All Time Greats and The Chicago Situation

Last night Marieta argued with me to change the channel during the lottery because we had to pack after eating dinner and wanted to watch something we would both enjoy. I said as soon as I find out the Bulls pick (figuring 7, 8, or 9). You should have seen me light up with the move up, followed by the number one pick in the draft. Now, after reading a lot of conjecture about who Chicago should pick (a lot of system fitting, paint scoring, and trade talk) I have come to my conclusion about why the bulls need to take Derrick Rose.





When someone asks you for all time greats who comes to mind? Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Bill Russell, Walt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and possibly Shaq. They are the only sure fire all-timers. Now you may disagree but look at the transcendies of these players.

• Jordan is the only guard to lead a team with no post threat to a championship - let alone two threepeats!



• Magic is a 6-9 all in one player who killed Dr. J in his rookie year finals debut series. He defines the 80s.



• Bird was a shooting revelation, motivation king, rebounding, jumping, energy freak.



• Kareem has five championships, took two franchises to the heights of the sport, scoring record, ahead of his time in talent to this day.



• Bill, 11 championships



• Walt, anything he wanted to do on the floor he could do, and eventually learned to change his game when his body changed



• Oscar, averaged a triple double for the first three years of his career.



• Shaq has been to the finals 8 times of a 15 year career with 3 finals mvps.

That list is dominated by centers, which Rose and Beasley are not. Michael, Magic, Bird are the outliers. Freaks. Position defiers. So if we look at Rose and Beasley who has a better chance of transcending his position and/or becoming a modern game wonder? Its no secret, in the modern game what do all champions need? Guards, but more importantly Point gaurds. Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Derek Fisher, Ron Harper, Avery Johnson... they may not all be amazing point guards but they were solid enough and specialized enough that they didn't take over the offense and pushed their offense.

The Bulls need to take Derek Rose. The Western conference is showing what next in the league. Every team (except for the nuggets) in the western playoffs has an assertive PG; Lakers-Fisher, Hornets-Paul, Spurs-Parker, Jazz-Williams, Rockets-Alston, Phoenix-Nash, Mavericks-Kidd (although they should start Terry), and as stated earlier the Nuggets are trash. If the Bulls take Rose in two years they would be a top two team in the East. Its obvious the Cavs only need an O-Coordinator and their set for three or for years, But the Pistons and Celts both have really solid PGs.

Now power forwards have been really impressive over the years but their names don't come to mind as easily as the above list. Beasley will be good, maybe great; but just like in football, the person who touches the ball the most needs to be damn good. In my opinion if John Paxson does anything than select Derrick Rose he needs to be fired.