Let’s get straight to the point.
In all the world, are there more than three point guards with sweeter talent than Derrick Rose, the precocious 19-year-old who has led Memphis to the Final Four?
No bloomin’ way.
Let me start an NBA team, and the only guys I’d rather have handling the basketball and directing my offense ahead of Rose are Steve Nash, Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
Yep, that’s it.
How big a star is Rose destined to be?
“He reminds me honestly of Jason Kidd,” said UCLA coach Ben Howland, awe-struck by Rose’s petal-soft passes and thorny presence on defense.
“I can’t think of much higher praise to give a player than to say, ‘This point guard reminds me of Jason Kidd,’ because I love Jason Kidd.”
But Kidd is yesterday’s news.
The future belongs to Rose.
All the blah, blah, blah in college hoops has been that the player of the year is a two-man race between freshman Michael Beasley of Kansas State and big North Carolina lug Tyler Hansbrough.
Which only goes to show that an endless stream of hot air is more essential than intelligence when it comes to basketball analysis done by talking heads on TV.
While Beasley could go No. 1 in the upcoming NBA draft, any team that takes him ahead of Rose will be sorry. Hansbrough doesn’t even belong in the conversation.
Truth be told, all the millions Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is spending on Kidd would be far better invested in the future of Rose.
Why? Although Kidd has made passing an art form for 13 seasons in the NBA, at age 35 he is never going to learn to stick a jumper with any consistency. And, as the Mavs are discovering, he ain’t no kid any more.
Rose is the most dominant freshman in a starring role for any national title contender since Carmelo Anthony lifted Syracuse to its first NCAA basketball championship in 2003.
“I’m just living the dream right now,” Rose told reporters in Houston, after Memphis messed with Texas on Sunday to win the South Regional.
Although there has been no official announcement, savor every second of Rose in the Final Four.
Because he is going pro, no doubt about it. While the kid has much to learn, there’s nothing left for him to prove at the college level.
In fact, if you put the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Rose in the Nuggets backcourt right now, I would like Denver’s chances against any team in the NBA playoffs.
I know. I know. There’s no conceivable way the Nuggets, with a draft choice in the middle of the first round, could get their hands on Rose.
But, wait, here’s the real point.
This draft class figures to be unbelievably rich in point guards. Depending on how many underclassmen declare, there could be as many as seven guards capable of running the point among the first 20 selections in the opening round.
The talent at point does not stop with Rose. There’s D.J. Augustin of Texas, Jerryd Bayless of Arizona, Ty Lawson of North Carolina, and Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison of UCLA. Then there’s Eric Gordon of Indiana, who could be the answer to the Nuggets’ prayers.
While having no desire to risk tampering charges in open discussion of a young college player, it’s a poorly kept secret that Denver is infatuated with the potential of Gordon. Some scouts look at his 6-foot-4 frame and want to cast Gordon as a shooting guard.
But I see him as the second coming of Chauncey Billups.
If, as expected, Gordon leaves the Hoosiers for the pros, he probably won’t last much past No. 5 on the big draft board. But that could put Gordon within the grasp of Denver, if team management is willing to employ guts and imagination to trade up.
Should the Nuggets need to swap a big man, whether it be Marcus Camby or Nene, in order to land a point guard, is there really any choice? Chucky Atkins and Anthony Carter are nice role players, but nothing more.
Denver must beg, borrow or steal in order to find a guard who can run the offense alongside Allen Iverson.
Until the Nuggets do, they will not be legitimate championship contenders.
Get the point?
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
