Getty Derrick Rose is in a new role.
The New York Knicks have a healthy Derrick Rose back this season, but he’s in a much different role than he’s been used to.
Since leaving the Chicago Bulls, Rose has settled into a role as a sixth man throughout his various stops with the Timberwolves, Pistons and now the Knicks. When he got hurt last season, the Knicks slid far out of contention, and so there was a lot of excitement when he came back.
Interesting enough, being healthy wasn’t enough for Rose to get more playing time, and he’s averaging a little under 13 minutes per game. Adding Jalen Brunson to the team meant Rose’s minutes were going to drop no matter what, but not many people could have foreseen this.
Rose seems like he’s been taken off guard by it, but he’s handling it like a champ.
Rose Sounds Off
The former MVP has been through a lot in his career, and with age catching up to him, a smaller role was to be expected. With that said, it’s a spot he’s never been in before and he’s still getting used to it.
“I’m in the unknown, trying to stay focused, give my all every day, talking to the guys, being vocal like I said earlier on in the year,” he said via the New York Post. “Trying to communicate to them what I see on the floor, but yeah, this is new — foreign — for me.”
The Knicks have a lot of young players vying for playing time with Cam Reddish, Quentin Grimes, Obi Toppin, and Immanuel Quickley, somebody had to see a decrease in playing time. We’ve even seen Evan Fournier lose his starting role and see a greatly reduced workload as a a result.
“Just got to stay ready, find a way to stay ready,” Rose continued. “It’s like everything, forcing me to evolve into who knows, what knows? But I always take it as a challenge where I’ve just got to find a way to stay ready.”
If Rose continues to ride the bench as he has, he could make a for a good trade candidate at the deadline because there are a lot of teams who could use his veteran leadership from the bench. The Knicks look like they are going to be a near-.500 team this season, so perhaps Rose’s talents would be better suited on a championship contending team.
What Will the Knicks Do?
The Knicks have some valuable assets to trade away if they decided to go down that path, but it remains to be seen what the plan is. Rose’s presence was sorely missed last season, and the same could be said of this year if they continue to not play him.
Part of his limited playing time could be because of the fact he’s recovering from an injury that kept him out of the majority of last season, but it’ll be hard for him to find rhythm without more playing time.
At the very least, he’s a guy who can mentor some of the younger players on the roster, so keeping him around for that, even if he’s not playing a lot, is still valuable.