Keidel: Derrick Rose Rape Case Adds To Knicks' Misery
By Jason Keidel
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So far this young century, the Knicks have given you few reasons to like them, and even fewer reasons to root for them.
Most of that exudes from the top. Owner James Dolan has been notoriously acerbic, and has made his franchise far less than media friendly. Dolan's closest basketball friend and consigliere has been Isiah Thomas, who drove the franchise into the subway tunnels. Of course, had the Knicks won a championship or come close a few times, they could hide behind the banner of contention.
But while the Knicks are still nowhere near the orbit that their status and location demands, they have made the club a bit more palatable.
First, they have Carmelo Anthony. Sure, this space has been quite unkind to the high-scoring forward. And I've been eviscerated for telling you he can't lead a team to a title, despite his career reflecting exactly that. But he's at least a legitimate NBA star who actually wants to be here, and he has brought some mojo to the franchise.
The Knicks never got the proper pieces around Anthony, but team president Phil Jackson did draft a future superstar, Kristaps Porzingis, who should be the face of the franchise for the next decade.
Then the Knicks splurged this offseason. To go along with their new head coach, Jeff Hornacek, and several role players, they signed Joakim Noah and Courtney Lee, and traded for Derrick Rose.
Rose was the centerpiece of the offseason. Despite his litany of injuries, he's still in his relative prime, and there was a sense that he could bring the kind of talent and team-first ethic that would be a perfect emblem for the team and the town.
On the surface, Rose is a lovely acquisition. He doesn't have the same name or game he had a few years ago, when he was leading the Bulls to the playoffs and winning NBA MVP one year. But Rose was the rare, selfless point guard who literally winces at the first whiff of self-aggrandizement.
But as can only happen with the Knicks, a formerly flawless character has become a caricature, at least to begin his career in the Big Apple.
Rose is now saddled by civil and criminal cases, stemming from charges that he was part of a group that raped a woman while she was unconscious. Rose's lawyers insist that the encounter was consensual and that the civil case is simply a money grab by Rose's former girlfriend. But the Los Angeles Police Department is also looking into the accusations.
It's for the authorities and the courts, not us, to determine Rose's involvement, if any.
But this is just a reminder that almost nothing breaks right for the Knicks. Much of that stems from poor leadership -- a euphemism for poor ownership. You can't be largely lifeless for the last 15 or so years without some dubious management.
The Knicks employed Frederic Weis and Jerome James and Eddy Curry and Michael Sweetney and the small army of busts since. (Then there's all the draft picks they gave away, which other clubs used to build into playoff teams.)
Maybe the Knicks weren't turning an entire corner, but it felt like there was some wind behind them. They clearly overpaid for Noah -- whom the Bulls got in the Eddy Curry trade -- but it's never a bad time to get good guys. Noah played high school ball in New York City, is perhaps the hardest worker on the hardwood, and teammates adore him.
Rose was supposed to be part of that lineage, part of the new karma spilling into Madison Square Garden. Yet during the team's season-opening media session, all the questions were not about the court, but rather the courtroom.
How long will Rose's season pivot on legal terms instead of basketball terms? And how long will his head coach and teammates be forced to give rote answers to questions they aren't qualified to answer?
Even if all charges blow over, if Rose is cleared in every legal sense, it reminds you why the Knicks are always looking up, at other teams, at their dreams and at .500. Even with the infusion of big names, the Knicks' over/under number is 38.5, which means Vegas still sees them as a losing franchise.
Rose's civil trial begins in Los Angeles on Oct. 4, the very day the Knicks open their preseason in Houston. That means it should end before the team's first regular-season game on Oct. 25.
Then that leaves the criminal investigation, which is far more sobering, if not more expensive. We'll just have to see when that case ends and the Knicks' good fortune begins. If ever.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
