Look, at the top, it’s important to remember that the Derrick Rose the Knicks acquired Wednesday bears only a passing resemblance to the Rose who once threatened to seize a portion of LeBron James’ kingdom in the rarefied air atop the NBA.
That version of Rose averaged 25.0 points and 7.7 assists five years ago, he led a wonderful basketball Renaissance in Chicago and was the greatest point guard in the world. He was also MVP of the NBA that year, he was 22 years old, and it seemed his future was limitless.
Of course, that version of Rose wouldn’t have even been acquirable for any price, let alone for Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant and Jose Calderon.