The New York Knicks have acquired G Derrick Rose, G Justin Holiday, and a 2017 second round draft pick from the Chicago Bulls for C Robin Lopez, G Jose Calderon, and G Jerian Grant.

This trade seems like two bad front offices making a collectively bad trade. I initially thought it sounded like a good idea for the Bulls to get Rose’s contract off the books, but his contract is up after next season. They actually are taking on more money in the long run, because Robin Lopez is owed $41 million over the next 3 years. On top of that, this upcoming season will be a better indicator of what Rose will actually be like going forward, because he will have finally had an entire healthy season and offseason. We might find out that they sold pretty low on him if he ends up improving. The return is really small for what they gave up. Lopez is pretty good, but we’ve probably already seen his peak. Calderon is bad. Jerian Grant could end up being decent, so there’s that.

For the Knicks this trade signals that they are going to try and go all in for Melo. I honestly thought they might consider trading him and building around the much, much younger Porzingis, but this pretty much eliminates that possibility. I think the upgrade to Rose could make the Knicks contenders for the 3-8 seed in the East, but there’s no way it makes them any more than that. I think they would have been better off trading Melo and building around Porzingis to make a run in 3-5 years, because LeBron is going to control the East as long as he decides to stay there. They didn’t really give up much, so if Rose plays poorly next season, they could just let him walk and open up all that cap space for free agency. In a vacuum this trade is pretty good for the Knicks, however context plays a huge role here. They are squandering future opportunities for immediate results.

Bulls – D-

Knicks – C

Update #1: I feel like I need to address the fact that most other media outlets are raving about this trade for the Bulls. They’re saying Derrick Rose was “untradable” and getting back a quality center on a good contract is a huge win. Here are a few of my thoughts:

That’s assuming the Derrick Rose we got this past year is going to be the Derrick Rose we get next year and every year going forward. I have no clue if he’ll get better, but players tend to play much better after a full year of being healthy, and GMs are constantly proving that they are willing to take risks on gambles that have huge payouts. It’s why Ty Lawson keeps getting contracts. There’s a chance he could rebound into the All-Star he once was. It’s the same story with Derrick Rose. I’m not going to sell low on a stock that is poised for a rebound. You can’t convince me that if Derrick Rose came into the next season and put up 18/7 on 45/30 shooting that the Bulls couldn’t have gotten more than Robin Lopez at the trade deadline. If he doesn’t improve, you let him walk. You also can’t convince me that paying Robin Lopez $14 million a year for the next 3 years is some kind of great bargain or huge win. I know he’s good. I know Joakim is gone. I know the cap is rising significantly, but center is not a position I’m going to dedicate that much money to; just like a running back in football. They just don’t provide that much value anymore unless they can shoot, pass, or rebound at an elite level. I know he’s a good rim protector, but he’s not at the Rudy Gobert/Hassan Whiteside level. Guys like Brandan Wright and Bismack Biyombo signed for much less than $14 million last year. There is definitely someone out there who will sign for less this year. Give me two athletic wings for $7 million a year or maybe even a stretch 4/5 on $14 million, but I don’t think a team with Robin Lopez as their 3rd or 4th highest paid player is going to have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. Another point I’m hearing is that now Jimmy Butler will be happy which was a huge motivator in sending Rose away. Now it’s HIS team. 1) I think that the locker room beef is overstated. They’re both professionals. They could play one more year together to see if Rose improves. And 2) Jimmy Butler is not good enough to be the best player on a championship team. If he can’t stand sharing the spotlight then there’s really no hope for the Bulls to win, because they can never bring in anyone as good or better than Butler.

So I stand by my D- grade. The Bulls sold low on a good stock. They should have at least waited until the trade deadline to see if he improved, and even if he didn’t, they could have gotten a trade just as good as, if not better than, this one.