The people have spoken! Derrick Rose of the New York Knicks (and Detroit Pistons for part of the season) was the NBA’s MVP, as far as the fans are concerned.
On Friday, the official voting breakdown was released for all NBA’s major awards. If you want to check who voted for who, for what award, (like Julius Randle over Jerami Grant for Most Improved) you can get it here.
The breakdown answers the question some had when the voting for the NBA Most Valuable Player award was released.
Those receiving first-place votes were the expected names: Nikola Jokic (who won), Joel Embiid, Chris Paul, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry …. and Derrick Rose.
Hey, Rose is a good guy and he certainly was a solid contributor with the Detroit Pistons and (following a February trade) New York Knicks this season. But the MVP?
With the one first-place vote (giving him 10 points), Rose finished eighth overall for MVP, ahead of, among others, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
Media reports have been confirmed. Rose’s vote did come from any of the press members credentialed to vote, but from the fans.
Since 2010, fans have had a first-place vote for the official ballot.
Rose played 15 games for the Pistons this season before getting traded to the Knicks on February 8 for Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round draft choice. He went on to play 35 games in New York, starting three.
Rose might be the first player in NBA history to get a first-place MVP vote and only start three games in the season. Due to his long, injury history, Pistons coach Dwane Casey liked to bring Rose off the bench, to somewhat limit his minutes and, obviously, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau felt the same way.
Although Rose had a great playoff series for the Knicks, the voting is based solely on the regular season.
Unlike another big name that was traded from Detroit to a New York City NBA team (who will be nameless), Rose’s stats were pretty much the same in both places. He averaged 14.9 points for the Knicks and 14.2 for the Pistons.
Rose later admitted that, having not played since last March, and with limited practice opportunities due to the pandemic, it took him a while to get back into top game-mode.
But Rose left Detroit on good terms. While the team was falling apart the last couple of seasons, he was one of the few bright spots. Rose also was a mentor to the young guards on the Pistons, particularly first round pick Killian Hayes.
With Rose helping the Knicks have an incredible renaissance of a season (most pre-season predictions had them ranked behind the Pistons), grateful New York fans certainly gave him a lot of votes.
Undoubtedly Rose also got plenty of support from Detroit. Having grown up in Chicago, and having played some good years for the home-town Bulls (where he won the 2011 NBA MVP award), the Windy City probably also contributed to Rose coming in first with th fans.
To finish first in fan voting for NBA MVP, when you started just three games, is a great compliment to not only what Derrick Rose accomplished on the court, but the reservoir of goodwill he has created among fans in his various stops.