The long rocky tenure of Derrick Rose with the Chicago Bulls is over. It seems just like yesterday this fairytale was just beginning. The young kid from one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago started his career vowing to bring a championship to his home city after the Bulls jumped multiple teams to get the no. 1 pick. It was against all odds. Rose was against all odds. The city embraced their hometown hero but everything came crumbling down quickly. The love for Rose turned into hate and bitterness. The hometown hero failed his team and his city and quickly turned into a villain. But Rose was simply a victim of his circumstances and the heavy hopes the entire city laid upon him.

Almost upon his immediate arrival Rose was labeled a savior for the Bulls. Chicago struggled through mediocrity once Michael Jordan retired. They were never quite good enough to get anywhere and weren’t quite bad enough to draft a star. That all changed in 2008 when Chicago against all odds won the lottery to nab the no. 1 pick (a 1.7% chance to be precise). It seemed like destiny and it wasn’t long before Rose was taking the team to great new heights again. “The next Michael Jordan” people in Chicago would say. Rose embraced the role of the savior for a city who desperately needed one.

Rose was the perfect antagonist to the NBA’s new favorite villain, Lebron James and the Miami Heat. Lebron was loud, expressive, and demanded the star treatment. Rose was quiet, humble, and led by example. The Bulls spent the regular season beating up and frustrating Lebron. Lebron ultimately took Rose down in the playoffs but the Bulls seemed destined to be Miami’s perfect foil. That is until Rose battled through injuries all of next season and tore his ACL in the 2012 playoffs. Rose’s career wasn’t over right at that moment but there was a fear immediately that he would lose his explosiveness. Chicago fans would never end up finding out as Rose continued battling through various unfortunate injuries. It was the beginning of the end.

Can you blame Chicago Bulls fans for having high expectations for Rose? No, afterall this was just the second time the team won the top overall pick (Elton Brand being the other player) but it doesn’t justify someone’s home city turning on them for unexpected injuries. Rose’s story is a cautionary tale to other players for playing in your home town. Star players already have so much pressure on them but there’s nothing quite like being the star player for your hometown. Lebron James went down this same path and felt burnt out by the end of his first tenure with Cleveland. The expectations are almost too great and he had to flee to Miami to get away from all of it. In some ways the story of Derrick Rose parallels the one of Lebron James. Rose, however, experienced a somewhat alternate universe to Lebron. More and more fans turned on their former MVP as he failed to bring home the championship and failed to get back to form.

Team trainers have come out over the years and explained that any athlete who went through a bad injury will likely go through another set of injuries due to over compensating for the original injury. It becomes a mental battle for the player. They start putting more weight on the other leg and relying on it more after an injury such as a ACL tear. This has been the ongoing hypothesis of why Greg Oden kept going through injury after injury and sports physical therapists tried to re-teach him how to walk to some extent. While the physical recovery is lengthy, most people don’t understand the mental recovery. After Rose’s second serious injury he would spend the next few months second guessing every drive to the rim. It becomes an internal battle every game. Rose used to be one of the most fearless players on the court so after two serious surgeries could you blame him for being wary of every drive to the basket? The old Derrick Rose would get knocked down to the floor on the majority of his dunks or lay up attempts. The new Derrick Rose had to think about his future. One more serious injury and he could be staring at an early retirement. He tried to reinvent his game by shooting more and shooting from further distance. The results were less than desireable. Derrick Rose has never shot above 34% from the three point line and he has only shot above 30% from three in three seasons on his entire career. Rose’s field goal numbers have severely dropped off since missing all of the 2012-13 season as well. Since his MVP season in 2010-11 where he shot 44% his numbers have fallen to an ugly 35% in 2013-14. He numbers have rebounded a bit and he shot almost 43% last season. He still has a long way to go but this is a player who has missed large chunks of playing time the last five years. It may take him a while to get back to form or he may never get there again.

