The choice was either Jimmy Butler or Derrick Rose, so, really, there was no choice. You choose the arrow pointing up over the broken arrow.
The Bulls traded Rose to the Knicks on Wednesday, and it was a move they had to make, provided there was a taker. It doesn’t really matter whom they got in return, though Robin Lopez, Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant now find themselves former Knicks and current Bulls.
This isn’t a fun day. No matter how much Rose might have disappointed with his stubbornness and silly statements, it was a series of injuries that changed him from an NBA Most Valuable Player to a shell of that person. If not for a simple twist of fate and a knee, he might still own his native city.
He and Butler could not play together. It wasn’t so much a personality conflict as it was simply two men who didn’t know how to coexist on the court. What the Bulls were left with was a clunky offense that had all the flow of a faucet drip. It didn’t shine a positive light on either player, and Butler will have some image repair to do.
The Bulls were lucky to find someone to take Rose off their hands, and it looks like an odd fit. The image of him playing in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense is one of a kid getting hopelessly lost in a maze.
I feel bad for Rose, the kid from Englewood and Simeon who had everything going for him until he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in a 2012 playoff game. He never got back to his previous form, struggling with more injuries and turning public opinion away from him with comments that made it appear he put himself before the team.
He clearly thinks he’ll be in line for another huge contract when his current deal expires after the 2016-17 season. The Bulls weren’t going to pay him, and they didn’t want to listen more public discussion of it for another season.
I wish Rose success, and if he happens to find it with the Knicks, I won’t criticize the Bulls for trading him. It was a move they had to make.
