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Derrick Rose Out for Season; What Is Next for Chicago Bulls?
Yahoo Contributor Network By Jacob Long
November 25, 2013 4:26 PM
Derrick Rose Out for Season; What Is Next for Chicago Bulls?.
View gallery
Derrick Rose.
COMMENTARY | Derrick Rose, after undergoing knee surgery, will miss the rest of the season.
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No, this isn't a flashback to 2012. That was his left knee, and that was a shock to fans hoping for a title in 2012. This is his right knee and this time, it is not just a season that Chicago Bulls fans are worried about.
With two major knee surgeries within two years, Bulls fans are seeing a disturbing pattern. Derrick Rose is not just a franchise cornerstone that has to sit out for a season. He is a player that will have played just 49 games over the past three seasons, with the beginning of the 2014-15 season already in doubt. In a league where superstars rule, there will be no certainty that the Bulls still have such a player.
Doctors performed a repair on the meniscus, which takes much longer to heal than a "clean up" but helps to avoid long-term, Dwyane Wade-like knee problems. When Rose returns, it will be difficult to predict where his mind will be after spending multiple seasons on the shelf with major injuries. His skills will have to regress, at least temporarily, on a scale that is likely larger than what fans have seen so far this season. Beyond that, there is just no certainty that more injuries won't come along.
This season, general manager Gar Forman and vice president John Paxson stuck with their core group to give it a chance to make a run for a title. Derrick Rose has not been able to complete a playoffs with the group of Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah since 2011, their first season together as a unit.
There were good reasons that Forman and Paxson could have elected to break up this group -- Boozer is eligible for amnesty and is making a great deal of money while Luol Deng is on the verge of becoming a free agent and likely could have netted the team a first-round draft pick before the past year's NBA draft.
A hope to make some magic with that group and see what they can do with more than just one season for a sample size was the reason upper management decided against splitting the team up. Yet again, they will not get to find out what that core of players can do. Expect at least two of three non-Rose members of the core to be gone by the beginning of next season.
I have already written that, short of an NBA Finals win or similarly spectacular scenario, Luol Deng cannot return to Chicago after this season. With Rose out for the foreseeable future, the Bulls will now shift their energies toward trying to get the most possible trade value out of Deng. With just a partial season on his current contract, the Bulls are unlikely to receive that first-round draft pick type of value without taking on bad, long-term contracts.
Boozer will also be shopped on the trade market, but will more likely become a victim of the amnesty provision at season's end. This allows Chicago to release Boozer without having his salary count against the salary cap. Every other team with sufficient cap room will be able to bid on Boozer's services, with the Bulls paying the difference to ensure that he receives the salary owed. At that point, the Bulls will be in a less-than-nightmarish salary cap position going forward.
Before the season began, Joakim Noah was the least likely of all players to move. As one of the league's few true centers, his $12.2 million and $13.4 million salaries in 2014-15 and 2015-16 look rather reasonable. With at least this and the next season in serious doubt in terms of Chicago's ability to compete, it may behoove them to part ways with Noah before injuries begin to sully his value.
With this in mind, the Bulls will move forward trying to shed long-term salary commitments and building a team that can win with or without Derrick Rose, whichever version of him there may be. They will be watching the Charlotte Bobcats as closely as they do the recovery of Rose.
The Bobcats sent a first-round pick in exchange for Tyrus Thomas in 2010. This pick is protected, meaning that in the first years of the deal, Charlotte does not give away the pick if it is very high in the draft. In the coming season, a pick within the top 10 stays with Charlotte. In 2015, that becomes the top 8. By 2016, there is no protection and Chicago receives the pick regardless of draft slot.
The hope for Chicago is that Charlotte remains bad enough to continue picking in the top 8 through 2016, where Chicago will get a good chance at a very high draft pick. The signing of Al Jefferson and their decent start leaves that plan in doubt. Either way, drafting will become much more important for Chicago in the coming seasons, even to the extent that they are likely to try to unload their talent as soon as possible to avoid a good record to end this season.
The Bulls' first-round selection from 2011, a 6-foot-10-inch star in the Euroleague named Nikola Mirotic, will almost certainly come stateside next season and will be seen as a building block for the future. Translating production from European basketball is difficult, but his current production in Europe's top league is LeBron-like in its efficiency. Mirotic is no LeBron, but could indeed be an excellent scoring-oriented forward in the NBA.
You might have noticed that I have not talked about Derrick Rose for quite a while. This is a sign of things to come. After the shock wears off, and it most decidedly has not, Rose will be repressed to the background, a painful memory. He will be like Grant Hill to Orlando or Allan Houston to New York, a constant hope but never an assumed part of the plan. That is, not the on-court plan; Rose's escalating yearly salary, as did Hill's and Houston's, will continue to burden any attempts to sign top veterans.
The Chicago Bulls will now be a team in transition. Due to the constraints of the salary cap, however, they were doomed to need significant personnel shuffling. With Derrick Rose out for now and the longevity of his career in doubt, the real change lies elsewhere. Just weeks ago, Rose was impressing in preseason games and Grantland's Bill Simmons made waves by predicting an NBA championship for Chicago. Hope sprang eternal.
If nothing else, what the Chicago Bulls lost late Friday night was their hope.
Jacob Long, a native to the Chicago area, is a writer on the Yahoo Contributor Network. He has experience covering sports and news for WMC-TV in Memphis, TN and owns the film and TV blog The Renegade's Film Journal. Follow him on Twitter @jlongrc.Derrick Rose Out for Season; What Is Next for Chicago Bulls?
Yahoo Contributor Network By Jacob Long
November 25, 2013 4:26 PM
Derrick Rose Out for Season; What Is Next for Chicago Bulls?.
