Deron Williams or Derrick Rose -Barkley is full of hot air
January 19th, 2011
Is Derrick Rose better than Deron Williams? According to TNT’s Charles Barkley “I love Deron Williams, he’s been the best point guard in the NBA, but you have to move him down to No. 2. Derrick Rose is the new best point guard in the NBA.”
My initial reaction to Barkley’s comment is not so fast. Deron has won 4 playoff series in his career, unequalled by any of the young point guards other than Rajon Rondo. What separates Deron for me is ability to play off the ball as well as his ability to lock down defensively on bigger players. Last year, he guarded Brandon Roy for an entire overtime and this year it was Rip Hamilton.
All of these young guards, Rose, Westbrook, Rondo, Paul, Williams, etc are terrific and each time you see one you can’t believe that any is better. However, if you get your immediate emotions out of the debate and delve into the facts Deron is still the superior player.
Deron Williams is more efficient, better defensively and untouched in the clutch compared to Derrick Rose.
D-Will........TS%: 0.60..........EFG%: 0.52..........Cringe/Grin: 144.04..........LHM: 0.403..........Locke O: 31.75..........Active: 673.32..........Jack%: 2.50..........Poss: 21.71
D-Rose......TS%: 0.54..........EFG%: 0.49..........Cringe/Grin: 35.53...........LHM: 0.361..........Locke O: 16.42..........Active: 566.28..........Jack%: 1.89..........Poss: 26.20
Deron’s superiority should begin to jump out here. Deron shots the ball much better than Derrick Rose. He is more efficient. He uses far less possessions than Rose does. The Jack percentage is the amount of times it takes on the floor before a player uses a possession. Rose is at 1.89 (about 1 minute and 53 seconds) one of the highest rates in the NBA, whereas Deron uses a possession once every 2 and half minutes.
D-Will........Poss: 21.71..........2%: 47.5..........3%: 22.4..........FT%: 14.8..........TO%: 15.3..........SO: 19.4..........Pts/SO: 1.20..........Pts/FGA: 1.46
D-Rose......Poss: 26.20..........2%: 60.4..........3%: 16.2..........FT%: 10.1..........TO%: 13.3..........SO: 24.0..........Pts/SO: 1.09..........Pts/FGA: 1.23
Simply, Rose scores more because he uses more possessions. Importantly, he uses those possessions less well than Deron. As the chart shows, Deron goes to the free throw line more often than Rose. Deron goes to the free throw line almost 15% of his possessions and Rose goes just 10%.
Rose is a high volume scorer not an efficient scorer. He goes to the line rarely and only recently has started to use the three as a weapon.. Rose has changed his game this year shooting 4.3 three’s per game up from just 1 a game in his first two years. At 38% this is a strong change for the positive in his game.
Defensively, neither of these players has an impact on the steal nor blocked shots. Rose is a better rebounder at 10.9% rebounding rate on the defensive end to Deron’s 9.6 and overall 7.2 rebounding rate to Deron’s 6.0.
On the ball defense Deron is dramatically better than Rose. Deron’s ability to guard big twos as well as 1 is becoming one of his defining features.
In three head to head match-ups both are averaging 22.7 points a game, but Deron is shooting 64%. In their last meeting Deron had 28 points, 17 assists and 1 turnover in a Jazz win. In the two games last year, Deron shot 20 of 26 from the field against Rose and the Bulls.
Finally, Deron’s clutch game is the separator between him and Rose. In clutch situations this year (final 5 mins and game within 6) Deron is shooting 50% from the field (19-38), he has hit 50% of his three’s and hit on 18 of 21 free throws.
Rose has not been in the same ballpark. Rose is hitting on just 39% of his shots in the same circumstances (29-74) and just 3 of 10 from three.
Most striking is the assist to turnover difference in the clutch. Deron has 27 assists and 6 turnovers in contrast to Rose 20 assists and 14 turnovers.
We are discussing point guards not scoring guards, correct. Case closed.
