Derrick Rose is expected to be released by the Utah Jazz after landing in Salt Lake City earlier Tuesday via trade. According to Marc Stein, the Timberwolves are interested in signing him if he clears waivers.
Tom Thibodeau hasn’t even been in charge of the Timberwolves for 22 months, and we’re already on at least our third separate Derrick Rose rumor.
After the dust settled on Cleveland’s sudden burst of wheeling and dealing late Thursday morning, it was reported by Yahoo’s Shams Charania that the Jazz will waive Derrick Rose to allow him to sign with a contender, provided he clears waivers. The New York Times’ Marc Stein stepped in to confirm the fears of many a Timberwolves fan…
The Timberwolves will try to sign Derrick Rose if he clears waivers after his looming release by Utah, according to league sources
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 8, 2018
With Tom Thibodeau in charge, Minnesota is a natural landing spot for Derrick Rose, who has interest in a reunion, league sources say
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 8, 2018
It’s completely unclear if this means that Rose would be a deep bench option, replacing veteran Aaron Brooks, or if Minnesota is looking to deal backup Tyus Jones or starter Jeff Teague in the few remaining minutes prior to this year’s trade deadline.
Of course, Rose is a shell of his former MVP self, and hasn’t even been a rotation-caliber NBA regular since prior to his initial ACL tear that cost him all of the 2012-13 season. He’s a bad shooter and a bad defender — the two qualities that the Wolves need the most to improve their current roster.
Rose doesn’t exactly have the reputation of a locker room “mentor”, either. His off the court issues are numerous, not to mention serious, and just this season he left the Cavs for a long period of time while reportedly contemplating retirement.
There’s really nothing about this that makes sense, save for the Thibs-Rose connection. If he’s the third point guard in place of Aaron Brooks, fine. But the guy also just averaged 18 points per game last season in New York and probably thinks he can still play at a high level, so it would be a shock if he was okay with a deep bench role.
Unless Jeff Teague is traded, Rose won’t take any minutes from Thibodeau’s $57 million man. That means that he’d take minutes from Tyus Jones, who has arguably been the Wolves’ fourth or fifth best player this season.
Any minutes that Jones might cede to Rose would be a catastrophe, and the Wolves would quickly find themselves falling out of position for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Put simply, Tom Thibodeau will be Enemy Number One in the Twin Cities if Minnesota’s own is benched for a washed-up superstar with baggage.
And while many of the criticisms of Thibodeau have been unfair or perhaps exaggerated to this point, Thibs will deserve every bit of the vitriol that he’ll surely receive if this goes down.
Next: Every Timberwolves trade rumor in one place...
But stay tuned. As always, Wolves fans: anything can happen.