Derrick Rose

Knicks Notes: Chemistry, Rose, Oakley

Many factors contributed to the Knicks’ disappointing season, though team chemistry belongs near the top of the list, Ian Begley of ESPN.com notes. Earlier in the season, Rose went missing for a game and he addressed his teammates on the following night, apologizing for putting them in a bad spot. Begley hears from a source that after Rose concluded, no one said a word and the scribe believes it’s a testament to the team’s lack of cohesiveness.

Here’s more from New York:

  • Prior to Derrick Rose‘s latest injury, the Knicks were still considering him as an option had they missed out on bigger free agent targets, such as Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague, Begley writes in the same piece. Coach Jeff Hornacek recently said the team won’t close the door on a Rose return.
  • Rose would be happy to get another shot with the Knicks, but he’s excited to hit free agency for the first time in his career, Lonnae O’Neal of The Undefeated passes along. “I would love to stay here,” Rose said of New York. “I love my teammates, I love the coaches, I love the front office. But this will be the first time that I will hit free agency, so I want to take advantage of everything and just see what the free agency system is all about.”
  • Charles Oakley has been arraigned in court on charges stemming from his ejection from Madison Square Garden earlier this season, ESPN.com relays. Oakley has maintained his innocence and declared that he’ll fight the charges.
  • Carmelo Anthony is reportedly leaning toward waiving his no-trade clause this summer. Unless he and Phil Jackson can reconcile, New York will look to deal him.

Doctor Assesses Derrick Rose’s NBA Future

A New York-based knee specialist warns that Derrick Rose‘s style of play will make him vulnerable to injuries for the rest of his career, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post.

Dr. Armin Tehrany of Manhattan Orthopedic Care said the meniscus tear that resulted in Rose’s fourth knee operation was a result of repeated strain, rather than one specific incident. Tehrany identifies the problem as degenerative cartilage that has eroded over nine years in the NBA.

“If I was a betting man I’d say it happens again,’’ he added.

Long-term health will be a concern as the 28-year-old enters the free agent market this summer. Rose managed to play 64 games this season [and 66 a year ago in Chicago], but he has now had two surgeries on each knee and has to be considered a health risk going forward.

“When I watch him and see how he plays, I think it’s because [of] how incredibly explosive he is,’’ Tehrany added. “He drives to the basket so much. The speed that he’s able to move, his explosive style, that puts a lot more pressure on his knees and his body. That could lead to a breakdown. The mind can be much more powerful than the body. What the mind wants to do and what the body can accommodate unfortunately isn’t the same.”

With just two games remaining, it’s possible that Rose’s time with the Knicks is finished. New York will host Toronto today and the Sixers on Wednesday, and coach Jeff Hornacek isn’t sure if Rose will attend either one. He has been rehabbing in Chicago since having surgery on Wednesday.

Rose began doing yoga last year and spent the summer working out with New York Jets trainer Sal Alosi. Before the meniscus tear ended his season, Rose frequently talked about how good his knees felt.

Rose should be able to resume basketball activities in four to six weeks, and barring another mishap will be 100% when training camp opens in the fall. While Tehrany believes he has the ability to get back to an MVP level, the risk of recurring knee problems will always be present.

“He’s quote, unquote an old 28 because he’s been through so many injuries,’’ the doctor said. “You think about LeBron [James], early 30s, and he’s very fortunate genetically. I think actually you can argue [Rose] can get back even faster because unfortunately he’s a veteran at rehab, knows the protocol, understands what he has to do and at 28 doesn’t want to give up right now.’’

Knicks Notes: Rose, Hornacek, Ewing

As we learned earlier today, Derrick Rose underwent an “uncomplicated” left knee arthroscopy to handle his meniscus tear. He’s expected to resume basketball activities in roughly three to six weeks. Here’s more on the 2010/11 MVP as well as notes on his current team:

  • The Knicks have left the door open on Rose returning to the team, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes.“Derrick did a lot of good things for us this year, with the way he can break down the defense,” coach Jeff Hornacek. “We’ll take a look at it and see if we can bring him back.’’
  • Mike Vorkunov of The New York Times isn’t optimistic about Rose’s future with the Knicks. The scribe believes the franchise should be able to replace Rose with a prospect through the draft.
  • Patrick Ewing recently agreed to become Georgetown’s head coach, but that may be the first stop on his way to becoming the coach of the Knicks, Berman writes in a separate piece. A source tells Berman that Ewing’s relationship with Knicks owner James Dolan is “fully repaired.”
  • Berman notes (same piece) that Ewing had a chance to interview with the school 13 years ago. The Hall of Famer previously said that he didn’t “want to go back to college.”
  • Rose’s injury is likely to limit his options in free agency, George Willis of the New York Post argues. If Rose hadn’t suffered his latest ailment, Willis believes he would have had several multiyear offers from teams around the league. As it stands, the former MVP may have to settle for a one-year deal.

