Detroit Pistons: Pros and cons of signing Derrick Rose
Con: Off-the-Court Issues
Rose’s veteran mentality and presence on the court is well-documented and will be a positive addition to Detroit’s locker room. However, he seems to carry with him a certain amount of personal baggage which has affected his performance in the past.
For instance, in 2015 Rose was accused of raping his former girlfriend, although in 2016 a jury found his accuser not credible, the Los Angeles Time reported.
In 2017, while a member of the New York Knicks, Rose was a mysterious no-show to a home game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Upon returning, he claimed that he flew to Chicago to address a family matter, and was subsequently fined by the Knicks organization, Fox Sports reports.
Finally, as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rose took a leave of absence while rehabbing from an injury, allegedly contemplating retirement, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. While he eventually returned to action, it became clear that Rose was unsure of his future in the NBA.
There is no reason to believe anything like this will occur while Rose is a Detroit Piston. However, it does present a new type of risk the Pistons did not encounter with a player like Smith, for example.
Rose was once an NBA superstar and still has the eyes of the media and the basketball world on him at all times, magnifying aspects of his personal life in a way that most players do not experience.
Regardless, these off-the-court occurrences are a cause of concern for the Pistons as they can, at the very least, affect his performance on the court, and potentially take him off the court, as has happened before.