Derrick Rose and the downside of promise
There was a time when the city of Chicago hoisted Derrick Rose on the collective shoulders of its citizens.
Rose was the golden child who would emerge from Michael Jordan's shadow to lead the Bulls back to the promised land. Born in Englewood, a notoriously violent district in Chicago's South Side, Rose overcame frightening odds before treading the perilous path to superstardom.
He was the rose that grew from the concrete.
The Bulls, too, beat lofty odds to get him. In 2008, the team had a 1.7 percent chance of winning the lottery, and as luck would have it, landing the first pick allowed them to bring Rose home. The 20-year-old didn't disappoint, earning Rookie of the Year honors while leading his team in minutes played and assists per game.
Rose and the Bulls were a match made in Hollywood: a talented hometown kid who led his team to a 62-win campaign in his third season and became the youngest MVP ever at the age of 22.
Chicago had a dynasty in the making, it seemed, with Rose as its centerpiece. The team had a defensive savant in head coach Tom Thibodeau, a pair of blue-chip prospects in Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler, and a host of crafty veterans. With Rose as its lead actor, Chicago seemed destined for a Hollywood ending.
Looking back, it's hard to believe the Bulls and Rose are where they are.
It seems implausible that Rose, after winning the MVP, would play in just 90 games over the next four seasons. Not one, not two, but three cruel twists of fate - and his knee - grounded Chicago's most daring acrobat.
Without their superstar, the Bulls floundered. Butler and Noah made good on their promise to take the mantle in Rose's place but, despite taking home the defensive and most improved player awards, they fell short of replacing the MVP. They've found success throughout the regular season, but without Rose, the Bulls have failed to advance past the conference semifinals in each of the past four seasons.
Worse yet, after Rose made a third comeback from knee injury last season, doubt festered in the hearts of Bulls fans. They watched, through 51 games in which he was hampered by more injuries, as someone who didn't look like the Rose they knew took to the court wearing the No. 1.
This new Rose drove less and shot more. He looked awkward in all his endeavors, with calculated hesitancy replacing the reckless abandon that was once Rose's signature. This new Rose wasn't the MVP.
To make matters worse, Rose's troubles with the mic have made him an easy target for backlash.
Last season, Rose turned a simple question about resting into a referendum on the social contract of professional sports. He opined about the long term, his life beyond basketball, and not wanting to be sore at his son's graduation - hard words for Bulls fans to hear after years of waiting on him.
This summer, the topic turned to free agency, despite the fact Rose still has two years left on his gargantuan maximum deal. Rose spouted off about "all the money that's being handed out," which made for a bad look considering the NBA literally named a rule (that allows players to earn more money) after Rose. Even his own teammate shot back at him for those comments.
The Hollywood ending never came, only an open-ended finish with the lingering question of, "what if?"
At this point, Bulls fans are no longer interested in buying into more hope. They know where that leads. All they want is a fresh start.
To that end, the Bulls canned Thibodeau, replacing him with Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls' prolonged injury struggles made Thibodeau - a hard taskmaster - an easy scapegoat. Hoiberg was also favored for his innovative offensive schemes that'll be looked upon to fix a Bulls attack that became stale while playing under the same coach for half a decade.
However, shuffling up the sidelines hasn't curbed injury woes. Rose caught an errant elbow in Hoiberg's first practice, which led to an orbital fracture. Small forward Mike Dunleavy will miss eight-to-10 weeks after undergoing back surgery. Power forward Taj Gibson is on the mend from offseason surgery on his foot.
That's three rotation players who won't be able to fully participate in training camp under the new head coach.
The Bulls and Rose find themselves in a familiar spot: still tirelessly propping up the weight of expectations while poor health nips at their ankles. The same core remains intact as the Bulls enter yet another season with the hope their promised future is still on the way, and hasn't passed them by.