A Basketball Rant...In Three Acts

Act I: Miami Heat Fans
This is why people hated the Miami Heat

Allow me to clarify this section of my rant to those not versed in subtlety. This is not directed at true Miami Heat fans. To them I say congrats on all of your team’s success. I know a few legit Heat fans, some who were sincerely ecstatic when not only they signed Lebron James and Chris Bosh but also when they signed Carlos Arroyo. Yes visions of an Arroyo to James connection actually danced in their heads. This section is dedicated to those bandwagon chumps who last year cheered for the Lakers, the Celtics before them and so on and so forth. People who can’t even name the coach or the starting center on their supposed “favorite” team. You get no congratulations. You get no accolades and to me you are everything wrong with fans today. Cheer for whomever you want, but when you change who you cheer for more than you change your underwear I can not take you seriously.

Act II: The Chicago Bulls

Yes I am disappointed that the Bulls lost in 5 games in the Eastern conference finals. I expected them to win but the Heat were just a better team this year. But as my friend the wee man Pete Campana stated young teams only learn through losing. I had hoped my young Bulls would be different but alas the same fate that befell young Laker squads in the early 80s, young Bulls teams in the late 80s, and young Spurs teams in the mid 90s befell the D-Rose led Bulls.

With the young core Rose, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng all learning from this experience not to mention bench players Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, C.J. Watson and Ronnie Brewer showing that for stretches they can hang, the bench mob and it’s starters will be fine if they can get a starting shooting guard. Keith Bogans played admirably defensively this series against Dwayne Wade but be honest the Bulls will not win if they can’t get a viable second option.

Act III: Derrick Rose

I can’t express how proud of this young man I am after this season. When being interviewed in the preseason and he boldly asked the question: “why can’t I be MVP?” and from that point on he went out and did whatever was needed for the team to win. You can point to his marked improvement in his 3 point shooting and the fact that he was the only player in the NBA in the top ten in both scoring and assists any notion that he should lose his MVP status is ridiculous. Using that logic Lebron should have lost his MVP last year when he quit against the Celtics. The MVP is a regular season award and no player despite what you will hear from talking heads like John Hollinger or Dan LeBatard was more important to his team’s success than Derrick Rose. The third year guard has ascended quicker than the would be MVP in James. You see young Derrick has led his team to the playoffs every season of his career, so if you want to compare Rose to James compare them in context.

Well that’s all I have to say for now. I am picking the Mavs to win in 7 possibly as a bitter Bulls fan but also because I’d much rather see Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and Jason Terry win a title than well anyone on the Miami Heat.