Let’s not take anything away from Derrick Rose’s professional career. But this is egregious and NBA fans ought to be embarrassed by themselves.
Despite barely contributing to the Knicks so far this season, for some reason, Rose currently has nearly as many All-Star votes among Eastern Conference guards as Tyrese Haliburton.
Rose has played less than 20 percent of all possible minutes for New York in 2022-23. The former MVP has not yet made any appearance in the starting lineup and he is averaging a career-low 5.8 points and 1.8 assists per game.
There is little doubt that Rose’s veteran leadership has helped in the locker room. But during the games, there is little value that he has provided to his team.
Lakers’ LeBron James and Nets’ Kevin Durant lead the NBA’s first 2022-23 All-Star fan voting returns: pic.twitter.com/ObI4WQjnuH
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 5, 2023
This argument is not meant to create a wedge between Haliburton and Rose. Wally Szczerbiak has already done enough of that for the Knicks and the Pacers in one season, and one would assume that Haliburton is enough of a student of the game to have a reverence for Rose.
Haliburton, however, is one of the game’s most promising rising stars both on and off the court. He is averaging 20.6 points per game and he is leading the league with 10.2 assists per game.
Rose has yet to exceed more than 13 points or 6 assists in a single game thus far. Haliburton, meanwhile, has already exceeded 13 points in 31 games and he has only failed to reach 6 assists in two of his 37 appearances.
Haliburton plays for a much smaller market in Indiana than Rose does in New York. But it likely has less to do with the Knicks — if they were out dominating the polls, Julius Randle would be a far more deserving candidate yet he was snubbed.
Fans are presumably giving Rose some love as a legacy candidate, which makes sense. But let’s leave that to commissioner Adam Silver, who decided to name Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki as special team roster additions during their final seasons in 2019.
Fortunately, fan vote only counts for 50 percent of All-Star consideration.
But when the next voting returns are submitted on Jan. 12, Haliburton deserves a more comfortable distance ahead of someone like Rose who hasn’t made an All-Star in more than a decade.
