New York Knicks point guard Derrick Rose stressed that 'D-Rose the MVP' is already a thing of the past, admitting that he may never play the same explosive brand of basketball he used to effortlessly do during his glory days.
In an interview with Ian Begley of ESPN, Rose conceded to the fact that he's a now shell of a former self and regaining the MVP trophy is far from his mind.
"That vintage is gone, man," Rose told Begley "I told you the question should be: Can I hoop? It shouldn't be like, 'He's playing like his old self.' Like, if I can hoop, I can hoop. No matter if I did that when I was younger or now, I can play the game of basketball."
After becoming the youngest MVP in recent memory in 2011, Rose played just 49 games over the next three seasons. Last season, the former no.1 overall pick had his best year health-wise, appearing in 66 games.
While he has embraced his support role to Kristap Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony with the Knicks, Rose is s confident he can still provide the numbers when he needs to, thought no longer in reckless approach.
-Basketball Insiders analyst Michael Scotto believes running the triangle doesn't make sense for the Knicks any longer since the team's offense is taking with a small-ball, fast-paced style of play.
Scotto explained the Knicks' triangle conundrum:
"With Derrick Rose as the team's starting point guard, and the team having the most success with a small ball lineup of Kristaps Porzingis at center and Carmelo Anthony at power forward, it makes sense to push the pace and run pick-and-rolls more often.
Jackson won a ton of rings and did so with the Triangle, but he doesn't have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in New York in their primes to help him win a title and run the offense as he'd like.
The Knicks are currently on a three-game winning streak and are now tied with the Charlotte Hornets at sixth place with an 8-7 record.
