New York Knicks: Derrick Rose Is Drowning Out His Critics

Statistically speaking, the New York Knicks are a better team when Derrick Rose shoots less. That won’t stop Rose from focusing on the bigger picture.

The New York Knicks are currently 9-9 through 18 games. Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony have been the proverbial stars of the show, but point guard Derrick Rose has been vital to the Knicks’ early success.

Rose and his critics simply don’t agree about what it is that he’s done well for his team.

The Knicks are currently 4-8 when Rose scores at least 15 points and 5-1 when he scores less than 15. New York is also 5-3 when he dishes out at least five assists and is 4-6 when he fails to reach that mark.

According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, Rose is paying no mind to the statistics or the implications of them.

That’s both a positive sign and somewhat concerning.

On one hand, the Knicks have a significantly better when Rose scores less and focuses his attention on distributing. Thus, it stands to reason that a team-first player would change their approach if it would benefit the team.

The Knicks are 18 games into the 2016-17 NBA regular season, however, and one of Rose’s greatest contributions has been playing within the flow of the offense.

That truth implies that the Knicks need to make it so Rose is required to score less—not that he’s shooting too much.

Rose isn’t chucking up shots and stalling offensive momentum. Instead, his isolation possessions have coincided with the Knicks needing a perimeter player to take it inside and end a scoring drought.

Thus, while it may be easy to read Rose’s comments and judge them at face value, what he’s saying is consistent with the mentality of progressive development.

With less than 25 percent of the regular season completed, Rose’s intentions are clear: to continue developing into the player that he and the Knicks envision him being—no matter the early cost.