The more Rose’s numbers fell the more the fans turned on him. Fans posted insulting memes and called him a coward. None of us truly know what Rose went through in his multiple recoveries. Few people have experienced so many setbacks in their professional careers. All Rose wanted to do was play basketball. He watched from inside his home listening to all the harsh critiques of his character. People were upset about a player being paid the max salary and sitting out games to rest his body. People could never understand the fear he had to go through. All he wanted to do was get through a full season without another setback. Rose gave so much to the city of Chicago and now when he needed our understanding we turned on him. People called him weak (to put it politely) and scared but this kid grew up in Englewood. He is tougher than any of those supposed fans. If a guy can make it through there and come out so successful, he’s not babying an injury.

Rose spent five seasons giving it his all with countless hard falls to the floor and putting the team on his back. Rose took a starting five of Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, and Keith Bogans to the Eastern Conference Finals. This was a tough defensive team but no one brought a steady offensive game night in and night out beyond Rose. The Bulls were a top team in the NBA again due to Rose and we turned on him because his body betrayed him.

The rift between Bulls fans and Rose along with Chicago’s front office grew to the point that the Bulls traded him last week to the New York Knicks. The trade seems like the right decision for both teams at this point. The Derrick Rose Bulls are officially over. Joakim Noah grew older and reportedly doesn’t want to resign with the Bulls. The coach who stood by Derrick’s side was fired last summer. And in the time Rose was out with injuries a new star emerged for the Bulls, Jimmy Butler. Both guys have different styles and it didn’t like the best partnering. All the reports of there being a rift between the two certainly didn’t help. It was time for Rose to move on. He needed a fresh start and to get away from all the noise and reminders of how he failed his hometown. With this trade Rose gets a fresh start and expectations are a little lower. Rose seems happy with the move stating “Thanks for trading me.” New York fans are even tougher than Chicago fans so there’s no guarantee this will work long term (his true shooting numbers haven’t been in the top half of the league since his first four years in the league) but it’s a nice short term gamble for New York. The free agent point guard market this summer is very limited and beyond Michael Conley, Rose is probably going to end up being a better choice than any of them. In New York Rose won’t be expected to do the heavy lifting. He has Carmelo Anthony now playing alongside him and rising star Kristaps Porzingis. Carmelo has always been known to be a ball hog but last season he showed a different side. Expect plenty of Rose/Porzingis pick and rolls and pick and pops being incorporated into their offense.

In exchange the Chicago Bulls can move forward with Butler as their centerpiece or do a complete rebuild. The story of Derrick Rose didn’t work out like he and many expected. Chicago still hasn’t won a championship and Englewood is still one of the most dangerous neighborhoods but we shouldn’t take away from a man who tried to fix it all. Derrick Rose had the same expectations of himself that the city of Chicago had of him. Sometimes things just don’t work out that way. Rose went from a hero to a villain while Lebron James became the hero bringing home the gold for his city. Sometimes a change is needed. Hopefully Rose can find his peace in the city that never sleeps or maybe time away is all he needs. Maybe one day the prodigal son can return and help win it all for his hometown but in the meantime he still has a fan right here.

 

The 2016 NBA Draft is over. Plenty of teams made meaningful maneuvers throughout the day and night but a few particular ones stood out. These are 2016’s winners and losers:

Winner: Oklahoma City Thunder

Losing Serge Ibaka is tough as he’s been there nearly the beginning but a starting line of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Victor Oladipo is terrifying. These guys are going to pick apart offenses with their long arms and athleticism. The big question mark now is who’s going to start as power forward for OKC? Ibaka is a nice pick up for Orlando but he’s plateaued and OKC wanted to sever ties before his value diminished further. Somehow OKC keeps shipping people out and getting young guys back who develop into great players. Receiving Domantas Sabonis in the trade also brings up questions about Enes Kanter’s future in OKC. Sabonis projects to be a post presence and paying 17 million for a sixth man in Kanter may prove to be too rich for the historically cheap Thunder team. Last season OKC was in the top three for team payroll and even with the cap boom this summer this is not a team who wants to hover around the luxury tax for long. Oklahoma City can offer both Oladipo and Steven Adams contract extensions this summer and there’s only so much money to go around. Dion Waiters is likely gone this summer now unless he comes cheap and Kanter will likely be the next OKC player on the block if Sabonis turns into a solid player.

