2010-11 NBA MVP: Derrick Rose

Honesty is the greatest gift that man has.  Simply put the world would be in a far better place now if the world was more honest.  Throughout my adult life I've tried to be as honest as possible and though at times it proved to be hard, I think I've done a fairly good job at being honest even when it meant causing myself harm.  Honesty, is what you the readers, are moments away from receiving.  This will be short, sweet, and directly from the heart.

Two nights ago news broke on twitter that Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls would be named the NBA MVP, which was not a surprise because that's been the status quo since January.  My feelings on the MVP Award have not changed, I feel that Dwight Howard was this season's MVP and I explained that in my post  http://nbaballanation.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-derrick-rose-really-mvp.html.  The official announcement came last evening that Rose had been named MVP with Howard coming in second and I had planned to post an entry detailing that in the last ten years a low percentage of players who'd won the MVP had not won the NBA title the same season and it was going to be designed to be critical of Rose.  After watching the MVP speech that Rose delivered yesterday and the way he expressed the love for his mother that coincided with his love for the game of basketball I decided to do the fair thing and honor the season that he had.  Did Rose benefit from Lebron taking his talents to South Beach?  Of course he did but he still had to go out there night after night and wow the home crowd as well as the media from markets outside of Chicago who have MVP votes.  After watching Rose play I think it will be very difficult for him to the lead the Bulls to an NBA title this season but at this very moment it doesn't matter.  What matters is that he's next in line to take to NBA to new heights, lets not forget this was supposed to be the year that Kevin Durant ascended to the MVP level that Rose hit.  Throughout the season not only did Rose impress the media but he also impressed his NBA brothers as they embraced him as the league's MVP.

As Rose thanked his mother Brenda for all she'd done for him, sacrificed for him, their eyes locked and both pairs of eyes were filled with not only tears but the raw emotion of life....pain, suffering, and finally the feeling of "making it"; finally reaching that point where they both could just exhale after struggle.  Looking at his proud mother gaze into his eyes was like looking in a mirror as he gazed back at hers and it was at that moment I got it.  Raising four boys as a single mother was no easy task for Brenda.  She was proud of her son for winning the MVP trophy but it was deeper than that, he was just as proud of her for being his mom.....being his MVP!  It's often said that real life makes the best TV and last evening I saw the best TV that I've seen in years and no I am not speaking of the Heat's victory of over the hated Celtics.  I saw a son just as proud of his mom as he was for winning the Most Valuable Player award for the NBA and it doesn't get any better than that, especially in a world where the struggles of others is most often overlooked.  You can call Rose, overrated, lucky, or a even the benefactor of love after all of the hate for Lebron James, but make sure that you follow that up with calling him the MVP!