Find someone who loves you as much as Tom Thibodeau loves Derrick Rose. Yesterday, the New York Knicks led by Thibodeau, who is in his first season with the team, (re)acquired guard Derrick Rose who reunites with Thibs after time with him in Chicago and Minnesota. Rose, a former MVP, has bounced around the league and this will be returning to the Knicks after spending the 2016-17 season with the team. Rose has bounced around the league a bit, he has played for the Chicago Bulls, the Knicks, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and finally spending the last year and a half with the Detroit Pistons. Before we get into what the Knicks details are, let’s look at the Pistons.
The Pistons are weird, they have won five games, but those came against the defending World Champion Lakers, the defending Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat, the East runner-up Celtics, the one-seeded 76ers, and the up-start Suns. Five good to really good teams, and they took the Lakers to double overtime on Saturday, on the road. However, they lose a lot, 5-18 is very bad. They have Jerami Grant, who is having a breakout year, Blake Griffin, who has not played well. They are not contending, they stink so deal a 32 year old guard who is on an expiring contract and comes off your bench for a young guard in Dennis Smith Jr., and a second round pick via Charlotte that will likely be in the mid-40’s, in what is a very talented and deep draft. Let’s talk about Smith. Acquired in the blockbuster Kristaps Porzingis trade back at the 2019 trade deadline, Smith has struggled in his 2 years in New York, after showing promise his rookie season for the Mavericks. He is a Restricted Free Agent to be so if Detroit decides they want to move on after the season, they can. They have guards with rookie Killian Hayes and veteran Delon Wright still on the roster, Detroit has options at the position. Smith was not playing with the Knicks, he was riding the bench. So much so, he requested to go to the NBA G-League’s bubble down in Orlando. It is a deal that makes a lot of sense for Detroit.
Now, why do the Knicks do this deal. They need scoring. Yes, they defend like all heck but they don’t have enough scorers at the guard spot. Rookie Immanuel Quickley can flat out score but none of Quickley, Elfrid Payton, or Austin Rivers are as good as Rose is. Even in decline Rose can still help you win. In 15 games this season Rose has averaged 14.2 points on 42% shooting from the field. Derrick Rose steps in and immediately becomes the team's best guard. I do not think he will start off the bat, that job belongs to Payton, and I think (for now) it is smart to stick with that. He has proven he can stay on the court the longer than Rose and gives more consistency than Quickly. However, it’s not about who starts the game, it’s about who finishes it. For that job, I’d go with Rose. He gives the best offensive punch and consistency and has proven he still has a little left in the tank. This is a very low risk move for New York, as Smith Jr. was not in their long term plans, and a single second round pick is worth maybe getting into the play-in (which the NBA is having the 7-10 seeds play to get into the playoffs). I do think the Knicks have a very good chance of getting into that play-in if they can continue to defend well, not necessarily this well, but at a top 12ish rate, and score better, which Rose should only help.
This is the third team Rose has played under Thibs for (the Bulls and Timberwolves the others) and the second time he has been a Knick after the Bulls traded him there in June of 2016. It is a deal that makes a lot of sense for New York and Detroit, both are rebuilding but one is farther along in theirs. For the Pistons it gives them the ability to look at a recent lottery pick who has shown promise, and an extra draft pick. For the Knicks, it gives them more scoring off the bench and a vet that can help their young guys. Overall, I like this trade for both sides.
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