SUMMARY
- Paul George believes that Derrick Rose had the best rookie season ever.
- Rose won the MVP award at 22 years of age and was on the verge of finding great success before his ACL injury.
Paul George recently delivered high praise towards Derrick Rose for his rookie season and even went far enough to call him the greatest rookie in NBA history. As most fans should be aware, PG is an NBA veteran currently playing for the Los Angeles Clippers. Like many other players, George has his own podcast and brings on guests to discuss issues and subjects of interest.
During the latest episode of Podcast P, Paul George was asked about Victor Wemabyama and his historic rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs. While George likely had no interest in downplaying Wemby’s accomplishments this season, he revealed that Derrick Rose’s rookie season was even better in his own personal opinion. That said, a closer look at the situation is required.
Paul George opines that Derrick Rose had a better rookie season compared to Luka and Wemby
Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama are two young stars who have the potential to become faces of the NBA. While both of them had sensational rookie seasons, PG revealed that he considered Derrick Rose to have had the best rookie season.
“Best rookie that I seen enter the NBA? I think Derrick Rose. I think Derrick Rose hands down has put on one of the greatest if not greatest rookie campaigns that we’ve seen. We was joking about Russ he had one of the layups the other night where he had a fast break but he tried to two-hand dunk but it was like a little Rim Grazer and we was like man, Old Russ would have done something crazy with that.”
In terms of scoring and rebounding both Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyma had better numbers when compared to Derrick Rose in their respective rookie seasons. Therefore, it is clear that Paul George was taking into consideration other metrics that simply could not be calculated as mere statistics.
D-Rose’s stats and accomplishments before his infamous injury
Veteran fans will agree that Rose was one of the most athletic and explosive point guards that the league had ever seen upon being drafted. His speed and vertical jump added to a creative finishing ability made him one of the most unguardable players in the NBA. D-Rose even gave LeBron James and the Miami Heat a hard time during their matchups in the playoffs.
NBA fans tend to discuss ‘what if’ hypotheticals quite frequently. There is no denying the accolades and championships that Rose could have won in a world where he never got injured will be one of the greatest ‘what ifs’ that fans will ponder over.