Derrick Rose Was Nearly a Philadelphia 76ers Point Guard

Derrick Rose was nearly a Philadelphia 76ers point guard the day before the 2016 NBA Draft.

Derrick Rose was still a member of the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday morning, but by the early afternoon, he had been traded to the New York Knicks. As information and more details about the trade emerged, the Sixers kept getting brought up, and by the end of the day, it was made clear that he was nearly a Sixer.

Early on, the Sixers were minimally tied to the deal. One of their former players, Tony Wroten, was released by the Knicks as a result of the trade, and the Sixers were reportedly in talks with the Hawks about Jeff Teague yet again, and also with the Pacers for George Hill. Teague ended up being moved to the Indiana Pacers.

Hours later, multiple sources reported that Derrick Rose, the biggest piece in the day’s trades, was nearly moved to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers were an early conversation starter with the Bulls, and before the New York Knicks offered them the deal that eventually would go through, the Sixers were the frontrunner.

More from The Sixer Sense

The details of what the Sixers offered are unknown, at least at the moment. But one would have to think that large pieces of the Sixers’ assets were involved, including Nerlens Noel or Jahlil Okafor, and then probably Robert Covington or Jerami Grant, or even both. Looking at what the Bulls got from the Knicks for Rose — Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant — it’s safe to assume that several players from the Sixers were offered to make this a reasonable and legitimate conversation.

Rose nearly coming to the Sixers tells us a lot of things, but I think the most important thing is that Bryan Colangelo and the executive team is not joking around about wanting veterans on the squad of very young players, especially in the point guard position. Although many signs point to the team trading up into the lottery to possibly grab Kris Dunn, I think that the team would much rather have a proven, established guard.

This could be dangerous. There’s evidence that the Sixers were in talks for Teague, a player who is known to have just undergone a surgery to repair a torn patella that he played all throughout this season with.

He was also very close to acquiring Rose, a player who has declined in production since he was an MVP, and a player who is known to be injury-prone. As much as I like Rose, it’s not the right move for Philly, and comes with much more risk than reward.

Next: 5 Reasons the Sixers Should Draft Tyler Ulis

To me, that’s what the whole wanting veterans is about — less risk. Rookies are huge unknowns, and that’s a large part of why Colangelo does not want them saturating the team’s core completely. But Colangelo is going after the vets with a ton of risk, and less of the reward, too.

Here’s hoping that the deal ultimately fell through because the Sixers smartened up a little bit about bringing Rose onto the team.