This week, the Three Man Weave invites friend of the program, Meghan McPeak, play-by-play announcer for the Brampton A's of the National Basketball League of Canada, to dominate the paint with the hosts of TSN 1050's 1 On 1 With Will & Duane, Will Strickland and Duane Watson. The trio passes the rock on the Derrick Rose saga in Chicago, the league-leading Raptors, Is itjust what is going on with Lance Stephenson and the Hornets, early MVP picks and an early season clash of young titans.

At what point does the Chicago Bulls shift gears from the oft-injured Derrick Rose and begin building around Jimmy Butler?

Watson: The only way the Bulls can step away from Derrick Rose is when he decides he wants to step away from the game and retire. The Bulls have over $60 million invested in him through this season and the next two. If Rose wants to get what's owed to him, it will make it very difficult for the Bulls to pay Butler, one of the best young two-way talents in the game, and field a competitive squad around him. As he has for the last two years, Rose holds all the cards, and has the Chicago franchise hostage.

McPeak: NOW! As a Bulls and a Rose fan, with what has transpired for Chicago, you take the keys from Rose, hand them to Butler and have him drive the ship. Without certainty of knowing when, ofr if, Rose will be playing, you have to eventually move on to someone else. Bulls beat writer Nick Friedell tweeted recently when Rose left after just 10 minutes of play: “Rose has not started and finished two consecutive games yet this season.” That is alarming.  Butler, on the other hand, has been a bright spot for the Bulls through this Rose saga. Coach Tom Thibodeau had high praise for Butler, calling him a “star."  "Jimmy Buckets" responded, calling himself a “role player” and that "'star' has never been next to Jimmy Butler’s name - it never will be. I’m always just an under the radar dog.” It’s about that time that this “under the radar dog” comes into new light. 

Strickland: Tough not to sound alarmist, but with frustrations mounting game to game of "will he or won't he play today?" reaching a boiling point as coach Tom Thibodeau benched his superstar recently after 10 minutes of passive play, you have to wonder more about when, and not if, the Bulls pull the trigger on the shape shift. Fans are close to fed up and many of players are used to playing without Derrick Rose, so focusing on that premise isn't new. Is it here where the rubber meets the Rose and the Bulls boot him from top of marquee status to supporting role status beside Jimmy Butler, whose improving offensive game in a contract year is beginning to meet the intensity of his defensive prowess? How many years can the Bulls, the fans and the city of Chicago wait for Derrick Rose to be Derrick Rose again? Maybe, in the words of that immortal poet Marlo Stanfield, his name is his name... and that's all he may have left... along with the over $60 million the Bulls still owe him. This might not end well.

After a successful two-week homestand, will sweeping their first West Coast road swing certify the Raptors as the best team in the Association?

Watson: No, there are 82 games in a season and more games against tougher Western Conference opponents. Consistency will be key, particularly down the stretch. Last season, Brooklyn were atrocious in the first half of the season and finished strong, eventually knocking the Raptors out of the playoffs. But they are the best team in the Atlantic Division, if that counts for anything.

McPeak: It will definitely make people look at the Raptors differently, if they haven’t already (sitting with the best record in the league at 13-2.) The way they have started this season has made many people think twice about counting out the Raps when they come to town. You'd better play the full 48 minutes versus the Dinos! You can’t just decide to turn it on once the second half starts anymore. Masai Ujiri's moves to bring in Greivis Vasquez, Chuck Hayes, Patrick Patterson and John Salmons last year for Rudy Gay, as well as flipping Salmons for Toronto super sub and leading Sixth Man of Year candidate, Lou Williams, have only made this team stronger. The league is taking notice.

Strickland: If not, there should be some serious consideration for the most disrespected squad in the Association, as well as one of the very best. Knocking off a relatively toothless Los Angeles Lakers team, a Sacramento Kings team that may be without Rudy Carlton Gay and a slumping Utah Jazz unit is not exactly a murderer's row of opponents. But toss in a win Friday night over a very good Dallas Mavericks team and only the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies could try to lay claim to supremacy before the Raptors right now.


With the first month of this season done, who is the MVP?

Watson: Adam Silver. His stance on legalized sports betting, domestic abuse, the overall tenor of how he runs the league and his leadership strategy is a refreshing change from David Stern.

