Herrington: Derrick Rose’s improbably long career returns him, improbably, to Memphis
Derrick Rose played a total of 53 games in the past two seasons and logged only three minutes in the playoffs for a team that played two rounds. (Paul Beaty/AP file)
Chris Herrington
Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He and his wife have two kids and, for reasons that sometimes elude him, three dogs.
Ja Morant likes it.
He broke his social media silence to signal so, retweeting an illustration of himself crouched, smiling, beside an unlikely new teammate.
Aside from a brief mid-June official statement in response to the NBA’s 25-game suspension, it’s the first time Morant has publicly communicated in more than a month.
The Memphis Grizzlies made what may be the most curious and questionable signing from the opening night of NBA free agency. But perhaps that one very public expression of approval is how you start to understand it.
Deep into the night, after more than 30 deals had been struck totaling more than a billion dollars in new salary, the Grizzlies used their last open roster spot to give a veteran’s minimum contract to a 34-year-old likely to be a third-stringer.
They used it on someone who’s played a total of 53 games in the past two seasons and who logged only three minutes in the playoffs for a team that played two rounds. They used it for someone former Grizzlies executive John Hollinger had rated as only the 29th best available free agent scoring guard, concluding “it’s questionable what he can offer on the court at this point.”
They used it on Derrick Rose.
Yes, that Derrick Rose.
One of the most talented basketball players to ever wear “Memphis” across his chest. One of only two guards to ever take the Memphis Tigers to the NCAA championship game. The only former Tiger to ever go on to win an NBA MVP award.
As an electric guard who could both lead a team and own the paint, young Rose was not just an obvious on-court precursor to a young Morant, but an acknowledged and embraced influence.
But those Derrick Rose exploits are now deep in the rearview mirror.
If this were a different Grizzlies front office in a less successful time, the signing would reek of gimmickry. A bid for some cheap pop from the home fans. A boost in attention, attendance and jersey sales.
Now? That has nothing to do with it.
That ripple of excitement will come from many quarters of a hoops-smitten city. But, if anything, it’s worth worrying that a Grizzlies front office fully free of Tiger hoops nostalgia has underestimated the cost, or perhaps just nuisance, of setting expectations too high.
Even projecting him as a fifth guard, Grizzlies decisionmakers may be expecting too much of Rose at this stage of his career. But probably not as much as some Memphis fans might be.
The Grizzlies will have hopes for Rose on the court, especially early on, as Morant misses at least the season’s first 25 games.
Rose will have a clear lane to earn a spot in the rotation while Morant’s out, to prove that this former MVP can still play.
He barely did a season ago, for the New York Knicks, averaging fewer than 13 minutes in 27 appearances, averaging six points and shooting a paltry 38% from the floor.
But the previous season, Rose averaged 12 points on 45% shooting, though again in only 26 games. The season before, in 2020-2021, he averaged 15 points on 47% shooting, playing 50 games.
Rose hasn’t been a star since a knee injury stole his entire age 24 season, a decade ago. The Grizzlies will merely hope he can rekindle some of the bench scoring he’s provided for much of his 30s, a productive second act in a career that once seemed likely to end early.
They’ll hope it’s not too late for a little bit of that.
But they also seem to be counting on Rose, following the earlier addition of guard Marcus Smart, to further bolster the functional veteran presence in the locker room.
To some, Rose might be an odd candidate for that kind of role.
His basketball career is far from unblemished, and while eligibility issues that wiped that Memphis Final Four appearance from the official record books (never our hearts) looms large locally, it pales next to the more tawdry passage that came later.
In 2016, Rose was subject to a civil suit over rape allegations. There were no criminal charges, and the jury in a federal trial deemed the allegation not credible. But the trial included testimony from Rose, particularly around the concept of consent, that was both troubling and damaging.
Rose’s NBA career was nearly derailed twice, first by injury, then by scandal. He overcame both for a successful second act, and will now embark on a 16th NBA season.
Perhaps that kind of example, ultimately of the value of professionalism to build a long career, will be a meaningful example to Morant, from a relatable source.
Strictly from a basketball standpoint, Rose is the kind of player the Grizzlies arguably needed most to start next season, while Morant’s out. But is he the right player? There were other guards who could handle and score available, ones with lesser names, but coming off of better seasons.
And, perhaps most curious of all, why did the Grizzlies need to guarantee Rose, at this stage of his career, a second season?
The Grizzlies began this opening night of free agency with a signing that no one saw coming.
They concluded it a couple of hours later with a signing everyone expected: A long-term contract extension for young star Desmond Bane, a five-year maximum salary contract (minus “super max” potential) that, due to a rising salary cap, will surpass Morant’s as the richest in franchise history, a projected $207 million.
How could a minimum signing overshadow, at least for a night, a maximum signing?
There was only one way, and the Grizzlies found it.
Derrick Rose is headed back to Memphis.
Even if he manages only the 27 games he’s averaged over the past two seasons, he will play many more games for the Grizzlies than he’s ever played against them, with a career total of 16 in 14 previous seasons, among the fewest against any team.
In an odd apparent coincidence of Rose’s NBA career, only five of those games have come in Memphis.
Improbably, Memphis has seen very little of Derrick Rose, in person, since his single great year as a Tiger. Even more improbably, the city may be about to see a lot more.
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