Collins made some smart adjustments, nullifying an aggressive Kyle Korver and Rip Hamilton by having the bigs chase over screens and cut down passing lanes.

Boozer, meanwhile, showed us again why he can’ produce in important stretches. He’s essentially a jump shooter and decent defensive rebounder. That’s what he’ll give you. When Rose was in the lineup on Saturday, Boozer was the fourth option in the offense—an ideal fit at this point in his career.

Of course some of the media—thirsty for a new storyline—were trying to say this was his time to step IT up. No, no, it’s not. He’s an average player getting star money, playing on a somewhat star reputation. He’s going to give you face-up jumpers, a few layups, a few missed layups, one dunk, 70 percent free throw shooting and I-THOUGHT-YOU-HAD-HIM! defense.

I suspect the 76ers won’t shoot 65 percent again for another quarter for the rest of the playoffs, but the Bulls aren’t playing good defense. Reggie Miller did a nice job of pointing out how the 76ers were running out on transition with only two Bulls getting back.

In the replay, they showed Luol Deng sort of trotting back in the rear. It was an unusual site for a player who has been the league’s workhorse. We can only make so much of a single shot, but it’s clear Deng hasn’t been comfortable for months since injuring his wrist. And given his limitations, it’s not surprising he’s been of little help offensively.

Hell, take it as flattery. The Bulls are well engineered around one of the three best players in the league. When Carmelo Anthony goes down for his annual injury, the beat writers are always suggesting his team is better off.

But without Derrick Rose? DERRICK EFFIN ROSE?

Come on, man.

Contact Mike Mitchell at michaelkennethmitchell@gmail.com.