 

Winner: Minnesota Timberwolves

Good lord this team is going to be scary. This team has two future all stars in Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns and they just drafted Kris Dunn. Kris Dunn is a perfect match with Tom Thibodeau’s hard nosed style of play. Minnesota still has to do something about their offense as it drops off every time Ricky Rubio steps off the court but Thibodeau is leagues above Sam Mitchell when it comes to coaching. Watch out for a Rubio trade either this season or next. Shabazz Muhammad and Nikola Pekovic also figure to be on the trading block (spoiler alert: no one is taking Pekovic without assets attached). Minnesota’s pursuit of Jimmy Butler last night didn’t work out and it’s probably for the best. Butler is fantastic but his age doesn’t overlap with the rest of the team and trying to turn the Timberwolves into a contender too quickly may stunt the growth of some players.

 

Undecided: Sacramento Kings

Just when it looked like Sacramento was finally making some smart moves they decided to use the 13th pick to draft Georgios Papagiannis. Papagiannis is a nice player who’s bg and has nice agility for someone his size but this was obviously a reach and they already have so many centers lined up. Nonetheless, obtaining the 13th pick, the 28th pick, a 2020 second round pick, and rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic for simply moving down a few spots in the draft is a hell of a return. Also getting the 22nd pick in exchange for Marco Belinelli might be the most underrated move of the night. One thing to watch is Sacramento’s star player’s tweet of “Lord give me the strength” after Sacramento’s 1st round pick hints at possible further turmoil. The Kings also had projected lottery pick Skal Labissiere fall to them at no. 28. Great pick but again they chose another big man. How will they all share minutes? Sacramento desperately needs more of their picks to work out for them while trying to win. Their moves on draft night were all over the place and hard to predict how well they did or where they’re going. The Kings are still the Kings.

 

Loser: Charlotte Hornets

Charlotte is the universal winner of making puzzling choices on draft night. Their draft record in the last 5-6 years is pretty terrible (including picking Frank Kaminsky last year over Justise Winslow, Myles Turner, and Devin Booker!) They even passed on the opportunity of receiving multiple picks from Boston in exchange for their 9th pick. The ironic part is they probably could have taken the trade and still drafted Kaminsky with the lower pick. This year early reports indicated Charlotte was willing to part with their 22nd pick if someone took on the contracts of Spencer Hawes or Jeremy Lamb.  Instead they ended up taking on extra salary with Marco Belinelli’s contract. Belinelli is a fantastic shooter but he’s past his peak and has two years left on his contract. He played so poorly last season they probably could have gotten him for something a lot less valuable.

 

Loser: Boston Celtics

Boston failed to cook up that big trade they were looking for. They went after Jimmy Butler hard but the Bulls didn’t take the deal. The Celtics still have a lot of mid level young guys and have struggled two years in a row now to land a big deal. On top of that Jaylen Brown is one of those guys who could really go either way. He’s a smart slasher and seems like a good teammate but he still can’t shoot and that is a problem Boston dealt with all of last season.

 

Winner: Memphis Grizzlies

Selecting Wade Baldwin at 17 could be one of the biggest steals of the 2016 draft. High IQ and 6’11 wingspan. Whether he’s backing up Michael Conley or becomes the default starter, this is a nice long term piece for an aging core.

 

Winner: Patrick McCaw

Golden State paid 2.4 million to obtain this second round pick and immediately gave McCaw two years guaranteed. This kid is going to be good and the Warriors were willing to commit quite a bit to get him. McCaw is still raw but he has all the makings of a good player. He has great size and plenty of potential. He’s still figuring how how to use his athletic body and needs time to develop his skills and rail thin body but that’s exactly what Golden State will give him. If he can put it all together this will go down as a steal. McCaw is a good distributor, showed glimpses of being a good three point shooter in college, and can develop into a defensive weapon. Lets not forget his team went through turmoil with their coach so he didn’t get quite the development he needed.