NBA Trade Grades: Chicago Bulls Trade Derrick Rose To New York Knicks

The Chicago Bulls have traded Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks for role players and a future second round pick. Here are NBA trade grades for each side.

It’s official: The most promising post-Michael Jordan era for the Chicago Bulls has finally come to an end.

As first reported by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania, the Bulls have traded former MVP Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks for Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, Jose Calderon and a 2017 second round pick.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune first reported the full details of the trade.

The deal sends away Chicago’s hometown hero for decent role players on attractive contracts, and though Rose only has one year left on his expiring deal, this feels like the same kind of shortsighted move the Knicks have specialized in for years now.

To fully break down the ramifications of such an emotional deal, here’s a look at NBA trade grades for each team.

Next: Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls

Back in 2011, Rose was finishing up his MVP season, averaging 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game and leading the Bulls to an NBA-best 62-20 record. He was the greatest Bull since Jordan, and for the Windy City, it was “Rose before hoes.”

At the time, it seemed ludicrous that Chicago would ever consider trading their hometown hero, let alone for a package centered around Robin Lopez and an unproven second-year guard.

But after so many debilitating injuries, his controversial comments about looking ahead to his 2017 free agency and his unstable fit with Jimmy Butler in the backcourt, Rose’s value was a shell of its former self.

This past season, Rose stayed the healthiest he’s been since his ACL tear at the start of the 2012 NBA Playoffs, but his production was inconsistent. Though Rose showed flashes of his former MVP self, for the most part he was merely average, posting 16.4 points, 4.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game on .427/.293/.793 shooting splits in 68 appearances.

With Rose looking to make major money next summer and the Bulls wisely unwilling to surrender it out of pure nostalgia, it was time to finally move on to the Jimmy Butler era.

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This trade accomplishes that, even though it may be understandably hard for the Rose diehards to accept. An era that began with promises of bringing a championship back to the Windy City is over, and it’s hard not to think about what might have been if not for all those injuries.

A haul of Lopez, Grant, Calderon and a future second-rounder is hardly sexy, but it does position the Bulls relatively well for their inevitable rebuild around Jimmy Buckets. Lopez is signed on for the next three seasons at a manageable $13.8 million average salary, he’s a serviceable starting center and at this point in his career, he’s probably a more useful player than Rose.

With Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol likely to leave in free agency, adding Lopez to the roster gives the Bulls stability and defense at the starting center spot.

Grant was unimpressive during his rookie season in New York, averaging 5.6 points and 2.3 assists in 16.6 minutes per game. But he didn’t get nearly enough run time on a team that should’ve been starting him over Calderon when it quickly became clear the playoffs weren’t happening, so Grant still has plenty of room for growth.

Calderon is a veteran who plays close to no defense, but he gives Chicago a pass-first option at point guard to feed Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic as many touches as needed.

Moving on from the Derrick Rose era will be an emotional experience for many Chicago fans, and even those who recognize his all-time low value will have a hard time not reflecting on what might have been and the series of unfortunate events that led us to this end.

But from a purely logical standpoint, this trade for decent players on manageable/cheap/expiring contracts is a smart one for the Bulls.

Grade: B-

Next: New York Knicks

New York Knicks

Just when it felt like the New York Knicks were doing the right thing — trying to build around Kristaps Porzingis with the full-scale overhaul this franchise has badly needed for decades — Phil Jackson makes a trade that would’ve been highway murder five years ago.

In the present day and age, however, trading for a washed-up and injury-prone point guard whose chief value comes in his star power and marketability is the exact kind of short-sighted move that has defined the Knicks for far too long.

A core of Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis (and possibly Dwight Howard, according to ESPN’s Ian Begley) sounds great on paper…if that paper came from the year 2011. The reality is that’s an awful lot of ball-dominant, injury-prone players to put on the court together.

You can understand the Knicks wanting to put a more competitive team around Melo, and the truth is that D-Rose’s flashes of greatness last year were far better than anything Calderon or Grant brought to the court.

But Rose’s flashes of his former self were too few and far between, even if the Knicks actually intended to let him walk in free agency next summer — which, if we’re being honest, seems unlikely as they try to assemble a playoff team.

The cap room New York was projected to have next summer is starting to shrink up as rumors about Dwight Howard and a more long-term future for Rose persist, which feels like a waste since having so much max cap space was New York’s biggest ticket into a new era.

Instead, the Knicks may now try to sign D-12, Joakim Noah or Pau Gasol, essentially making this team a version of last year’s underwhelming Bulls squad with Melo and Porzingis thrown in. Jeff Hornacek might enjoy Rose’s dynamic athleticism while he’s out there, but how long will that be?

New York can walk away from Rose if he struggles with injury, but if that’s the case, they gave up a lot of flexibility for a player who would’ve been replaced by Tony Wroten — another injury-prone guard — until they waived him. There’s also the problem of New York not having a starting center now.

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Unless Jackson can sign useful role players to short one- or two-year deals, any player the Knicks bring on is going to eat into next year’s cap space, when 2017 free agency will be a bonanza. Perhaps Rose can build on his first full-ish season since 2011-12, but there’s only so much of the ball to go around between him, Melo and the Zinger.

Grade: D+