Wisch: If Rose Doesn't Want To Rebuild, He Needs To Recruit
By Dave Wischnowsky –
(CBS) So, Derrick Rose reportedly doesn't want to go through rebuilding.
Well, you know who could help avoid that? Derrick Rose.
But only if he will.
Last Saturday, the New York Daily News published comments from an NBA source claiming that Chicago's twice-injured superstar "is worried that the Bulls are going to lose what they have. He doesn't want to go through rebuilding."
"Rose has told several confidantes," Daily News reporter Mitch Lawrence elaborated, "that he is worried that the Bulls will start to let the team hit the skids by allowing key players to leave via free agency, forcing him to go through a rebuilding program that he wants no part of."
Bulls fans also want no part of another lengthy rehab process with Rose, but, hey, we don't always get what we want. And while I'm not eager to rip Derrick for not wanting to come back to a weak team in 2014-15 – who would? – the guy also can't simply have his cake and eat it too. And if Derrick wants to return to a strong lineup next year, then he's going to need to work on more than just his knee during this latest round of recovery.
He's going to need to work on his recruiting skills, too.
Which, to this point, is part of his game – check that, the game – that he's never embraced at all.
In regards to the Bulls building a championship-caliber team, Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday asked the question, "Should the Chicago Bulls sign LeBron James this offseason?" Now, that sentence of course makes the large leap of assuming that LeBron would even want to sign with Chicago after this season, something that I find less than likely.
Nevertheless, there is a good chance that the NBA MVP will opt out of his Miami Heat contract next summer and head off to a new destination, perhaps L.A. or even back home to Cleveland. If there's any chance, however, that King James might relocate his throne to the Windy City (and make that move work financially for both him and the Bulls), it would undoubtedly require D-Rose selling him on the idea of playing together and hanging more banners in the House that Jordan Built.
But back in September, before he had suffered yet another season-ending knee injury, Rose had this to say about recruiting to the social news network rappler.com: "I don't recruit. If anyone wants to play with me, I don't mind playing with, it could be anyone in the NBA, but as far as recruiting, I never did and never will."
Well, if Derrick doesn't want to rebuild come 2014-15, then he's going to need to change up his game and actually get in the recruiting one, whether that involves LeBron or other star players. After all, that's increasingly how the NBA works these days, especially at the championship level.
And, hey, if Derrick needs some recruiting advice, he knows a guy who might be able to give him some tips.
John Calipari.
It's time to get in the game, Derrick, if you don't want the game to leave you behind.
If nothing else, Dave Wischnowsky is an Illinois boy. Raised in Bourbonnais, educated at the University of Illinois and bred on sports in the Land of Lincoln, he now resides on Chicago's North Side, just blocks from Wrigley Field. Formerly a reporter and blogger for the Chicago Tribune, Dave currently writes a syndicated column, The Wisch List, which you can check out via his blog at http://www.wischlist.com. Follow him on Twitter @wischlist and read more of his CBS Chicago blog entries here.
