Where Derrick Rose Is Breaking Out (Day 22)

I am very high on Derrick Rose this year. A lot of doubters are pessimistic about his fantasy ceiling. He can't hit threes, and he doesn't accumulate steals, they say. Look at his stats from Year 1 to Year 2, they say. Not much improvement. As a matter of fact, it's almost identical. But you know what? He was playing through an injury for most of his sophomore campaign. And a lot has changed from last year to this year. He's actually got a very good coach (Thibodeau- who, by the way, was the defensive coordinator for the team that featured the best thief in the NBA) as opposed to one of the worst coaches (Del Negro- now a coach of the Clippers- how fitting) I've ever witnessed. And supposedly, Rose worked on his three-point shot in the off-season, and though he's struggled in the early going with his outside shot, I'm a believer of his sky-high potential. Not only in the real world, but in the fantasy world as well. Tonight, he scored 33 points on 13-20 shooting, 4-5 treys, with 3 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals to lead the Bulls over the Rockets, 95-92. That's 4 treys and 3 steals, and now he's averaging career highs in both categories, accumulating a little over 1 per game in each cat. And there's no reason he can't keep this up. For all we know, it is a very realistic possibility that he can do better! For Houston, Luis Scola (27 points on 11-17 shooting, 5-6 free throws, with 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks) continued to be productive. And to tell you the truth, I think Scola can keep this up all year. I'm pretty pessimistic about Yao Ming and his health issues, which makes Scola the only legitimate threat on the offensive end for Houston. Which isn't bad. Not bad at all. He can shoot, he can drive, he can bank it off the glass, he can pick and pop, he can scoop, he can score in every possible way imaginable.

Josh Smith (25 points on 9-16 shooting, 1-1 trey, 6-7 free throws, with 8 boards, 2 assists, a steal and 7 blocks) led the Hawks tonight over the Pacers, 102-92. Smoove has been in a groove in the early going. He's leading the league in the rare cats (total threes, steals and blocks combined), and he fills it up everywhere. And I mean, everywhere. He scores, he's been hitting treys (I don't know how this will pan out, and I don't have a good feeling about it), he rebounds well, he gets a ton of assists (about 4 a game) from the PF position, and he's led the league in steals + blocks for a very long time. His only deficiency is his poor free throw shooting. With Smith's 7 blocks tonight, he surpassed Roy Hibbert, who led the Pacers with 18 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block, as the blocks leader in the NBA this season.

So let me tell you guys a quick story: One year ago, I was in class with my friend, who happens to be on the UCI basketball team. And we were talking about basketball- college basketball, specifically. And we were discussing the best college prospects for the NBA. We looked at a long list of names, featuring guys like John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Evan Turner. And my friend, who's name is Emil, was like, "Man, all these guys suck. My best friend is way better than all of them." Who's your best friend? I ask. "Landry Fields," he says. "He plays for Stanford right now, and he's not even in the top 100 college prospects. All these college basketball scouts are idiots. I guarantee you: Landry's going to make it to the NBA, and he's going to make all these idiots look stupid." And I'll tell you the truth. I was pretty skeptical. I've never heard of this Landry Fields guy, and if he wasn't even in the top 100 college prospects of 2010, so the chances that he'd be drafted into the NBA (60 players per year) were pretty slim. And we never really talked about it again. Until this summer. When the New York Knicks drafted him with their second round pick. I mean- he wasn't guaranteed a roster spot yet, so he went to Vegas, played in the summer league and impressed a lot of people. But that wasn't enough. Landry made the Knicks' pre-season roster and played as the 13th man- the last guy off the bench. But when he did play, he was productive. He shot at a high percentage from the field, hustled, played sound defense, and made smart decisions while he was on the floor. The day before the season started, coach D'Antoni declared Landry to be the New York Knicks' opening night shooting guard. Which surprised a bunch of people. And you know what? He's been playing extremely well thus far in the young season, with tonight being the highlight of his young career. Landry scored 21 points on 10-15 shooting, 1-1 free throws, while grabbing 17 rebounds, with an assist, and 2 steals. Which is all gravy and everything. Except that the Knicks still lost to Denver, 120-118. Raymond Felton (19, 8 and 11, with 2 treys, a steal and a block, with only 1 turnover), Amare Stoudemire (24, 6 and 3, on 10-19 shooting, with a trey, a steal and 2 blocks), Wilson Chandler (23 points on 8-16 shooting, 5-6 free throws, with 2 treys and 5 blocks) and Danilo Gallinari (21, 10 and 3) all posted decent lines, but Carmelo Anthony (26, 9 and 3, with a steal and a block) was resilient, Gary Forbes (19 and 9, on 8-13 shooting, 3-3 treys, with a steal) came out of nowhere, and Nene Hilario (17, 5 and 3, on 7-9 shooting) was efficient, as the Nuggets handed the Knicks their 6th straight loss.

Wesley Matthews (30 points on 11-19 shooting, 5-10 treys, 3-4 free throws, with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block) filled in for the injured Brandon Roy just fine and led the Blazers over the Grizzlies, 100-99. LaMarcus Aldridge had 23 points on 9-17 shooting, 5-5 free throws, with 4 boards, 2 assists, a steal and 3 blocks, with no turnovers, and Andre Miller had 19, 2 and 9, with 5 steals. For Memphis, Rudy Gay had 20 points on 8-12 shooting, 1-2 treys, 3-3 free throws, with 8 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals, and Zach Randolph had 19 and 14, on 7-12 shooting.


Kobe Bryant (31, 7 and 3, 11-11 free throws) and Pau Gasol (18, 10 and 4, with 3 blocks, on 7-13 shooting) led the Lakers over the Bucks, 118-107. Shannon Brown (21 points on 7-9 shooting, 4-5 treys, 3-3 free throws) was also productive off the bench. For Milwaukee, Brandon Jennings (31, 3 and 6, with 4 treys) and Drew Gooden (22 points on 8-11 shooting, 2-2 treys, 4-4 free throws, with 13 boards, a steal and a block, with only 1 turnover) were solid.

And Andray Blatche (22, 7 and 5, on 9-13 shooting, with a trey and 3 steals) and Kirk Hinrich (13, 4 and 12, on 5-8 shooting) led the Wizards over the Raptors, 109-94.