Silverman: Escape From Chicago Just Might Reignite Rose's Career
By Steve Silverman
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Derrick Rose is not going to turn around the Knicks all by himself, and his acquisition may seem to be a questionable move by team president Phil Jackson.
Rose's career has been on a downward spiral since suffering his first knee injury in 2012.
But there's one thing that Jackson understands about Rose, and it could turn out to be a key reason why his acquisition actually works out well for the Knicks.
Rose, whom the Knicks acquired Wednesday in a trade with the Bulls, has just one year remaining on his five-year, $94 million contract, and while he has already made enough money to last the average man 10 lifetimes, it is not enough for Rose at this point.
He wants at least one more maximum contract, and he knows the only way he is going to get it is to come close to returning to the form he had when he was an MVP with the Chicago Bulls in the 2010-11 season.
Here's what nobody wants to remember about Rose: He will be just 28 when the 2016-17 season gets underway, and under normal circumstances, he could have six or seven good years remaining.
But because Rose has been damaged goods throughout the last four seasons – he suffered his first major injury during the 2012 playoffs – everybody has written him off as a star player.
If he had remained in Chicago, that would probably be the case. After setting his hometown on its ear in his first four seasons, he turned into a social leper because of his inability to come up with the right thing to say and his hesitancy when it came to listening to his doctors and getting back on the court as soon as he could have after tearing up his knee.
When Rose was healthy and an injury virgin, he was a remarkable athlete and competitor. He played with amazing quickness, speed and leaping ability, and he was clearly the Bulls' Superman.
But once he got hurt, he was unable to cope with expectations. The fans wanted to see him come back. The media wanted him to return. His teammates saw him in practice and said he was ready, and his coaches also wanted him to return to the floor.
But something told Rose he wasn't ready, and he missed all of the 2012-13 season and all but 10 games of the 2013-14 season.
Rose was derided on a constant basis, and the player who was once the conquering hero was looked at as soft and ineffectual.
Rose has been back the past two seasons, but he has rarely shown the All-Star form that had been so common.
MORE: Schmeelk: Debunking Myths About All The Good The Rose Trade Will Do
He has had a series of injuries since tearing up his knee, and that included last season when he suffered an orbital injury on the first day of training camp. But aside from that problem, he was relatively healthy the rest of the year.
His numbers were not overly impressive, and he was nothing like the All-Star he had been early in his career. Rose averaged 16.4 points per game with a .427 shooting percentage and a disastrous .293 percentage from beyond the arc.
More than the numbers, Rose rarely displayed the explosiveness that was able to turn so many games in the Bulls' favor through 2012.
But the end of the contract means that Rose must perform once again. It will take a lot more than a good year for him to get anything close to his last contract with the Bulls.
It may take a first-team, All-Star performance for him to see that kind of money, and perhaps he will need even more than that.
Whether he's capable of that at this point is highly doubtful, but he has to give the Knicks everything he has at this point in order to have a chance.
Rose has to understand that it will take a superior performance from start to finish if he wants to get paid again, and he clearly wants another big payday.
Jackson understands this, and he must find a way to surround him with the kind of talent that will bring out the best in his game and turn the Knicks into winners.
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek pointed out that the team wants to get faster.
"We want to push it more and get into the offense quicker," he said. "He might not be the Derrick Rose of four or five years ago with his speed, but he's still pretty darn quick."
Leaving Chicago and coming to New York is not the usual way for a player to escape pressure. But it is the perfect formula for Rose, and if he can stay healthy for a full season, he has a chance to help the Knicks turn things around and turn Madison Square Garden back into a sensational basketball destination for the first time in many years.
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