A little more love for D-Rose

Most of you probably already saw Simmons' take on Derrick Rose a few days ago, but I really feel like it was dead on. I particularly liked this section:

I can't think of another sports example to match this one: Bulls GM John Paxson completely butchering an unbutcherable (I just made up that word) situation in Chicago, heading toward the chopping block, then getting bailed out at the last minute by 1.5-percent odds in the 2008 lottery. This was nothing less than a GM Death Row pardon. Incredibly, they still have one of the five worst roster situations in the league -- Ben Gordon will leave tread marks fleeing after the season, Andres Nocioni, Luol Deng and Larry Hughes have unwieldy/untradeable contracts, and two high lottery picks (Ty Thomas and Joakim Noah) look like ninth men at best. But none of it matters because of Rose. If I were Paxson, I would hug him every time I saw him. Right now, Derrick Rose is like a $500,000 Maybach parked in the driveway of a $200,000 house in the middle of nowhere. Let's hope we still aren't saying that in three years.

As I stated the moment the Bulls won the lottery, John Paxson simply doesn't deserve Rose. He held onto everyone too long, their flaws got reveled, and now a roster that once looked like it had some of the most promising young talent in the league has turned into a very mediocre one.

How, exactly, did this crew win 49 games two years ago without Rose? Watching them play now, that seems impossible. It probably says more about Scott Skiles than anything. I really think he is one of the better coaches in the NBA. The Bulls probably had to fire him because the players tuned him out last year, but Skiles deserves a lot of credit for the success that Deng, Gordon, Hinrich, and Noce had a few years ago. Remember how ferocious that team was defensively? They didn't play that way because the guys on the roster were particularly great individual defenders, I'm pretty sure it was all Skiles.

I also wanted to touch on something that Connor and Stompy briefly discussed yesterday: how long before Pax acquires the pieces around Rose to make the Bulls a contender? Rose will absolutely be ready to go as a franchise player next season, so Paxson better not waste this offseason. Waiting for 2010 may be a decent plan, after all, Wade is from Chicago and playing with Rose will be appealing to everyone, but if the Bulls can resign Gooden to an affordable deal, trade Noce for a decent shooting guard who can defend and knock down open 3's (easier said than done, I know, but it's not like the Bulls need to pair Rose with another stud in the backcourt. Mo Pete has worked out pretty nicely in New Orleans. I'm thinking someone around his talent level), and somehow find a way to get a low post scorer, I really think they can be one of the better teams in the East next year. That's how good Rose is already. He doesn't need much, but he does need something.

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I'm loaded with school finals the next two weeks, so, like I said before, things may be a little slow around here. One final I'm doing is a paper on the convergence of new media and traditional media in sports journalism, and I've actually scored some solid interviews so far. I've already sent questions to Dan Shanoff and Dr. Lawyer Indian Chief, and Sam Smith just emailed me back saying it's cool if I sent him a few questions, which is awesome (Smith's latest on how Mike almost become a Knickerbocker is probably something you start reading right now, by the way).

So I'll ask Smith a few things about going from the Trib to the Web, but I'm also going to try to sneak in a few Bulls questions I'll post on this site. Do you guys want me to ask anything in particular, since he's been around the team since the beginning of the Jordan days and all? Just throwing that out there.