Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Following a playoff sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs will weigh up the pros and cons of signing point guard Derrick Rose.
The season-ending injury to Tony Parker this postseason may have been the inadvertent catalyst in the San Antonio Spurs' search for a new point guard.
Based on a report from ESPN's Ian Begley, one target may be Derrick Rose. According to Begley's piece:
"Some rival executives believe that the San Antonio Spurs may have interest in Rose, depending on how the free-agent market for point guards develops."
Of course this summer represents a plethora of free-agent point guards entering the free agency market. Players the caliber of Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry and Jrue Holiday are just some of the floor generals available on the open market. With Parker facing an expected lengthy rehab process, and free agent backup point guard Patty Mills also coming out of contract, the time seems right for a changing of the guard in the backcourt.
In his debut season for the New York Knicks, Rose played in 64 games, averaging 18.0 points, 4.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 32.5 minutes per game. In an encouraging sign, Rose converted at a 47.1 percent clip from the field, his best return since his second season in the league.
Unfortunately, as has been the recurring theme over recent years, Rose's season was cut short due to a knee injury that required surgery.
Still just 28, the three-time All-Star and 2011 league MVP certainly presents a conundrum for any team which plans to court him this offseason.
With this in mind, here's a look at the pros and cons of the Spurs signing Rose this summer.
Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Arguments for signing Derrick Rose
There were plenty of signs throughout the course of this season to indicate that Rose still has plenty to offer moving forward.
One indication was Rose's drives per game. Known for his blinding quickness prior to his series of horrible knee injuries, Rose's ability to drive into the heart of the defense and attack the defense was more and more evident this season. Over the course of the season, Rose averaged 10.0 drives per game, ranking him 11th overall in the league.
In contrast, the Spurs as a team averaged just 25.4 per game, ranking them 22nd amongst all teams. This was led by Tony Parker with 7.5 per game. With Parker out, this area will clearly need to addressed. Parker's backup, Patty Mills, averaged just 1.8 drives per game this season.
Tying in with Rose's impressive driving numbers are his shooting numbers close to the rim. Over the season, Rose averaged 7.1 attempts per game less than five feet from the rim, ranking him 11th overall in the league. As a team, the Spurs averaged just 25.0 shot attempts per game within five feet of the rim, ranking them 29th overall.
Despite completing an impression season statistically, Rose had his lowest usage rate since his rookie season at 25.6 per game. This can primarily be due to the presence of the Knicks' frontcourt duo of Carmelo Anthony (29.0) and Kristaps Porzingis (24.4).
By way of comparison, Rose had a usage rate of 31.9 in his MVP season of 2010-11. This season, Rose had just two games of with a usage rate greater than this mark. However, Rose did manage to have eight games with a usage rate of at least 29.5. During these games, Rose averaged 25.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 35.5 minutes per game. Furthermore, shot 45.2 percent from the field and 92.6 percent from the free throw line.
While this is a short sample size, it certainly indicates that Rose its still more than capable of producing at a high level. Impressively, six of these eight games came against teams that participated in this season's playoffs, including the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
An area in which Rose excelled this season was shooting from the midrange (between 15-19 feet). Over the season, Rose converted at an excellent 47.7 percent clip from this area of the court. Of the 34 players in the league who averaged at least 2.4 attempts per game from this range, Rose finished with the seventh-best conversion rate.
Rose's most impressive game this season came during a road win against Eastern Conference finalist, the Boston Celtics. Playing 33 minutes, Rose posted 30 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. The highlights from this vintage Rose performance can be seen here:
As can be seen, Rose demonstrated his full arsenal on the offensive end – commanding drives to the rim to finish, pull-up jumpers, step-back jumpers and precision passes. Furthermore, it comes as no surprise that Rose had his highest usage rate for the season – 39.6.
Following this performance, Celtics' center Al Horford stated succinctly:
"He can still play, and he reminded us of that tonight."
