LeBron James Vs Derrick Rose

Tonight, it's Game #2 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls as LeBron takes on Derrick Rose.

These are two great NBA players but if you had to pick between LeBron James and Derrick Rose right now, who would you take?

I'd take LeBron James - hands down.

Simply put, LeBron is the best player in the game.  He's a superstar and will go down as one of the greats.

He’s well-rounded.  A shooter, a scorer, a passer, a defender and a rebounder.  Every time he takes the court, he has a legit chance to get a triple-double.

His career averages are 27 points per game, 7.1 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.7 steals and is a 48% shooter from the field. 

You can put LeBron at point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward.  Heck, he even guarded Knick Center A’mare Stoudemire this year.

Other players want to play with LeBron.  He attracts other superstars.

Derrick Rose is a great player in his own right.  He can score from anywhere on the court.  And is an amazing finisher.  Rose career averages are also impressive: 20.9 points per game, 3.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists 0.9 steals.

He’s not as good as a defender as LeBron – not even close. 

Lebron can literally cover anyone on the court.  While Rose strictly guards the other teams’ point guard.

Look at the career averages:  Rose is a point guard and only averages 6.7 assists in his career (This year, he averaged 7.7) while LeBron is a small forward but his career assist average is better than Rose’s. (7.0 assists)

This is supposed to be Rose’s true strength over LeBron but essentially it’s a wash.

Rose is a pretty sporadic shooter.  Rose shot 44% from the field this year while LeBron shot 51%.  In fact, the past two seasons, James is over 50% from the field.  I’d much rather have James here too!

You can win an NBA title without a point guard. 

There have been many teams in NBA history that have won an NBA title without a true point guard.  The Lakers did it five times.  The Bulls did it six times.

You don’t need a point guard but you do need a superstar.  That’s what the Bulls and Lakers both had.

The only reason this is an argument right now is because of LeBron's decision this summer.  That press conference to announce to the world he was headed to Miami turned a lot of people off.  But don't let your hatred of a player cloud your good judgement.

So for me, it's LeBron over Rose.  Although that's like chooing between a Ferrari or a Lamborghini.