Sports on Draft

With the recent blockbuster deal of Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks, all eyes are on this year’s NBA offseason for trades are already being processed prior before free agency opens this Friday, July 1st.

The former No. 1 pick by the Bulls in 2008, Derrick Rose, has had sort of an untarnished legacy with Chicago; Rose through out the years, displayed his MVP talent only in flashes, because he missed a great deal of playing time due to injury and mental instability.  Bulls’ fans were only able to see instances of their superstar because of his dramatic battles of injury, and the process after physically, and mentally.

Rose had reminisced his 2010-2011 MVP season when he finally returned in 2013, he had showcased streaks of his explosiveness during his limited minutes on the floor, giving the city of the Chicago optimism – shockingly until the explosive point guard sustained another injury during a regular season game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Bulls’ superstar returned once again in 2015, but continually was riddled with knee injuries; Rose was forced to miss 30 games. The Bulls organization and by others around in the league grew doubtful in the former MVP, Chicago’s front office had decided to trade Rose to the Knicks on Wednesday June 23, 2016. One of the earliest trades in the NBA off-season were one of the bolder, and shocking ones in my opinion. This opens up a lot of questions for this 2016-2017 free agency for many reasons.

Begging to be asked first is: if the New York Knicks will have a shot to be not only playoff bound, but contenders; the Durant trade rumors continue to circle around the league, and there are reports that New York could possibly be in that mix. Another question is how Derrick Rose legacy will turn out with the Knicks, for many felt that the young point guard may have had some bad luck in Chicago and might have not been meant to be.

Being in a new destination brings many things, and one of those things is a big effect mentally –for Rose, his Chicago past is now behind him, and now he can exist through a different perspective, perhaps a much more positive one. I am confident that Rose will have successful opening season in New York, and hope he can form a new identity with the Knicks as a consistent, poised player.

The Durant-Knicks rumors may have just been hype, I question the possibility of Knicks bringing in another superstar or at least this quickly, for Durant’s No. 1 destination should be in Oklahoma City.

The NBA offseason has already started with a bang as the Serge Ibaka trade in OKC also turned heads, changing more momentum in the NBA Western Conference. The Thunder is starting to lose it’s ’11 NBA Finals identity, trading one of there star big-men and there two superstars being on the brink of free-agency – Kevin Durant this Friday July 1^st, and Russell Westbrook the following season.

Hassan Whiteside, Paul Gasol, Dwight Howard, DeMar DeRozan, and even Jeremy Lin, are feature names being set to mark this year’s NBA free agency; this will be an interesting offseason.

Photo by nikk_la (Flickr: IMG_2227) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons