The Defense Isn’t
The biggest criticism about Rose’s game in 2016-17 has been his defense and rightfully so. Without the security blanket of Tom Thibodeau, Rose’s defense has been exposed. Not only is it a weakness, but he’s lazy. A dual threat.
Per NBA.com, the Knicks are 24th in the NBA in defensive rating, allowing 108.0 points per 100 possessions. However, in the 1,379 minutes, their starting point guard has been on the floor, the number jumps to 110.5 points. Without him, they allow 104.5 points (per 100 possessions).
For context, New York’s a top-10 defense without Rose, and with him, they are worse than the last place Brooklyn Nets (via NBA.com).
Check out these clips of Rose against the Dallas Mavericks from Jan. 25. Also keep in mind this was against the Dallas Mavericks.
Instead of helping the defensively-challenged Mindaugas Kuzminskas after he lost his man on the switch Rose shies away from the challenge with a false appearance of a reach in for the steal.
Rose has had trouble staying in front of opponents. He was crossed up by Seth Curry. Here’s some video evidence in case you thought it was his brother.
He doesn’t get around screens well either. On this sequence against Washington, he is screened twice while chasing around John Wall.
Rose has improved on last season’s deplorable defensive real plus-minus ranking. He is 79th out of 87 point guards (-2.40) after finishing 2015-16 ranked 66th out of 69 point guards with a -3.14.
That speaks more to how bad New York’s defense is. The Bulls were a huge disappointment last season, but they were an average defensive team.
