As usual, let's look at three players who look a little different than what we thought they'd be and ask: Is this sustainable? Or, if the pattern is bad: Is this reversible?
So far this season, we've looked at 36 different players with every team NBA team accounted for. At this point, we'll start to double back on some players featured early in the season if recent news warrants it. We have two such players today in the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose and the Cleveland Cavaliers' Kevin Love, joined by red-hot Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez.
Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
What's up?
Rose has been more assertive of late, leading a certain segment of the Chicago fan base to declare any suggestion he should be traded as blasphemous. "Have you seen him lately?!" is a frequent rhetorical question I get.
Rose is six weeks further removed from the eye problem that sidelined him during the preseason and while he has had a couple of subsequent maladies since, they've been more nagging than severe. If we give Rose an injury pass for the horrific start to his season, then these past six weeks should be a more telling glimpse.