Benching Rose is the right thing to do
More valuable as backup than starter
NBA players sometimes still refer to locker rooms as their inner sanctum, as a sacred refuge from the cruel, critical world. But the truth is locker rooms are public places these days, overrun with camera- toting media types before and after games, about as private as a Bloor Street storefront display.
That’s why teams have turned their locker rooms — the room where players actually keep their stuff — into just another wing of their plush square footage. The Raptors have a trainer’s room and a player’s lounge and a weight room and a practice gym that are all off limits to prying eyes. Nobody with a brain keeps anything in their locker unless they don’t mind it being seen. You could be sure that Jalen Rose was making a statement, then, when the Raptors swingman taped the boxscore of Toronto’s Nov. 16 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers to the dark- wood wall of his Air Canada Centre stall. His line that night was notable — zero points, four fouls and three turnovers in seven minutes — and so was his postgame commentary.
“ I didn’t foul out,” said Rose at the time.
It wasn’t difficult to read outrage between the lines. And so yesterday, when Raptors coach Sam Mitchell announced that he was responding to his team’s 1- 13 win- loss record by removing Rose from the starting lineup, who wasn’t anticipating a little soap- opera- worthy plot turn hinging on Rose’s gift for dramatic soliliquay?
It’s hard to forget the day Rose was demoted from the first five last year. The veteran was summoned to a pre- game meeting at the Air Canada Centre that was attended by everyone from Wayne Embry, the special advisor to the CEO, to Rob Babcock, the general manager, and it was in that meeting that Rose was informed he’d been pulled from the first five to make room for Eric Williams, whose acquisition in the trade that shipped Vince Carter out of Toronto had been widely criticized.
For the occasion Rose wore all black — he even helpfully announced that he was wearing “ black drawers” to go with the black earrings and ensemble. The loss of his starting job was funereal. But Rose isn’t alone in his reluctance to be a reservist. Damon Jones has been in a season-long sulk in Cleveland since coach Mike Brown opted to start Eric Snow at point guard. And though the strategy makes sense to most observers — Jones isn’t Snow’s equal as a defender but he’s an offensive sparkplug against second-unit players — it made apparently none to Jones.
Likewise Rose. Rose played better coming off the bench last season. In 16 games as a reserve, he averaged 16.9 points per game — compared with 18.5 points for the season at large. But he scored more efficiently, making 49.7 per cent of his shots compared with his season- long rate of 45.5 per cent. He was more selective. He took advantage of inferior second- unit defenders. But Rose admitted last year that, for all the money he makes — $ 15.9 million ( U. S.) this season — and for all the accolades he’s received, he still likes to hear his name announced in the pre- game build- up. The NBA has abetted that urge by turning the announcement of the starting five into a multimedia circus, complete with elaborate video montages and excessive pyrotechnics and juiced- up boxing- style announcers who leave no R unrolled.
It’s more than a moment of glory. NBA starters generally get paid more than NBA backups. But Rose has no argument. He has been awful in everything but the press conference. He is shooting 17 per cent from threepoint range. There are War of 1812- era muskets that fire more accurately.
Rose’s future, when his current contract runs out at the end of next season and he looks for a home where he can win the ring he says he covets, is as an offthebench offensive producer. Resistance, among other causes in Raptorland, is futile.