THORNY FUTURE
Rose may not get big payday he expects in free agency
Free agency beckons this summer, but Derrick Rose doesn’t want to dwell on his future because he is still a Knick. But others have speculated on what Rose may find on the free-agent market, and a random sampling seemed in agreement. Rose won’t find what his status and history would suggest. “He’s the next Rondo — starter on a shortterm deal on a bad team, $15 million a year ,” suggested one agent, drawing a comparison to Rajon Rondo, who took a two-year, $27.3 million contract with Chicago last summer. “There will be a market, but it probably won’t be what he expects,” said another team executive. “I don’t think they [Knicks] will re-sign him. I think he takes less money to go to a better team. He’s not going to go to a Sacramento and lose. He’s made a lot of money. If he could get $ 8- to-$ 10 or $ 10- to-$ 12 [million] with a team he thinks is good, I think he’ll do that.” And yet another opposing team executive: “I don’t think anybody’s going to break the bank at all. In that $10-12 [million] range maybe. I think physically people will be very leery still.” Rose, however, has shown this season that he is healthy. His one-game AWOL escapade in January won’t exactly be a high bargaining chip for him when he starts negotiating, but games he missed through injury were the result of the usual dings and dents of a normal NBA season.
“People pay for talent. They don’t care about a onetime event. He’s a pretty good guy,” one of the execs said about t he January absence, when Rose missed a game to fly home to Chicago for a personal matter.
Rose spoke recently of the relief he felt from his health. He credits intense work last summer.
“I really believe I worked my butt off this summer to hold up,” Rose said. “I had aches and nagging injuries [ in the past]. This year I didn’t have that. Every game, it’s a fatigue factor, but as far as how my body’s feeling, my body’s holding up pretty well.”
So have his numbers. But with a free-agent market and a draft heavily stocked with point guards, all the positives might not be enough to land a mega-deal, one that would seem appropriate for a former MVP.
“I can’t think about it now because I’m still here,’’ Rose said of free agency.
The 28-year-old Rose has missed 228 games since 201112 — including the entire 2012-13 season. In 60 Knicks game, he has averaged 17.8 points, 4.4 assists and shot 46.4 percent. He has overcome a torn left ACL suffered in the 2012 playoffs and, after sitting a season, tore his right meniscus in November 2013. He has shown his ability to penetrate and score.
But that might not be enough to get him the $21.3 million he earned this season.
“Think short term: maybe two years for $ 30-35 million,” one other team exec said. “It’s hard to f i gure now.”
It is difficult to project who might want a point guard when the l i kes of UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, Washington’s Markelle Fultz, Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and North Carolina State’s Dennis Smith populate the top spots in the draft, and Rose is ranked seventh on one list of NBA free-agent point guards.
“It’s going to be hard. There are going to be a lot of guys who have their feelings hurt. Everybody thinks there’ll be money like last summer. That’s not going to be the case unless they stay with their own team and they’re Steph Curry or Chris Paul or Kevin Durant,” one of the execs said. “Unless he wants to sign with maybe a Philadelphia or a Sacramento.”
Bi za rr o World question: Could he return to the Knicks?
“Doubtful. He’s not a true point guard, maybe if they get a point guard to play with him. He’s a scorer more than facilitator,” one exec said.
“If they pay him the most money. Never say never,” another one of the execs said. “I don’t think there’ll be a big market. I don’t think he’ll get that kind of money, so does he sign a one-year deal at a reasonable rate?”