McPeak: Honestly, I can’t pick an MVP this early. C'mon!

Strickland: It's early, but five names head the list. There is validity and merit in choosing any of these men. Marc Gasol is rapidly rounding into the most all-around skilled big man on the planet and Boogie Cousins is not far behind, combining savage intensity, a bit more discipline, smarts and leadership. Anthony Davis has cooled a bit from hit lava hot season launch, but still assaults the stat box nightly and Kyle Lowry's sense of the moment speaks to something greater than raw numbers. Yet, Wardell Stephen Curry is putting up the kind of numbers and leading his team to one of the top records in the league, easily justifying his ascent to the early season MVP. But as we say every third quarter of #1On1, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. Who finishes the strongest may not even be in this group, but it'll be fun, as we watch new potential faces of the NBA emerge.

Is there a real problem in Charlotte?

Watson: Yes, it's called chemistry. Bringing in a top flight player who is also somewhat of a "personality" like Lance Stephenson is going to take a moment to gel. He went from being a key player on a talented team to possibly being "the guy" on a decent team. He now has to lead, and whether he's ready for that or not, defences can key in on him now more, as well. Is it major? No, not yet.

McPeak: Sitting at 4-12, there looks to be a problem. Closing out games seems like a tall task. The Hornets can’t put together a full game, can’t seem to get things rolling and can’t contend with the stronger teams. These issues revealed themselves recently against the Los Angeles Clippers. Charlotte looked good through the first half, seemed to have things figured out and then completely unraveled in the second half once L.A. went on a run. The former Bobcats have talent on the floor in Al Jefferson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Lance Stephenson, Kemba Walker and Cody Zeller, but, usually in situations like this, front office starts to look at the head coach, so don't be surprised if Steve Clifford is out of a job soon.

Strickland: Indeed. It would be easy-bake to heap all the blame on Lance "Trick or Treat" Stephenson, who is stuck between internal and external pressures to live up to "superstar expectations" and the reality of who he really is: a very solid player experiencing transitional growing pains, while defining his new role in the Queen City. But chemistry is a tricky, fickle misstress. In the Hornets' case, altering their chemical composition by losing Josh McRoberts for Marvin Williams, picking up Kemba Walker's new contract, Jeff Taylor's domestic violence case, along with Lance's struggles equals the second-longest losing streak in the NBA and an extremely disappointing 4-12 record for a team who looked, at least on paper, like they'd challenge for top-four playoff seeding in the Eastern Conference.


Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker clashed for the first time in a regular season game on Wednesday. Who won their match-up And what does it mean?

Watson: Their stat lines were comparable, but Milwaukee won the game, so the nod goes to Parker, who, likely nine times out of 10, would take the win over outshining in an individual match-up. It's the first of many that will go on for years between the two young talents and, while it looks like Wiggins may have a stronger individual season, Parker's team will have a better performance this season.

McPeak: When you take a look at their stat lines, they were very similar.  Yes, Wiggins scored three more points (Wiggins's 14  to Parker's 11), however, he also turned the ball over six times compared to Parker, who didn’t turn it over at all. Both had standout moments throughout the game and both got their teammates involved, as Parker handed out t assists, Wiggins dropped four dimes and both crashed the glass with Parker snatching seven boards and Wiggins snaring eight. To say one had the better game over the other, I need more than just one team winning and both players having very similar numbers. The Bucks took the W, but I gotta call this one a draw.

Strickland: Nothing...yet. Wiggins's stat line, save for his turnovers, may have been slightly more impressive, but Parker's team, surprising many in the early season under new coach Jason Kidd, got the win, the Bucks' ninth in 16 tries. Last season, Milwaukee won 15 games and didn't get the ninth W until February 3. The Teen Wolves are facing myriad injuries to leaders like Ricky Rubio and Kevin Martin, sit at 3-10 and are on a pace to walk backwards from a 40-win season the year previous to gather roughly half that total this season. Both the former #1 pick in Wiggins and #2 pick in Parker will be force-fed minutes and shots in their rookie campaigns. How winning and losing effects each will be of interest to many because habits formed on their teams, be them beneficial or detrimental, can have long-reaching, career-defining impact over time.

Follow them on Twitter: Will Strickland @WallStrizzle1, Duane Watson @duanewatson and Meghan McPeak @meghanmcpeak