Vinny's Offensive Scheme Is Putting A Lot Of Pressure On Rose

Basketball Prospectus has done an interesting analysis of the Rose's early effectiveness this season. What they point out is not necessarily that Rose could be the next Paul/Deron, but that perhaps the system that Vinny has the Bulls running is what is allowing Rose to be so effective. At the same time that system may be stunting his growth as a point guard:

The Bulls' style is open, with at least good spacing, and it is designed as a penetrate-and-pitch scheme, which again favors the skills that Rose brings to the table. Similar in scope to the offense used by John Calipari at the University of Memphis (dribble-drive motion), the Bulls are still discovering the actions that will yield real results. This gives Rose a lot of the responsibility as the Bulls figure out what will work best. With willing (and sometimes capable) perimeter shooters like Kirk Hinrich (when healthy), Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and others, there is not a lot of help on dribble attacks from Rose. Instead, the defense forces him to finish, and since that is one of his true strengths, he is more than happy to oblige.

The biggest question early this season is whether this type of play truly helps Rose in the long term. Right now, he is called upon to attack and score and he is more than capable of doing that. However, can he both score as he has been and make his teammates better at the same time? Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets typifies the best kind of answer to this question. A gifted scorer, Paul can dominate one game without scoring a point, then score 45 the next night. Will Rose be able to approach that kind of production on behalf of his team? Only time will tell. He should not change his style--rather, he must continue to aggressively seek out and take what the defense gives him. Right now, it is giving him scoring opportunities.

As teams gameplan for Rose and his teammates and scheme, expect defenders to slough off of him and force him to make perimeter shots rather than expose themselves to his ability to drive. In addition, teams will start to run doubles at him as he penetrates further toward the basket. By doing so, they may expose the occasional poor decision-making that is sometimes covered up, right now, by his freakish athleticism.

The only problem with this analysis is that it gives too much credit to Vinny's system. While Rose is free to do what he pleases, the rest of the team is very unclear as to their roles. Luol Deng, though amassing a healthy 19 and 10 last night, looked completely lost in the halfcourt. Anyways, the article goes on to explain how Rose is unlike a traditional point guard in terms of his skill set. It compares him to a different kind of player:

While the object of this article is to consider how Rose has been so successful despite the history of rookie point guard trials and tribulations, Rose simply does not fit into the traditional point guard designation all too well. The best player to use in comparison with Rose's unique combination of size, speed, approach, skills and talent for his position is a small forward: one named LeBron James.

Like James, Rose is a more than capable scorer, particularly as a finisher in the lane. His dribble his high but forceful, he is continuously moving in straight attack lines, pushing the ball in transition after a rebound, and using his strength and body control to absorb contact and covert baskets despite the foul. LeBron is so unique--a point guard in a power forward's body with a small forward's athleticism--that it may be hard to see the resemblance between the ways he and Rose approach the game. However, if you watch long enough, you begin to see the similarity in cadence, in the way they play the game.

A very interesting point. I'm not going to get ahead of myself here and crown him the next Lebron, but he does have that unique skill set that Lebron has, although in a somewhat smaller body. It will remain to be seen how he develops personally and how Vinny's system does or doesn't work for him.