Despite his insistence that the Knicks were a super team at the beginning of the season, Derrick Rose‘s first year in New York was anything but superb. For the fourth straight year, the Knicks won't be in the playoffs and unfortunately for Rose, his season ended with yet another injury as he tore the meniscus in his left knee against the Pistons on March 27.
Rose's injury is coming at an extremely unfortunate time for him as he will be a free agent this summer. And now with his injury riddled past on top of his average play, there may not be that many options for Rose. But somewhat surprisingly, the Knicks may consider re-signing Rose. At least that's what Jeff Hornacek says.
“When the season ends we'll all sit down and try to figure out the plan going forward,” Hornacek said on Tuesday, according to ESPN.com’s Nick Friedell. “Derrick did a lot of good things for us this year. The way he can break down the defense — I think he was starting, as the season went on, got a little more comfortable with that offense. So it's an unfortunate break for him he has to have another surgery, but I'm sure he'll come back strong from it. He worked really hard last summer to get his body in good shape, so I'm sure he'll do that again. When we go over [our plans] at the end of the year, it's a guy we'll definitely take a look at and see if we can bring him back.”
Rose wasn't completely terrible with the Knicks. Offensively he was fine after a slow start and averaged 18 points and 4.4 assists while shooting 47.1 percent. But he often looked to get his shot first and openly complained about the Knicks' use of the triangle offense. Plus Rose didn't seem to mesh well with Kristaps Porzingis, often not passing the Knicks big man the ball. And there's the issue with his dismal three-point shooting as Rose shot 21.7 percent from long distance this season.
Defensively, Rose struggled as well. He was never a strong defender but can be a fine fit if there is a strong team defense. But that's not the case with the Knicks, who remained near the bottom of the league all season in defensive rating. Because of this, Rose's flaws on defense were always exposed and opponents naturally took advantage.
So why would the Knicks want to bring Rose back?
Well given his latest injury, the Knicks could possibly re-sign Rose on a low cost, short-term deal and he can serve as insurance in case New York is unable to land another point guard in the offseason. Also, Rose may be the Knicks' best option in free agency. Jrue Holiday may re-sign with the Pelicans and due to New York's losing ways, the Knicks likely have no chance with top tier free agent guards like George Hill and Kyle Lowry. The Knicks may have a shot at signing Jeff Teague, but he may want to re-sign with the Pacers and continue to play in his hometown of Indianapolis.
But signing Rose may once again prevent the Knicks from going into a full rebuild mode. The Knicks seem tantalizingly close to engaging in a rebuild, especially since Carmelo Anthony seems to be hinting that he is ready to get traded. Bringing back Rose will hinder the Knicks from truly moving forward from their current state and won't allow some of New York's youth to fully develop. Plus Rose is coming off another knee injury and will likely take some time to get into a rhythm.
Of course Hornacek could just be saying nice things about Rose and perhaps the Knicks aren't really considering bringing him back. But no matter what New York decides to do when it comes to Rose, his once promising career is now very uncertain, which is quite similar to the future of the Knicks.
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