2018 NBA free agency grades: Timberwolves to re-sign Derrick Rose

After being brought into the Minnesota Timberwolves organization late in the season, free agent Derrick Rose has agreed to re-sign with the team.

It’s been a very interesting and rather disappointing career for the former No. 1 overall pick. Derrick Rose was the youngest player to ever win MVP. Sadly, injuries derailed his career and he was never able to get to that high-flying and electric level again.

Still, after adding him to the roster late last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves were able to re-sign him to a small deal.

It’s not to say Rose hasn’t been a good player, it’s just that he’s never been able to get back to his MVP form. Rose had some good seasons with the New York Knicks, averaging 18.0 points per game in 2016-17.

Rose then signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and that went … well, let’s just say not well. Like a lot of story lines from Cleveland, a lot of players had a hard time fitting in and things were not running as smoothly as everyone anticipated.

That’s why the Cavs made so many moves at the NBA Trade Deadline. Players that were shipped out of Cleveland ended up doing quite well with their new teams. Rose was one of those players.

Reunited with his former head coach in Chicago, Tom Thibodeau and Rose were finally back together (like all the other former Bulls players).

Some believed that Rose would have earned a lot more money this offseason after a strong showing in the playoffs and end to the regular season. Regardless, this was a very big signing for the Wolves because they are already tight with money and will be for the foreseeable future.

Minnesota is going to offer Jimmy Butler a max extension and if he does sign it (though he’s not expected to), then the front office will be scrambling to find ways to wiggle its way around the team’s cap situation.

Rose was an important piece to what the Wolves were able to do. Butler went down with a knee injury and that left them with little to work with in the backcourt. They didn’t have great depth and they had troubles finding people to score off the bench. Insert Rose and the Wolves finally had some production.

During the regular season with the Timberwolves, he averaged 5.8 points and 1.2 assists per game. He was trying to adjust quite a lot that late in the season, so there were a lot of rusty times for the former MVP player.

The playoffs are where he really found his groove and was arguably at times the Wolves’ best player. He even showcased good defense — something he’s not really known for having.

In the playoffs, Rose averaged 14.2 points and 2.6 assists per game — a completely different stat line from what we saw during the regular season. He did get a lot more playing time, but we started to see flashes of that once great player.

These highlights are a great example of what he was able to do in the Wolves’ first playoff birth in 14 years. We don’t know if this will take time away from Tyus Jones or newly drafted rookie Josh Okogie. What we do know is that Minnesota found depth and scoring off the bench.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: A