By Jeremy Lewin
The 2010-2011 NBA Most Valuable Player is…
By most standards the reward will either go to the Chicago Bull’s PG Derick Rose or The Miami Heat’s Iconic monster Lebron James. Which got me to thinking, since the MVP refers to the Most Valuable Player in respect to their teams, which team ‘top to bottom’ is better without their superstar MVP? Allow me to break this down…
SG- Dwayne Wade vs Any Bulls SG
I think we can all agree Dwayne Wade is the best player on either team. He is explosive, unguardable, and can hit almost any shot on the court. The guy is a monster and is a number 1 player on almost any team in the NBA. None of the Bulls players stack up.
+1 Miami Heat
Centers – Joel Anthony, Erick Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskas vs Joakim Noah, Omer Asik, Kurt Thomas
Out of this group Zydrunas Ilgauskas can probably shoot the best 18 footer out of any of the centers here, but that is about the only positive the Heat can come away with under the man in the middle. The Bulls are far superior with their youth and veteran leadership in Kurt Thomas. Noah plays like a modern day Dennis Rodman and Omer Asik has shown to be a valuable young player who is only getting better every game.
+1 Chicago Bulls
Power Forward – Chris Bosh vs Carlos Boozer
-Bosh is one of the best outside shooting power forwards in the game. He has a pure shot, good ball handling, and can pass very well. His rebounding is decent, his defense is suspect and his inside the paint offense is almost non-existent.
-Boozer is one of the better players in the league playing off the block. He can play inside or outside on offense with a consistent outside jumper. Carlos does a great job on the boards, but his defense is below average.
Although this is a tough one to grade, you have to give it to the Bulls based on Boozer’s effect on inside the paint offense.
+1 Chicago Bulls
Small Forward- Luol Deng vs Mike Miller
Deng plays great defense, shoots the ball well from anywhere on the court, and is tough on the rebounds. He is the ‘glue’ guy for this Bulls team. Miller is a good player, but he has been injured most of the year and hasn’t really been consistent on anything since his return. Luol Deng is a far superior ball player in this comparison.
+1 Chicago Bulls.
Point Guard- C.J. Watson vs Mario Chalmers
Watson is a streaky shooter and never really played the PG position until this year. At times he can be great, but is basically only good filling in for a few minutes per game. Mario Chalmers has a bright future ahead of him. He is quick to the basket and can hit outside shots.
+1 Miami Heat
Bench
Lets face it, Carlos Arroyo, Joel Anthony, Juwan Howard, Udonis Haslem, Eddie House and any of the Heats Centers do not stand up to the talent level of Chicago. The Bulls get way more production out of players like Omer Asik, Ronnie Brewer, Kurt Thomas, and Taj Gibson. We don’t need to mention James Jones or Kyle Korver because they cancel each other out.
+1 Chicago
Coaching – Tom Thibodeau vs Erik Spoelstra
Spoelstra is a young fiery coach who has a bright future ahead of him. His play calling at times can be suspect, but he has gotten some great production from his defense.
This maybe Tom’s first year as a head coach, but he has had dozens of years as an assistant and maybe one of the best defensive coaches in the league today. He has really gotten his player to play into his philosophy and is known as a coach who is the first in and last out of the office everyday. Tom Thibodeau is a top candidate for coach of the year.
+1 Chicago
Mascot
Come on this is easy, not only do the Bulls have Benny the Bull, but they also have Brian Scalabrine or should I say Jackie Moon? Scalabrine is always the first off the bench to give high fives and always the player fans chant for when the Bulls are blowing someone out. He is like the disabled kid on the high school basketball team everyone loves. This is what the Heat desperately need, the weird guy in the locker room everyone finds strangely cool!
+.03678
Miami is very top heavy with their talent and Chicago is very balanced and deep in talent. At the end of the day, both teams will need their MVP candidate to succeed, but on this day when they are hypothetically not there, Chicago has the better ‘top to bottom’ team -
Chicago Bulls 5.03678 - Miami Heat 2
Well Allow Me to Retort!
By Max Berlin
Lets take a look at the reality of the situation, Derrick Rose and LeBron James are two of the most explosive players in the NBA and are obviously in the front running for the league's MVP award.
While business trousers (Jerms) poses an argument of validity it has come to my attention, while the bench may be the deciding factor for Jerms' argument you have to take into consideration the Heat have two players you can work an offense through. Before James' took his talents to South Beach and before Bosh was discovered as the last actual living Velociraptor, Dwayne Wade had already won an NBA Championship which was subsequently followed by being named the MVP of said championship series. Chris Bosh was a consistent 20pts and 10reb force in which the Raptors ran their offense through.
This year the Bulls were without their starting center and emotional leader Joakim Noah and power forward extraordinaire Carlos Boozer for a total of 48 games yet stayed a dominant force in a loaded eastern conference. This is due to the fact that Derrick Rose was the constant factor in this unpredicted experiment that put the Bulls to the test. Yes, the Bulls are better by a position to position comparison, but they would not be the same if it weren't for Rose's ability to drive, pass, and shoot the way he does. Defenses would not react to any other player, as they do when collapsing down on Rose as he drives enabling Rose to kick out a pass to a wide open Korver or drive base-line then dish an under the hoop pass to a cutting Boozer.
With 2.5 seconds left and with Derrick Rose and LeBron James out of the equation, who takes your last shot? If you ask me, I'll take Wade or Bosh over Deng or Boozer any day of the week. Wade is a proven killer and Bosh knocks down his jumpers at a 50% clip, you cant beat those numbers. Deng and Boozer don't hold the same credentials and aren't as proven in the clutch. The Bulls philosophy seems to be, run our offense through Derrick Rose, and he delivers. Without Rose as the anchor of that offense, it doesn't run the same consistency or effectiveness and in essence it falls apart.Unlike the Heat, the Bulls only have one player who can lead the team and control the tempo of the game and without him the basketball game goes from a strategic art to the running of the bulls.
Although pound for pound the Bulls may be a stronger and deeper team, any elementary school phys ed teacher can see that a team led by Wade and Bosh is always better than a team led by Deng and Boozer. Bitches.
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