Derrick Rose has increased his numbers across the board, turning an All-Star season as an NBA sophomore into an MVP season as an NBA junior.

He is now scoring 23.3 points per 36 minutes compared to 20.3.

He is rebounding more on both ends of the floor.

He has doubled his output as a shotblocker and has had an uptick in steals.

The two most remarkable aspects of his development this season, however, have been his assist percentage and three-point shooting.

Rose is now attempting four three-pointers per 36 minutes and is hitting at a 37.8% clip. He shot fewer than one per 36 minutes during each of his first two seasons and wasn't even close to shooting at 30%. Rose has transformed himself from a liability as a perimeter shooter into a real threat in just a matter of months, which is extremely rare. It took Jason Kidd nearly his entire career to become an effective spot up shooter; this is one area where Rose is way ahead of schedule.

Rose had an assist percentage of 30.3 last season, but that has elevated to 40.2%. This still isn't Steve Nash, Chris Paul territory, who are typically around 50%, but it is an excellent figure for a scorer like Rose.

The Bulls are 10-1 when Rose has 10 or more assists, with the lone loss being a minor aberration against the Knicks in November when Chicago's defense allowed almost 122 points per 100 possessions. Perhaps a more salient statistic is Chicago's 3-4 record when Rose has five or fewer assists.

Chicago is 7-4 when Rose has 30 or more points.

Rose continues to be one of the NBA's best halfcourt individual scorers because of his ability to create high efficiency shots out of his extreme athleticism on the dribble. The pick and roll is used even more frequently under Tom Thibodeau than it was with Vinny Del Negro. This play is too easy to fall in love with not to use it with high frequency, even if the second defender sometimes creates more of a clog than it helps.

While he is arguably even better in pure isolations, he remains shaky in transition.

On defense, Rose has made another gigantic leap. He has better understanding of spacing and how to defend the pick and roll, plus his ability to rotate on perimeter shooters has improved.

While Rose is very much an MVP candidate and remarkably improved, his PER ranks him just 14th in the NBA, behind fellow point guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Steve Nash. The MVP season is very much a reality, it will simply be more likely when he makes his final jump before plateauing into his prime.

• Click here for a breakdown of MVPs and their PER ranking.