NBA: Above the Break: Derrick Rose’s Last Chance

Welcome to Above the Break – the SPOX opinion on the NBA season! Twice a month, SPOX editor Ole Frerks scrutinizes a league issue closely. This time: The quiet farewell of Derrick Rose – and the users’ questions.

The past week was dominated by the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose season has already given rise to several books – we are on the verge of an all-star break! A total of six players were sold by them, for which four players returned. It was probably the last attempt of the management to somehow save a so far terribly messed up playing time. Or maybe the penultimate. Tell Kendrick Perkins to get here first.

Two farewells in particular were the focus of attention. On one side of the spectrum is Dwyane Wade, who was sent back to his basketball home Miami – and on the other side is Isaiah Thomas, painfully reminded that he doesn’t really have a basketball home. Benevolence on the one hand, malice or compassion on the other.

Somewhere in between was Derrick Rose, in whose case many people could probably speak of indifference. In the three-team-trade for George Hill and Rodney Hood among others Rose was shipped to Utah, after 16 games for the Cavs. The jazz, in turn, only took up Rose to ensure that the salaries in the trade were right – two days later they had already dismissed the 29-year-old.

The former MVP as a throw-in at a trade where Utah actually wanted to have the (cristling) role-player Jae Crowder, and shortly after that as a free agent in the middle of the season – the last few days have shown quite relentlessly how deeply Rose has fallen within a relatively short period of time.

Especially since it wasn’t over yet. When the first rumors were circulating that Minnesota might be interested in Rose, many Wolves fans immediately moaned because Rose would only take Tyus Jones minutes away. And in Washington, too, many people went to the barricades, even though the only remaining options on the one are after the failure of John Wall Tomas Satoransky and Tim Frazier.

This may come as a surprise if you only follow the league on the periphery or if you just check boxing scores and highlights – last season at the Knicks Rose played 18 points on average, there are also scenes in which he flies acrobatically to the basket and reminds of old times. But the reality is simply different, and has been for years now. Rose is no longer a valuable player in today’s NBA.

Even better than the eye test, this can be proven by numbers that go beyond the normal box score. For example, with ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus: Rose’s -3.59th place this season puts him in 462th place out of 488 NBA players. He is ranked 458th (-0.09) in the “Wins” added by a player.

Now one could blame this on the fact that the sample is small on the one hand and that on the other hand in Cleveland was under land this year anyway – apart from LeBron James, almost every player has been in crisis so far. But you can’t call Rose an exception. Last season, when he played 64 games for the Knicks, his RPM was -2.25, ranked 332 in the league.

It was by no means a coincidence that New York did not want to offer the former superstar the big new deal he had hoped for. With a minimal contract he wanted to recommend himself for the cavs, but that also went wrong. Now you almost have to assume that the next deal he makes could be his last chance. It’s not an absurd notion that Rose might not be playing in the NBA next season.

Who would have seen that coming? In 2011, Rose was the youngest MVP in NBA history – an option that was already debatable at the time, but that’s not what it’s all about – and since then it’s been downhill at an almost pioneering pace. The beginning was undoubtedly his cruciate ligament rupture in the playoffs in 2012, and many more injuries were to follow, some severe.

But it would be a fallacy to blame everything on health alone. Of course, the injuries played a major role and robbed him of explosiveness and athleticism, his two biggest trump cards before. But this has also happened to other players before him. Since then, however, Rose has constantly missed adapting his game to the new requirements.

Since Rose’s MVP season, not only his body but also the league itself has changed dramatically. Selected examples: In 2010/11,18 three players were taken on average in the league, today there are 28.8 (rockets take 42.6!). The average pace at that time was 92.1, today it is 97.1. The game has become wider and faster, in simple terms. Pace-and-Space rules the NBA.

Especially for a primary ball handler a solid threesome is inevitable. Rajon Rondo is in a way the poster boy for a player who used to be a star in the past and who is no longer a star because of the missing throw – but even he hit the last few years just above league average (widely open, but nevertheless). He is currently just under the top, but his 34.7 percent is still better than Rose’s career record: 34 percent, in the 13/14 season.

Since then, Rose hasn’t even reached the 30 percent mark. He doesn’t even try it anymore (currently 1.5 attempts per game). As Lead Guard, you can do that nowadays if you are perhaps the biggest athletic freak on the one in NBA history (Russell Westbrook), but that’s not Rose (any more).

Especially since not only the threesome is affected. He hits 62.7 percent in the Restricted Area, and nowhere else does he crack 34 percent on the court. Last season he scored a good 44 percent (44 percent) from the middle distance, but this season his throwing profile is as versatile as that of DeAndre Jordan.

Rose has also never learned to move cleverly away from the ball and position it for layups, as Dwyane Wade, another limited edition shooter, has perfected. Therefore, it was no wonder that Rose Off-Ball didn’t work for the Cavs: Rose needs the ball in her hand to be effective, but it isn’t really effective. As hard as that sounds.

Performance in itself is not the only problem with Rose. You can literally see how frustrated he is that he is no longer the old man, especially as he still thinks he is a star. Bad body language and not infrequently a lack of dedication are the result.

Away from court, he disappeared from the team unexcused this season and returned weeks later without really explaining what he did last year at the Knicks. In the Cavs’ Locker Room, this wasn’t as bad as the one-time absence of Kevin Love due to illness, but that’s not the case.

The Cavs also knew that they needed love at a high level – while Rose didn’t expect much more. Already during his absence it was speculated that he would end his career now. Eventually he paused for over two months, partly due to injury, before he played another nine games for the Cavs. That he would not be a decisive factor in a (possible) turnaround of the team was pretty clear even before his trade.

Now the question is how to proceed with the former MVP. He will get another chance, but Rose is now carrying so much luggage, not only on the court, that as a team you have to consider in many ways whether he is worth the risk and possible headaches.

In recent years he has not been the bottom line, so several teams have now given up on him and therefore he has not even been given a chance in Utah. Fans still dream of “Vintage D-Rose”, but you should say goodbye to this thought – and that also applies to Rose herself.

Even though this is certainly not easy: Rose must finally try to reinvent himself as a player and as part of a team. Otherwise, the next chance might really be the last one.

Page 1: Derrick Rose and his last chance

Page 2: User questions: Monroe vs. Theis, the Knicks, Trade Deadline