LeBron James who?
Derrick Rose hasn’t played in over a year and he’s fresh off having watched LeBron win his second straight championship and league MVP award. There’s bound to be some deep-seeded jealously there. Watching as someone else takes over the NBA, trouncing the competition as the league’s best player, while you just sit on the sidelines in a suit has to suck.
Or you know, maybe not. Because according to Rose, LeBron isn’t the best player in the NBA.
Sitting down with CNN’s Pedro Pinto, Rose partook in a game comprised rapid fire questions. Naturally, he was asked who the best player in the NBA was.
“Derrick Rose,” he responded.
Bomb. Dropped. Though not really.
NBA players are both known and appreciated for their egos. Admitting that a team or particular player is better than you doesn’t make for good business. Of course Rose wasn’t going to concede that LeBron is the greatest player in the world.
Except, this was a bit different.
Having not appeared in a game in over a year, one might have thought Rose would have exuded more humility. Saying something like, “LeBron, but once I get back in the swing of things, I’m coming for him,” would have been totally acceptable.
That, apparently, wasn’t good enough for Rose. He went for broke and outright declared himself the most talented player in the Association. He had no qualms about coining LeBron the most difficult player to defend, but when it came to the best player, there was no King. Only him.
My question: Does he actually believe that?
It’s all well and good that Rose is confident–though he seemed a tad squeamish during that interview—but he can’t actually believe he’s better than LeBron, can he?
To be sure, there’s confident, cocky, arrogant, blissfully ignorant, alarmingly naive and then incredibly stupid. Rose’s assertion, if genuinely backed by him, would fall under the latter.
LeBron is the best player in the NBA, hands down. And it’s not even close. Kevin Durant is a distant second followed by who the hell knows. But it certainly isn’t Rose. Correct, he’s not even the third best player in the NBA. I’d probably give that honor to Chris Paul. Four? I could be swayed there, though others such as Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and Russell Westbrook may have something to say about that.
Technically, though, Rose shouldn’t even be assigned a ranking at this point. Give him a good old incomplete until he takes the floor and we see how he fares. Not that I doubt his abilities, just that we all need to get a feel for how long it will take him to return to form, if he even missed a beat at all.
Only then can we really be able to tell with Rose stands, where he ranks when pitted against the best in the league. But while it’s going to take some time to re-assess Rose’s position in the NBA food chain, no grace period is need to figure out where he won’t be. And that’s atop the league’s individual pedestal, in front of LeBron.
Because no one’s in front of LeBron. Not Durant. Not Melo. Not Kobe. Not Westbrook. Not Harden. And least of all, the previously injured, more-than-a-year-removed-from-action, still-in-need-of-answering-a-ton-of-questions Rose.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