Injury Notes: Crowder, Thompson, Rose, Anderson

Jae Crowder‘s status for Boston’s game against Cleveland on Wednesday night isn’t yet known, but an MRI on his injured left elbow confirmed that there’s no structural damage, which is good news for the Celtics forward, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. Crowder referred to himself as day-to-day, and there’s a chance he’ll play through the injury.

Meanwhile, on the other side of tonight’s matchup, there’s some some good news and bad news for the Cavaliers. In the positive column, Kyle Korver returned to the team’s lineup on Tuesday night after missing 11 games with a foot injury. However, another key rotation player, Tristan Thompson, left that game with what has since been diagnosed as a sprained right thumb.

Thompson has appeared in 447 consecutive games, but that streak will come to an end this week, as he has officially been ruled out for the Cavaliers’ next two games against Boston and Atlanta. The veteran big man will continue to undergo treatment and be re-evaluated, with the team presumably hoping he can return in time for the playoffs.

Here are a few more injury updates of note from around the NBA:

  • The Knicks announced today (via Twitter) that point guard Derrick Rose underwent an “uncomplicated” left knee arthroscopy to address his meniscus tear. The team expects Rose to resume basketball activities in about three to six weeks.
  • Rockets forward Ryan Anderson, who has been sidelined with a sprained ankle for nearly two weeks, may return later this week. As Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston tweets, James Harden suggested today that the club is hoping to get Anderson back on Friday.
  • Dirk Nowitzki has a chance to return to the lineup for the Mavericks on Wednesday night, per head coach Rick Carlisle. Nowitzki will be a game-time decision after having sat out the team’s last game with Achilles soreness, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.
  • Colin Hoobler, a physical therapist in Portland, took a closer look at Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic‘s fibular fracture in an interesting piece for The Oregonian.

Atlantic Notes: Holmes, Anderson, Rose

The Sixers may have found a long-term backup to injured big man Joel Embiid in 2015 second-round pick Richaun Holmes. Holmes, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes, has thrived given the chance to fill in and step into a larger role.

Holmes has averaged 13.8 points and 6.6 rebounds in just 25.9 minutes per game since the All-Star break, about twice what he contributed for the Sixers prior to it.

Sixers head coach Brett Brown acknowledges the improvement and thinks that Holmes’ success could be here to stay. “I think a lot of the good teams have those lightning-in-the-bottle players that can just change a game,” Brown said. “You know, initially, you are wondering can he be one of those. Is he a duration player? I think since he’s come into the starting five, you are recognizing that there’s more durability.”

  • If the Knicks decide to release Derrick Rose, it will free up $18MM in cap room for them to find a point guard or draft one this offseason. As Bobby Marks of the Vertical explains on Twitter, the pending free agent otherwise has a $30MM cap hold set for this summer. Earlier today we wrote about Rose missing the remainder of the season with a torn meniscus.
  • Though the refs assigned Kyrie Irving a flagrant foul for his shove on Sixers forward Justin Anderson Friday night, the victim doesn’t take it personally. “He was just protecting his teammate, I think he saw LeBron James went down [on the previous play],” Anderson told Joe Noga of Cleveland.com.
  • Second-year forward Justin Anderson is getting his best opportunity to show the Sixers what he’s capable. Anderson has seen his role increase now that Robert Covington has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, writes Brian Seltzer of the Sixers’ official website. “My job is to go out there and make the most of it,” said Anderson. “It’s not to try and become All-Star in this little bit of time. My job is to show that, no matter what, this team can rely on me, I can be consistent, and bring the energy playing defense, rebounding the basketball, and then contributing on offensive end in many different ways.
  • The Celtics have been a model team for rebuilding clubs looking to turn their fates around, Taylor C. Snow of the Celtics’ official site writes. Rival Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek cites the roster full of hard-nosed guys as one of the major reasons behind their success.

