The Sixer Sense
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The Philadelphia 76ers Should Not Want Derrick Rose

By Josh Wilson

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Tbe Philadlephia 76ers are in need of a star. Watching games is getting harder, and there is clearly a lack of a leader. Jahlil Okafor is a healthy start, but the young star doesn’t exactly promote others doing well. T.J. McConnell has consistently put up double digit assists, and earned himself a starting spot, but he’s no star, he’s far from it.

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Brian Windhorst of ESPN appeared on ESPN Radio, and told the world some incredible news regarding one of the NBA’s stars, Derrick Rose. He said that the breakup has begun, and that it’s pretty much a done deal that the Chicago Bulls and Rose will be parting ways, it’s just a matter of when and how.

Things have been frustrating for both parties. Since Rose came into the league, he’s been known as a star, but he’s failed to stay healthy, and has had to sit out for large chunks of time, which has made it difficult for the team to win. Currently, he has to wear a facemask when playing in order to avoid re-injury to a bone that was broken in his face.

Now, being on Twitter the past day or so since this news broke, I see a lot of Sixers fans volunteering their team to pick up the star if the Bulls want to get rid of him. They’ve got a ton of money to spend, which seems to be the biggest reason why the Sixers are a good spot for him to land. But let’s not jump the gun.

The Sixers shouldn’t go after Rose. In fact, they shouldn’t even think about it. They don’t want him. That’s what they need to tell themselves, at least.

Rose is a fragile player. That we’ve seen demonstrated so many times, too many times for comfort. In all of his seven seasons, he’s missed at least a few games due to injury. This is typical of an athlete, but in four of those seasons, his missed at least 10 games out of the year.

It must be remembered, as well, that when you get injured, there’s a recovery time. Players don’t return to their original form right away. It’s no different for Rose. We’ve seen him had trouble jumping right back in over time. Last year, towards the end of the season, Rose returned from injury and scored just nine points in his return game (he was on minutes restriction). It would be the same this year, and I’m willing to bet next year would be pretty similar, too.

On top of that, any team that has Rose has to be worried about injury again. He’s had problems with it before, and it’s not going to simply disappear. He will continue to have injury troubles. Any team with Rose is going to be looking towards the playoffs, and his body will not be a promise once the postseason comes around. The first few times “misfortune” for his re-injury could have been claimed, but this time it’s a little far out.

Rose is only averaging 10.2 points per game and 5.4 assists this year. He hasn’t broken 20 points per game since 2012, and this is the first year he’s broken five assists since then, too. The reality is he’s declining, and just about anyone who has watched any basketball over the past few years would be surprised to see him return to his MVP form from 2011, when he scored 24.1 points per game. His win share that year was 13.1, a personal record. Since that season, his win share has not broken six, and has been in the negatives at times.

Rose is aging. He’s not getting any younger. He doesn’t exactly fit the Sixers’ current blueprint of young players (although he would fit right in with the injured crowd of Joel Embiid, Kendall Marshall, and Tony Wroten). Sam Hinkie wants to bring in a superstar to Philly, of course, but it doesn’t seem like they’re ready to. It also doesn’t seem like Derrick Rose is the superstar to be going after.

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Rose was once a dominant superstar in this league, but a fragile body has made him an unattractive option to almost all teams, including the winless Sixers, despite their need for a star point guard. Bringing Rose on would only add to their long list of injury problems.