As the season is coming down to an end The Jay’s beef staff is assembling our first ever “All Beef” team. Think of it as an all american team, or first team selections, except a lot lamer. Today we select the point guards, we got five spots!
Derrick Rose - First team ALL BEEF selection at point guard
The point guard position is one of the most talent saturated positions in all of NBA. How stacked? The Cavs have Baron Davis and before that they had Mo Williams who put up respectable numbers (14 ppg 6apg). Every year since Nash’s back to back MP3’s, experts have been battling it out over who owned the top PG spot in the league. Nash owned it during his MP3 run, Paul owned in 2 stellar years after that (CP3 should have gotten the MP3 instead of Kobe in 2008) and Deron Williams held the spot during Utahs playoff push the past 3 years. A lot of things paved the way for Derrick this year (lets not get on the MP3 chants just yet). Let’s take a look.
1. Team USA/ Summer workouts/Coach Thibs
It seems everyone who played for USA this summer improved their games exponentially all while becoming better teammates. Just run down the list and you’ll see improvements from everyone who was on the team. Even some of the veterans learned new tricks (Lamar Odom, Tyson Chandler).
On top of training with the top players in the Nation Derrick also worked in a summer camp with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love. Those guys didn’t do too bad this year either.
As far as Coach Thibs goes. We’ve seen Derricks game this year and we know the knock on his defense may have been valid early in this season but not anymore. He shuts down top tier point guards regularly (check the game logs of Nash Rondo and Dwil). Anytime you get your best player to buy into a system then the whole team has to follow through. Its like when a quarterback tries to block on a reversal. Or when T.O takes double teams without complaining…well you get the point. Heres DRose stat for the year.
44% fg 4.1 rpg 37 mpg
33% 3pt 0.6 bpg 25 ppg
86% ft 1.1 spg 7.9 apg
2. CP3/ Deron Williams injury
Despite Derrick Rose’s monumental leaps in his game, there is no doubt that as far as a complete point guard goes, a healthy CP3 is untouchable. They keyword is healthy here, and we may never see a healthy CP3 again. More on that when we get to “All-BEEF” Honorables. Deron Williams seemed to have never gotten into a grove all year long and sure enough, he’s getting wrist surgery. Better luck 2012 yo.
3. Bulls injuries
Yes, believe it or not the bulls injuries aided in Derrick Rose’s inflated stats. He took way more shots this year, he dominated the ball a lot this year and with injuries to mostly offensive players, he had to score.
SIDENOTE: A lot of the criticism against Rose was that he shot the ball way too much this year, portraying an image of a young Iverson aka a selfish player. What people failed to realize is that nobody else was willing to take these shots, and any coach will tell you they would want they shot that gives a team the best chance to win (put the ball in your best players hands right?) Remember Derrick Rose’s stats in High School and College were not as impressive compared to other NBA stars because in blowouts he would defer all his shots to teammates. Team ball, it works.
The point here is, we learned Derrick can dominate a game now. When the bulls need buckets he can get em.
4. CLUTCH
Just watch this video.
5. Swag
Dude is the best teammate in the world! Team USA coaches loved him. Coach Thibs loves him. East All-Star players voted him Team Captain. Can’t hate on Swag. Remember when Nash won his first MVP He said that he believed he won because everyone in the league recognized him as the best teammate in the league. Intangibles are everything.
Conclusion
Derrick Rose is the best PG in 2011. He’s got a high ceiling and we haven’t seen the best of Derrick yet. The league offers plenty of competition with Westbrook, Wall, and Rondo all coming up. Combine that with our already established points who seem to have plenty in the tank (Nash, Kidd) and the years of PG dominance can easily stretch a decade. Lets hope he continues to work hard and stays healthy for the rest of his career. For now, top spots on All Beef PG goes to Derrick.
Dieon Slander
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A lot has been said about the looming NFL lockout. Bill Simmons over at ESPN wrote a great article about the mentality of NFL owners over the last 20 years and how it threatens to alienate the fan base that feeds their fortune. Less has been written about the trouble NBA is headed towards. These 2 situations, while distinct, have a lot in common. They are both a result of broken systems that haven’t been addressed until now, and the NF,L and soon the NBA, are going to extremes to do what they feel will rectify the system.
The problems for owners with the NFL system are plentiful. For a team to get a top 10 draft pick is turning into a death wish. The 1st pick of the draft continues to break the rookie salary record and this is a trend that we can expect to continue this year. Elite players are getting paid tens of millions of dollars in guaranteed money. It’s becoming harder to keep good teams together because of salary demands versus the salary cap. The NFL’s solution is to keep a greater share of the $8 billion in revenue the league sees each year to maintain better facilities, maintain top staff, etc.
However, these problems are of the owners own doing. The NFL doesn’t have a rookie pay-scale, so it’s common for 1st round rookies (and their agents) to gouge teams for large contracts. Everything involving salaries is based on the lie that there is “guaranteed” money in football. Peyton Manning can sign a contract “guaranteeing” him $25 mil a year for 5 years, but if he’s released, his income stops and he doesn’t see another dime. In fact, depending on the circumstances surrounding his release, he could end up being asked to return any bonus money he was paid. And the huge, million dollar contracts are the exception, not the rule for NFLers. The average NFL player is in the league 3 ½ years with an average base salary of $990,000. But you have to remember that that’s an AVERAGE between the Peyton’s and Albert Haynesworth’s of the world compared to those who’re making the league minimum $295,000 for players who were active for 3 games a season. Why do you think you always hear about the quarterback picked from off his couch, or the linebacker who was working construction? The system forces these players to demand as much as they can while they can because all it takes is one bad hit for there to no longer be a tomorrow.
And I haven’t even touched the most contentious issue being discussed; the 18 game season. We all know that football is a dangerous sport. Team owners and the league’s front office have been pretending to care about player safety all season. But instead of mandating safer helmets, they just want to continue to penalize James Harrison and add 2 games to the regular season. This is an issue on a massive scale. Unless something is done to substantially reduce concussions and other severe injuries, the league cannot expect the players to agree to this proposal.
The NBA’s salary structure is actually pretty good, and should be mimicked by the NFL to some extent. There’s a rookie salary scale to prevent top picks from gouging needy teams and contracts are guaranteed, requiring a buyout for players to be released. The biggest problem is that DARKO MILICIC IS MAKING $5 MIL A YEAR!!! Yes, as in the former 2nd overall pick who was considered a bust is making $20 million over 4 years to come off the bench to average 9 points a game and 5 rebounds. With all of the big moves during last year’s free agency period, the largest contract was given to Joe Johnson for Six years, and $119 million. That’s $20 Million a year. For Joe Johnson. He’d be a 4th option on the Bulls.
Normally, this would be okay except that according to Forbes Magazine, 12 NBA teams lost money during the 2008-09 season. Despite record revenues, the league is still hemorrhaging money to the tune of $380 million last year according to their own numbers. A lot can be done to balance teams’ books without cutting current salaries. Increased revenue sharing, like the NFL does, would make a huge difference. Creating a stricter salary cap would make you think twice before you sign Darko for $5 million a year. Players will have to make some concessions, mainly smaller max contracts going forward and contraction should be on the table.
In all this should be an interesting couple of months ahead. The likelihood of a lockout that disrupts either league’s schedule is unlikely. But any effort to balance the books off the backs of those doing the work, like the fight in Wisconsin, would be unjust. Owners in both leagues should share in the sacrifice and ensure that they’re providing for their employees as well as their fans.
