Why Derrick Rose Isn’t Very Good At Drawing Fouls

April 19th, 2010

In game one of the 2010 NBA Playoff series between Chicago and Cleveland on Saturday night, Bulls point guard Derrick Rose shot 13-28 from the field, 0-2 from three-point range, and 2-2 from the foul line, for a total of 28 points on 28 shots. He added 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and generally played well; it was his scoring bursts in the second half that kept what could (and perhaps should) have been a blowout down to a single-figure game for much of the fourth quarter. He also didn’t run away from Mo Williams on defence as much as I thought he might, although this didn’t prevent the rest of the team from doing so. However, had Rose been the beneficiary of some foul calls, his stats would have looked even nicer, and the game would have been even closer. Shooting 28 field goals to only two free throw attempts is not easy to do, even if Rose has done it before, and for a man who takes only pull-up two-point jump shots, floaters and lay-ups, it’s very hard to do. But it happened. And the reasons as to why it may have happened are evident in the following video. (video removed by uploader) Derrick Rose honestly doesn’t get fouled a lot. He tries to avoid contact so as to maximize the percentage of making his shots, and, because of his great athleticism and body control, he is able to do this to great effect. This is the main reason why he doesn’t get to the line much, and also why he shoots such a high percentage. Only one play in this clip is shown from the first half of the game, and in that first half, Derrick Rose took 16 field goals and zero foul shots. This is […]