Comparing Rose to LeBron Rookie Years

Us Chicago Bulls fans have seen the immense potential of Derrick Rose lead the Bulls from a lackluster start all the way to the 6th spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Although smaller in size than LeBron James, Rose's athleticism and basketball IQ all point to the fact that he will be a superstar for many years to come. But how does Rose's rookie campaign compare to LeBron, as well as other young successful point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams?

Truth be told, Rose's season compares favorably with each of the NBA superstars listed above. The most impressive part of Rose's game is his shooting percentage. While most rookies shoot in the low 40% range, Rose has a top shooting percentage for guards at 47.5%. Not to say that Rose is a pure shooter, which he definitely is not, but he has the unique ability to finish in the lane over or through centers. His ability to constantly penetrate the defense is possible the most important quality of any point guard, as it breaks down the defense and allows the player to finish or find the open man.

The assist numbers are very comparable among these particular players, except Chris Paul showed a superior ability to distribute with an 8 assist avegare, while the other players sit in the 6 assist range. Rose's greatest weakness was his ability to distribute the ball to the appropriate player, however, the Bulls recent stretch of 15 home wins in 16 games has been partially a product of Rose's ability to run the fast break and pitch the ball out to shooter like Gordon, Salmons, and Hinrich. Still he has yet to record a double digit assist game this season, but i expect his assist totals to jump into the 8 range much like Paul, Willians, and James had.

A second major complaint I have of Rose this season is his low free throw attempt numbers. He is only averaging 3.0 attempts per game. As i had pointed out in a previous post, nearly every NBA superstar is in the top 30 of free throw attempts per game. If he is able to improve in this essential category, Rose's point per game average can sky rocket from 17 to 22 points per game. This would be concurrent with James(+6.3) Paul(+1.2) Willaims(+5.4).

The biggest jump in production for most NBA players comes in the second year in the league, just look at players like Wade, Roy, and Bosh etc...if you need more verification. I'll go as far as predict that next year Rose will be the first Bulls all-star since the Michael Jordan era. I can't say if the supporting cast will be talented enough for the Bulls to compete for a title, but look out 2010.

Did I mention he's still 20?