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Not Holding a Star Accountable for Disappearance

January 10th, 2017 · No Comments · Basketball, NBA

At 11 a.m. yesterday, Derrick Rose of the New York Knicks joined his teammates for a shoot-around in Westchester, N.Y.

Sometime between 1 and 2 p.m., the onetime MVP flew to Chicago without telling anyone in the Knicks organization. Which was a problem because the Knicks had a home game that night.

Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters at 6 p.m. that all the team’s players would be available for the game with the New Orleans Pelicans.

But Rose never showed up, and the game went on without their point guard, who is making $21.3 million this year.

Meanwhile, Knicks officials and players called and texted Rose, without a response. The club had someone check his apartment.

For a few hours, they had no idea where Rose was or if he had met with foul play.

As the game went on, with the Knicks looking more foolish by the minute for having no idea where their expensive guard might be … Rose finally called Steve Mills, the team general manager, and told him he was in Chicago attending to a pressing personal/family matter.

One so overwhelming that at no point — at the airport, in the air, from his mom’s house — did he have a moment to let his employers  know that he would miss the game.

So, junior executives, how should the Knicks handle this episode? And, by the way, Rose was back in New York today, in time for a noon practice session?

The Knicks fined Rose.

The end.

They did not say how much they fined him. And any fine would have to be a very big number to get the attention of a guy paid $72 million over the previous four seasons, and getting $21.3 million this season.

This is a bit crazy.

Kids working at fast-food jobs can’t Just Not Show Up for work and expect the consequences to as mild as they were for Derrick Rose.

People paid money to see that Knicks home game, and some of them might even have hoped for Rose to contribute. Instead, the Rose-less Knicks lost to the Pelicans, their eighth defeat in nine games.

Rose leaving the Knicks in the dark … his insistence that he had to go home to Chicago that very day … his ignoring calls and texts from club and teammates … is just stunningly unprofessional behavior.

The Knicks, at minimum, should have suspended him without pay for a game.

But the club either is 1) profoundly sympathetic towards their 28-year-old putative star or 2) figured they needed him to be available for their next game, against the Philadelphia 76ers, a team even the Knicks might be able to beat.

If you wonder who is calling the shots in New York, that would be Phil Jackson, former Lakers coach, who seemed to be made of sterner stuff, when he was in L.A.  Phil seems to be wearing out his welcome in NYC, where the Knicks seem to be as erratic as ever.

In New York, some of the tabloids suggested Rose was pouting, after having been on the bench for the whole of the fourth quarter in two previous games. They also suggested he doesn’t like the coach, Hornacek.

Meantime, the Knicks are 17-21, and stat people say they are most likely headed for a 36-46 sort of season, which is about par for then, over recent years, but this team, with Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis and Rose, was supposed to be a sure playoffs team.

The one upside for the Knicks? A couple of days ago, they might have been considering re-signing Rose, next summer, for the five-year max of $150 million.

Presumably, they won’t commit much money (if any) to sign him … and let Rose find another club, one that has no problem with a star going AWOL in the middle of the season.

 

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