It was just four short years ago that Derrick Rose carried the Chicago Bulls to an NBA-best 62 wins and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. The 22-year-old Rose averaged 25 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game on his way to taking home the 2010-11 MVP trophy.
Fast-forward to today, and Rose is set to turn 27 on Oct. 4. By normal NBA standards, the point guard should be in the prime of his career.
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But with Rose, it’s a much different story. As each year passes, it becomes more and more likely that Bulls fans have already seen the apex of his NBA career. The possibility remains that Rose will still help guide his franchise to great successes, but chances are he’s never going to be the player he once was.
During his first three years in the league, Rose took the floor for 239 of a possible 246 regular season contests. In the four since, he’s managed to suit up just 100 times in 328 opportunities — only 30 percent of Chicago’s games.
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Last year was Rose’s healthiest post-MVP campaign, but he averaged just 17.7 points and 4.9 assists over 51 games.
With the 2015-16 season about to get underway, it’s clear Rose is no longer regarded as one of the elite players in the game. ESPN.com recently released a feature called #NBArank rating the league’s top 400 players. To this point, only the rankings of 251-400 have been revealed. However, on the team-by-team breakdown, the order in which each club’s players will fall is already available.
Rose checks in at the No. 4 spot on the Bulls’ roster, behind Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol.
At age 22, Rose was deemed the Most Valuable Player in the league. And now, only four years later, he’s arguably the fourth-best guy on his own team.
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