Derrick Rose Tears Meniscus, Out For The Season

12:30pm: The Knicks have confirmed the injury to Rose’s left knee and say arthroscopic surgery will be required (Twitter link). Estimated recovery time will be six to eight weeks, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

12:04pm: Knicks point guard Derrick Rose has a torn meniscus in his knee and won’t play again this season, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. This would be the fourth knee operation of Rose’s career, according to Dane Carbaugh of NBC Sports.com.

It’s uncertain how long Rose will need to recover from the injury or how it might affect the offers he gets in free agency. The 28-year-old played 64 games for the Knicks, averaging 18.0 points and 4.4 assists per night. He made more than $21.3MM in the final season of a five-year extension he received from the Bulls.

The injury could signal the end of Rose’s time in New York, as reports have said Knicks management is disappointed in his defense and won’t make a strong effort to re-sign him this summer. Rose was acquired from the Bulls last June along with Justin Holiday and a second-round pick in exchange for Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant and Jose Calderon.

Knicks Notes: Rose, Anthony, Hornacek, Porzingis

Following brash remarks from Derrick Rose, the Knicks announced Carmelo Anthony (sore lower back), Lance Thomas (hip), and Rose would sit out tonight’s game against the Heat. Leading into Friday’s road match-up, D-Rose described the Knicks as a superior team to Miami.

“We’re more talented,” Rose told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “It shows basketball is a team sport. Any year in the league is about whoever catches a rhythm. No matter how your season is going… you can always catch a rhythm, they caught theirs at the right time, winning [13 in a row]. They have been playing great basketball ever since then. So we never caught that luck this year.”

More from The Mecca…

  • Jeff Hornacek sung a different tune than Rose, saying the Knicks have much to learn from Erik Spoelstra‘s Heat. “Use Miami as an example,’’ Hornacek told Marc Berman of the New York Post. “It’s old-school basketball. Bump and grab, and the referees are not going to call all of those. As long as they stay that aggressiveness all game long, they get away with those things. They have good stretches – get five, six, seven stops in a row and take the lead on you.’’
  • Kristaps Porzingis discussed the Knicks’ shortcomings in 2016/17, citing “consistency” as a major issue for the team. “We didn’t do it from the beginning the right way,” Porzingis told Fred Kerber of the New York Post“We didn’t have real fundamentals as a team and I think from the beginning it worked for us because we played based off our talent and based off good energy. Once things got a little tougher, we just didn’t have the fundamentals as a team.” Porzingis went on to say he had the team tabbed for a “six, seven, eight seed” finish.
  • Scottie Pippen aimed pointed criticism at Phil Jackson, saying his former coach should be pushed out of his job. “I just think he [Jackson] hasn’t put the right pieces on the floor,” Pippen said on ESPN program The Jump. “I give a lot of credit to Carmelo, who has been very professional in getting through this 82-game season, and now he’s being benched to some degree, they’ve taken a lot of his minutes away. This team really just hasn’t had it. They haven’t had it since Phil Jackson landed there. I’m sure the fans will love to see Carmelo in New York and Phil out.”
  • Stefan Bondy of the Daily News outlined ‘Melo’s dilemma: being too young for a mentor role, yet too old to be on a tanking team. “Anthony is only 32 years old, too young to serve as a mentor player/coach to the likes of Ron Baker, Maurice Ndour and Chasson Randle,” Bondy writes. “He knows that. There’s too much basketball left in his legs to take on a reduced role for the sake of a rebuild — for more losing and better lottery odds. To use Anthony’s words from Wednesday, “I see the writing on the wall.”

Jeff Hornacek Talks Defensive Struggles

The Knicks‘ defensive inconsistencies have haunted them all season. Per “Defensive Efficiency,” a metric devised by John Hollinger of ESPN, the Knicks rank 26th in the league with a 108.9 rating. Jeff Hornacek has previously voiced frustration at his team’s defensive effort- in early January he conceded “we just must not be good enough defensively”- but he doubled-down on his criticisms prior to Monday’s match-up with Detroit.

“Defensively, we’ve got a lot of work,” Hornacek told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of the Daily News. “We’ve got to try to figure out what’s going to be best for us. The personnel, we were trying to mix things up a little bit, see if we can find something that worked. We never really found anything. But going into next year we need to really stay with one way and keep practicing until we get it right.”

Hornacek alluding to next season is a recent development. Only in mid-March, when the Knicks were already 6.5 games out of the eighth seed, did Hornacek acknowledge “the playoffs may not be in reach.” (Daily News link) Hornacek’s job security appears to be intact, per a March 16 report from Marc Berman of the New York Post.

