Derrick Rose is the most improved player in the NBA. But he's not the league MVP.

Can't argue with most of the choices below, but I can't get on board with Rose as MVP. Don't get me wrong, Derrick Rose has improved this year by leaps and bounds and he should get credit for that. But he's still not in LeBron's stratosphere by pretty much any measure.

LeBron leads the league in PER (26.74) whereas Rose lands in thirteenth (22.99). LeBron scores more than Rose (26.1 per game v. 24.7 per game) and is a more efficient shooter (57.9 TS% v. 54.1 TS%). LeBron, as you would expect, has a large lead in rebounds per game (7.3 v. 4.4). Rose does have the advantage in assists per game and AST:TO ration, but his advantages in both categories are quite small.

Moreover, there's a huge chasm between the two on the defensive end of the floor. Miami's defense is predicated on LeBron's ability to help out in the post and still get a hand in his man's face if the ball goes back out to the perimeter. Meanwhile, while Rose has improved on defense this year, he still has a long way to go. The numbers bear me out--LeBron has the best unadjusted defensive +/- rating on the Heat, registering at -5.35 (you want your defensive rating to be negative), while Rose is the Bulls' worst defender by the numbers with a pretty abysmal rating of 8.30.

Lastly, I want to address the argument that LeBron can't win the MVP over Rose because LeBron has better teammates. Such an argument focuses only on stars instead of on each team as a whole. Yes, LeBron has Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh...but the rest of his team is terrible. They have no bench. Their point guards are Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo. The center position is manned by Zydrunas Ilgaukas, Joel Anthony and Erick Dampier. Only one player on the Heat (James Jones) has a positive adjusted plus minus rating for the year outside of their Big Three. The Bulls, on the other hand, have a bevy of actual NBA talent at their disposal. Guys like Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, and C.J. Watson would get run on pretty much any NBA squad. And while Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah have been hurt at times, they have combined for 58 games. Because of these other pieces (and Tibs), and despite Derrick Rose, the Bulls have a very good defense.