There are a lot of intangibles that don’t show up on the stat sheet but that definitely have a huge impact on the way a player performs. Motivation, frustration, anger, desire, drive, determination, and all the hard work NBA players put behind closed doors always end up reflecting on the court.
That’s what happened to a young Derrick Rose, who entered his third year in the league with the mentality of being the best player in the world and doing whatever it took to reach that goal by the end of the season.
Back in 2010, the media asked the young point guard of the Chicago Bulls what were his expectations entering his third year and whether he thought that he could take a step forward and be among the top-10 players in the NBA:
“(The expectation) is high. The way I look at it in myself is why not? Why can’t I be the MVP of the league? Why can’t I be the best player in the league? I don’t see why. Why can’t I do that? I think I work hard, I think I dedicate myself to the game and sacrifice a lot of things at a young age and I know that if I continue to – like – do good what I can get out of. And that’s me now, doing whatever. I’m willing to do it because I know in the long run it’s going to help,” a young Rose said.
Needless to say, that mentality and hard work truly paid off, as Derrick Rose was the best player on the planet from start to finish.
More than that, the former 1st overall pick put up averages of 25.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.6 three-pointers per game, leading the Chicago Bulls to a 62-20 record and becoming the youngest MVP in the history of the NBA.