In essence, Rose provides a point of difference for the Spurs. With his attacking nature (77.0 percent of his field goals made this season were unassisted) and being just 29 entering next season, combining Rose's greatest strengths with the ever-evolving offensive system led by head coach Gregg Popovich and his staff represents a tantalizing prospect.
In summary, a Rose-Spurs partnership could prove to be one of the more inspired moves of the summer.
Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Arguments against signing Derrick Rose
The No. 1 argument against signing Rose is his body. An initial ACL tear during the 2011-12 season followed by several other surgeries on his other knee have taken their toll on Rose over the years. In fact, since his initial ACL tear, Rose has missed 219 of a possible 410 regular season games.
So naturally, the Spurs, or any team for that matter, are going to have serious concerns when considering Rose as a serious addition to their franchise. Soon to be 29 and having not completed close to a full season since his MVP season of 2010-11 (81 games), the risks are substantive.
Assuming Pau Gasol opts-in to the second year of his contract, signing Rose will certainly require some offloading of other contracts to ensure the Spurs come under the leagues salary cap. This means the likes of Jonathon Simmons, Manu Ginobili and the rest of San Antonio's free agents would need to be renounced, along with possibly LaMarcus Aldridge, Danny Green or Gasol (assuming he opts in) being moved to accommodate Rose's incoming salary.
But back to Rose's game. One glaring weakness that Rose possesses which stands out in the modern-day NBA is his three-point shooting. This season, Rose shot an awful 21.7 percent from three-point range on just 0.9 attempts per game. For his career, Rose has shot 29.8 percent from downtown. With the importance of the three-point only going to increase moving forward, this represents a huge red flag from the Spurs' point of view.
Another ramification of Rose's history of knee problems is how it's affected him on the defensive end. This season, Rose had a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 111.1, while the Knicks as a team had a rating of 108.7. The Spurs, meanwhile, led the league with a rating of 100.9 (Knicks ranked 25th). With the Spurs, Popovich and defense running hand-in-hand, Rose is clearly an outlier in this department.
So in essence, a combination of substandard three-point shooting, a lack of durability, seemingly shaky defense and the massive financial ramifications are all important issues in which the Spurs will need to heavily consider when evaluating Rose.
Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Decision time
For his part, Rose seems quite amiable to helping his next prospective team with contract negotiations.
Towards the latter part of this season, Rose addressed his thoughts on the upcoming fee agency period:
"Not even thinking money. I've got more than enough money saved. If I stopped playing basketball now, I'll be all right. I want to win. I want to be happy and feel at peace with myself wherever I'm at. But being at the negotiating table, you never know. I'm not going to negotiate with people where money is the No. 1 thing I'm asking for. I want to win."
With this in mind, the Spurs naturally jump close near the top of Rose's wish list. Obviously, the interest will need to be mutual. And standing in Rose's way may be the fact that there are several other top-notch point guards out of contract this summer.
This season, Rose had one of his most impressive overall games against the Spurs, posting 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Here are the highlights of this performance:
A report just recently emerged that the Los Angeles Clippers' are concerned that their resident point guard, Chris Paul, could be tempted to join the Spurs this summer.
But this reported pursuit, as would be the case with Rose, will be done:
"….even though the Spurs, at present, have virtually no salary-cap flexibility."
But the financial sacrifice this will require from Paul ensures that the Clippers remain the frontrunners to obtain his signature. Considering Rose's lengthy history with injury, it's quite difficult to ascertain how much a team such as the Spurs would be prepared to offer, and how steep of a discount he'd be willing to accept.
And not only is the money to be outlaid to Rose the main issue. It's also the clearing of some important players top ensure the Spurs come under the salary cap for next year and beyond. If San Antonio misses out on the other top-tier point guards this summer, perhaps Rose could be an option, but probably not one they'd be willing to clear out contracts for.
So while at this stage a union between Rose and the Spurs seems unlikely, there are few other environments around the league that could bring out the best of a player of Rose's caliber.
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