Derrick Rose will never win a ring according to Ron Harper, the Cleveland Cavaliers eighth overall pick in 1986. Not so fast “Hollywood”.
Will Derrick Rose, 2011 NBA MVP and starting point guard for the New York Knicks, ever win a ring? According to Ron Harper, a five-time NBA champion who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 8th pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, no.
When asked what team Rose would have to go to in order to win an NBA championship, “Hollywood” Harper responded with “he’s not getting one”.
Really?
I mean with the New York Knicks, it’s unlikely to happen. That’s in part due to the Knicks’ own mediocrity as an organization and in part due to LeBron James’ stranglehold on the Eastern Conference.
With that said, Rose, who sees himself as a starter and won’t relegate himself to a backup anytime soon, would have to be on a Western Conference team to win a NBA championship.
Of the teams in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings could all be looking for a starting point guard next season. Only the Jazz are considered an upper echelon team out of that group although the Nuggets are currently playoff contenders and the Pelicans currently have two of the best big men in the league on their team.
However, looking ahead to the summer of 2018, the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs could also be looking for players to assume the starting point guard role for their team. Both teams are considered to be elite ball clubs.
Now, out of the Jazz, Clippers and Spurs, there’s a fair chance for Rose to win a title. The Jazz are an elite defensive squad that lacks scoring and the Clippers are a balanced and talented two-way team that hasn’t been able to get over the hump.
The Spurs though, who have Kawhi Leonard, Gregg Popovich and are used to point guards who don’t thrive behind the line but are still solid finishers and floor generals, could be the perfect home for Rose if he wants to win a championship down the line.
For all the grief Rose has gotten since his MVP, for being unable to stay healthy and then failing to look like the player he was in his athletic prime, he’s still a high-level scorer capable of knocking down shots from the midrange, in the lane and around-the-rim with tremendous efficiency.
This season, Rose is averaging 17.8 points per game on 46.7 percent shooting from the field. He’s also dishing out 4.4 assists per game.
While he’s clearly not as athletic as he was before he sustained tears to his left ACL and his medial meniscus in his right knee, he’s still able to play a fast-paced game and get downhill in the halfcourt or the open court to attack the rim.
He’s a scoring-minded point guard who has completely ignored the three-point shot right now but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just ask DeMar Derozan.
What Rose needs beside him, like what Parker has beside him in San Antonio, is shooters on the wing. While he has that in New York, he’s also playing in the triangle offense, an offensive system that thrives with a point guard who is a three-point threat. The Spurs however, use a mix of a Motion and Read-and-React offense.
That would make the scoring for Rose seem a lot less “random” and allow Rose to play like he does now, so long as he makes the correct reads to hit the open /correct man. Where the triangle dictates the actions in a general sense, the Spurs offense would dictate actions only after Rose or a teammate makes their initial decision.
In any case, the Spurs are consistently a 50-win team thanks to Coach Popovich and with Leonard, perhaps the best two-way player in the NBA, the Spurs have a chance to win it all every season. As the Golden State Warriors team seems to fray at the seams and has to deal with free agency, and losing valuable pieces all over again, the Western Conference is wide open.
That’s not to say that Rose will win a championship. That’s just to say he has a better chance than many, including Harper expect.
For a bit of background on Harper, the Dayton, Ohio-native averaged 19.4 points, 5.0 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in his first three seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He averaged 18.8 points, 3.9 assists, 2.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game for the Cavs in the playoffs.
Harper was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers at the beginning of his fourth season for Reggie Williams and Danny Ferry, who would one day become the Cavs general manager. Harper signed with the Chicago Bulls and played an instrumental part in Michael Jordan’s second three-peat before signing with the Los Angeles Lakers and starting for a squad that went on to three-peat as well, although Harper was only in the league for the Lakers’ first two championships.
I’m sure nobody would have watched Harper saying he’d win a championship when he played with the Cavs (who had to play against Jordan’s Bulls to get to the NBA Finals) or the Clippers. However, when he got to a team with every piece already in place for them to win a championship in terms of coaching, star players and ownership, his fortunes changed.
With Rose, the story could be similar. It wouldn’t work out in Cleveland of course, with Kyrie Irving starting at point guard.
However, on the Spurs, I wouldn’t be surprised if a rose emerged from the concrete to be an NBA champion.
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Do you think Ron Harper is right about Derrick Rose? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.