With Hornacek at the helm for a second season, however, the Knicks will have to make roster adjustments to improve on each end of the court. As Bondy points out, Derrick Rose, Courtney Lee, and Carmelo Anthony have all had bottom-35 defensive ratings around the league.

“We can use some more defensive players. They’ll look at that. Steve (Mills) and Phil (Jackson) and the front office will look at whatever can help us out. We know we need some help there,” Hornacek said.

Knicks Rumors: Carmelo, Rose, Jennings, Plumlee

After a confusing and disappointing 2016/17 season that saw the Knicks mixing and matching the triangle offense with Jeff Hornacek‘s more fast-paced system, the team will head into next season focused solely on the triangle. And that means that one or two members of the club’s “big three” may not be back.

As Marc Berman of The New York Post and Frank Isola of The New York Daily News detail, Hornacek didn’t come right out and say that players like Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose, who aren’t particularly fond of the triangle, won’t be Knicks next season. However, he hinted that those veterans may have to change their views on the triangle — otherwise, Phil Jackson and GM Steve Mills “will look at other guys.”

Asked about the Knicks’ offense, Anthony admits that he liked the faster and more free-flowing approach that the team had earlier in the season, per Berman. “We kind of slowed down, started settling it down,” Anthony said. “Not as fast. The pace slowed down for us — something we had to make an adjustment on the fly with limited practice time, in the course of a game. Once you get into the season, it’s hard to readjust a whole system.”

Rose is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, so – triangle or no triangle – there’s a decent chance he’ll land elsewhere. As for Anthony, his aversion to Jackson’s system is one reason why the Knicks have considered moving him, but he’ll have to waive his no-trade clause for a deal to happen.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • Although he has suggested in the past that he’ll seek a lucrative contract in free agency, Rose said on Wednesday that he’s “not even thinking money” as his free agency approaches, according to Berman. “I’ve got more than enough money saved. If I stopped playing basketball now, I’ll be alright. I want to win,” Rose said. “I want to be happy and feel at peace with myself wherever I’m at. But being at the negotiating table, you never know. I’m not going to negotiate with people where money is the No. 1 thing I’m asking for.”
  • Now a member of the Wizards, Brandon Jennings spoke to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News about why things didn’t work out for him in New York. One major factor? “I didn’t really understand the triangle,” Jennings said. “I think that was my biggest thing. I really didn’t understand it.”
  • With the Knicks taking a longer look at their young players down the stretch, rookie big man Marshall Plumlee will see more minutes. As Berman writes for The Post, Plumlee is hopeful that he can carve out a role as an effective defender and rebounder off the bench.

Free Agent Rumors: Teague, Rose, Olynyk, Waiters

Much has been made of Paul George‘s approaching free agency, but the Pacers star won’t be eligible to hit the open market until 2018. Another key Indiana player – Jeff Teague – will see his contract expire this summer, and if Teague leaves the Pacers as a free agent, that probably increases the likelihood of a George departure as well, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.

One league source who spoke to Deveney predicted that Teague will seek a contract close to the max, pointing to Mike Conley‘s five-year, $150MM+ deal with the Grizzlies as one that Teague’s camp will probably bring up in contract negotiations. However, Deveney notes that Teague grew up in Indianapolis and would like to stay with the Pacers, which means a hometown discount isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Here are a few more notes from around the NBA related to current free agents or players whose contracts will be up this summer:

  • In a video for The Vertical, Bobby Marks and Chris Mannix identify Knicks point guard Derrick Rose and Celtics big man Kelly Olynyk as two free agents whose value is very hard to pin down. Mannix suggests he wouldn’t commit to Rose for more than one or two years, while the duo agrees that Olynyk will likely command an annual salary worth at least $10MM, a substantial price to pay for a player whose production has been inconsistent.
  • It has been a tale of two seasons for Dion Waiters, who is enjoying perhaps his best year as a pro in Miami, but has also been slowed by various injuries, including the ankle sprain that currently sidelines him. Still, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel doesn’t expect those injuries to give the Heat much additional leverage in contract talks this summer with Waiters, since they’re not serious, long-term ailments.
  • Former NBA players Solomon Jones and Jarnell Stokes are currently NBA free agents, but both players have signed D-League contracts, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back (Twitter links). Stokes’ D-League rights are held by Sioux Falls, so last year’s NBADL will return to the Skyforce. The club waived former NBA center Johan Petro in a corresponding move.