Timberwolves sign Derrick Rose for remainder of the season

In an unsurprising yet sudden move, the Timberwolves have officially signed point guard Derrick Rose for the rest of the season.

If you thought that the persistent rumors for the past 13 months or so that included Derrick Rose ending up with the Timberwolves were finally being proven to be completely false, you’d be excused. After all, Rose has been a free agent for nearly a month, and the Wolves had yet to make a move.

But, if you began to succumb to the self-talk that Rose wouldn’t end up in Wolves colors this season, well … sorry.

This, from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, invaded the timelines of Wolves fans everywhere on Thursday morning.

Since then, the Timberwolves have confirmed the addition.

Rose, of course, was the 2010-11 NBA MVP and had three consecutive awesome, All-Star seasons under Tom Thibodeau in Chicago. Then came the devastating knee injury in the 2012 playoffs, followed by an entire missed season and just 10 games played the following year. The recurring leg injuries came one after another, and Rose was clearly a shell of himself throughout the remainder of his time with the Bulls.

He spent the 2016-17 campaign with the Knicks, and averaged 18 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting from the floor. Rose’s defense, however, continued to crater, and perhaps even more frightening, he posted a career-low assist rate of just 22.8 percent. Additionally, through 16 games in Cleveland this year Rose’s assist rate sat at just 13.1.

The athleticism clearly isn’t there anymore, although the desire to shoot all game long still exists. Here’s what I wrote about the prospect of Rose heading to Minnesota just after the trade deadline in early February.

"…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."

Nothing to add. The jury rests, your honor.

The timing of the signing was odd after three straight days of practice and no games since last Friday, but here’s why it didn’t happen until Thursday of this week:

Rose was apparently at shootaround today in advance of Thursday night’s tilt against Boston. Here’s a few Thibs quotes.

We linked to the serious off-the-court issues in the quotation above, so if you aren’t familiar … it would be good to read-up.

In terms of on-court fit, the idea of a Jeff Teague-Rose or Tyus Jones-Rose backcourt is frightening. Rose simply can’t defend at an NBA level, and he provides zero floor-spacing on offense. The addition really only cements the idea that the Wolves will be further entrenched into isolation ball, even in the midst of the absence of Jimmy Butler — ironically, they’re only outstanding isolation player on the perimeter.

Next: The evolution of Gorgui Dieng's jumper

It would be mildly surprising if Rose turns around and plays on Thursday night, but it will certainly be something to watch for as the Wolves suit-up for the first time in six days.