Did the Bulls make a mistake by avoiding Derrick Rose in free agency?
In the offseason it was clear that the Bulls were in search of an upgrade at the point guard position. The Bulls had nearly $20 million available in cap space this summer, and it was key that they used it wisely.
In a free agency with many former Bulls veterans available, including Derrick Rose, the Bulls went with the unconventional choice of signing Tomas Satoransky. He wasn’t necessarily the popular choice at the time but he has many qualities that were attractive to the Bulls in free agency which were size, pass first nature, defense, and versatility.
The Bulls earned many flattering compliments about the great decisions they made in free agency this summer and a lot of people were already booking tickets to All-Star Games and the playoffs expecting that the Bulls players would be competing.
Now, we’re five games into the 2019–20 season; there’s a totally different outlook.
The Bulls are 1–4, which include UGLY loses to the Hornets, the Knicks, and the Cavaliers where the Bulls were up in the fourth quarter of each of those games and failed to close.
While it’s still early in the season with plenty of time for improvement, Satoransky has averaged 5.8 points and 4.4 assists in 25.4 minutes a game. Satoransky averaged 8.9 points and 5 assists a game last year, so more than likely he will regress to the mean. This truly begs the question of why did the Bulls pay $30 million for three years to get Satoransky when Rose signed a two-year, $15 million deal?
On the other side, Derrick Rose signed to the Pistons (similar to the Bulls in that they were also looking for veteran point guard depth) during free agency. After the first five regular season games in the 2019–20 season, Rose has averaged an astounding 21.5 points and 5.3 assists in an average of 26.3 minutes off the bench.
While the grass always looks greener on the other side, the Pistons aren’t doing so well either with a 2–3 record. However, their main problem is they’re missing their star, Blake Griffin, due to injury.
Watching some of the highlights from Rose this season have made it hard for fans to understand why the Bulls missed out. Rose showed last season with the Timberwolves that he clearly was back, averaging an impressive 18 points and 4.3 assists in 27.3 minutes through 51 games. Not to mention he had a 50 point game, the most points in a game for his career at 30 years old.
I understand the devastating knee injuries have burned the front office on two occasions, but at the same time the Bulls have never looked the same since the Rose era. After only winning 22 games last season, you would think the Bulls would try to win by any means and take on more risk but it seems they were completely unwilling to tolerate another potential Rose injury.
The Bulls are now in a situation where their avoidance of Rose can come back to bite them. The Bulls play the Pistons on Friday, and Rose is more than likely at the top of the scouting report.
With a Bulls team that has suffered humiliatingly on defense so far this season, they may be susceptible to an outstanding performance by a former Bulls player that was hungry for an opportunity and was ignored by his hometown team.
If the Bulls lose to a Pistons team this Friday missing Blake Griffin and a team that already has lost to the young Atlanta Hawks, Rose will be the one with the last laugh.