View gallery
Derrick Rose.
COMMENTARY | Derrick Rose, after undergoing knee surgery, will miss the rest of the season.
Related Stories
Derrick Rose reportedly worried that Bulls will choose rebuilding over championship contention NBC Sports
Time for Chicago Bulls to Cut Their Losses With Marquis Teague Yahoo Contributor Network
Report: Bulls not looking to trade Luol Deng. Why would you think that? NBC Sports
Boozer, Bulls too much for Heat (VIDEO) NBC Sports
Boozer leads Bulls to 107-87 win over Heat The Associated Press
No, this isn't a flashback to 2012. That was his left knee, and that was a shock to fans hoping for a title in 2012. This is his right knee and this time, it is not just a season that Chicago Bulls fans are worried about.
With two major knee surgeries within two years, Bulls fans are seeing a disturbing pattern. Derrick Rose is not just a franchise cornerstone that has to sit out for a season. He is a player that will have played just 49 games over the past three seasons, with the beginning of the 2014-15 season already in doubt. In a league where superstars rule, there will be no certainty that the Bulls still have such a player.
Doctors performed a repair on the meniscus, which takes much longer to heal than a "clean up" but helps to avoid long-term, Dwyane Wade-like knee problems. When Rose returns, it will be difficult to predict where his mind will be after spending multiple seasons on the shelf with major injuries. His skills will have to regress, at least temporarily, on a scale that is likely larger than what fans have seen so far this season. Beyond that, there is just no certainty that more injuries won't come along.
This season, general manager Gar Forman and vice president John Paxson stuck with their core group to give it a chance to make a run for a title. Derrick Rose has not been able to complete a playoffs with the group of Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah since 2011, their first season together as a unit.
There were good reasons that Forman and Paxson could have elected to break up this group -- Boozer is eligible for amnesty and is making a great deal of money while Luol Deng is on the verge of becoming a free agent and likely could have netted the team a first-round draft pick before the past year's NBA draft.
A hope to make some magic with that group and see what they can do with more than just one season for a sample size was the reason upper management decided against splitting the team up. Yet again, they will not get to find out what that core of players can do. Expect at least two of three non-Rose members of the core to be gone by the beginning of next season.
I have already written that, short of an NBA Finals win or similarly spectacular scenario, Luol Deng cannot return to Chicago after this season. With Rose out for the foreseeable future, the Bulls will now shift their energies toward trying to get the most possible trade value out of Deng. With just a partial season on his current contract, the Bulls are unlikely to receive that first-round draft pick type of value without taking on bad, long-term contracts.
Boozer will also be shopped on the trade market, but will more likely become a victim of the amnesty provision at season's end. This allows Chicago to release Boozer without having his salary count against the salary cap. Every other team with sufficient cap room will be able to bid on Boozer's services, with the Bulls paying the difference to ensure that he receives the salary owed. At that point, the Bulls will be in a less-than-nightmarish salary cap position going forward.
Before the season began, Joakim Noah was the least likely of all players to move. As one of the league's few true centers, his $12.2 million and $13.4 million salaries in 2014-15 and 2015-16 look rather reasonable. With at least this and the next season in serious doubt in terms of Chicago's ability to compete, it may behoove them to part ways with Noah before injuries begin to sully his value.
With this in mind, the Bulls will move forward trying to shed long-term salary commitments and building a team that can win with or without Derrick Rose, whichever version of him there may be. They will be watching the Charlotte Bobcats as closely as they do the recovery of Rose.
The Bobcats sent a first-round pick in exchange for Tyrus Thomas in 2010. This pick is protected, meaning that in the first years of the deal, Charlotte does not give away the pick if it is very high in the draft. In the coming season, a pick within the top 10 stays with Charlotte. In 2015, that becomes the top 8. By 2016, there is no protection and Chicago receives the pick regardless of draft slot.
The hope for Chicago is that Charlotte remains bad enough to continue picking in the top 8 through 2016, where Chicago will get a good chance at a very high draft pick. The signing of Al Jefferson and their decent start leaves that plan in doubt. Either way, drafting will become much more important for Chicago in the coming seasons, even to the extent that they are likely to try to unload their talent as soon as possible to avoid a good record to end this season.
The Bulls' first-round selection from 2011, a 6-foot-10-inch star in the Euroleague named Nikola Mirotic, will almost certainly come stateside next season and will be seen as a building block for the future. Translating production from European basketball is difficult, but his current production in Europe's top league is LeBron-like in its efficiency. Mirotic is no LeBron, but could indeed be an excellent scoring-oriented forward in the NBA.
You might have noticed that I have not talked about Derrick Rose for quite a while. This is a sign of things to come. After the shock wears off, and it most decidedly has not, Rose will be repressed to the background, a painful memory. He will be like Grant Hill to Orlando or Allan Houston to New York, a constant hope but never an assumed part of the plan. That is, not the on-court plan; Rose's escalating yearly salary, as did Hill's and Houston's, will continue to burden any attempts to sign top veterans.
The Chicago Bulls will now be a team in transition. Due to the constraints of the salary cap, however, they were doomed to need significant personnel shuffling. With Derrick Rose out for now and the longevity of his career in doubt, the real change lies elsewhere. Just weeks ago, Rose was impressing in preseason games and Grantland's Bill Simmons made waves by predicting an NBA championship for Chicago. Hope sprang eternal.
If nothing else, what the Chicago Bulls lost late Friday night was their hope.
Jacob Long, a native to the Chicago area, is a writer on the Yahoo Contributor Network. He has experience covering sports and news for WMC-TV in Memphis, TN and owns the film and TV blog The Renegade's Film Journal. Follow him on Twitter @jlongrc.
