It’s been a terrible season for the New York Knicks, but what else is new. The Knicks are 29-48 and are prepared to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive year. On top of that, it’s been an especially drama-plagued campaign, even by Knicks standards. There was the constant trade rumors surrounding Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose’s temporary disappearance, and the unfortunate incident of Charles Oakley being kicked out of the Garden.
The Knicks tried to catch lightning in a bottle when they made a move for Rose before the season began. The former MVP was once one of the leading lights of the NBA but his career succumbed to one injury after another. If there was any way Rose could get back to his prime, maybe, just maybe, the Knicks could contend.
Rose was EXTREMELY CONFIDENT before the season, throwing out the word “superteam” when describing the Knicks and himself in the wake of Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors.
Let’s reminisce, shall we? Because these comments will go down in history as one of the great all-time NBA cold takes.
“Like I said, with that superteam term, you have to be very careful, I guess, if you’re in the United States,” Rose said. “But I feel like if you’re in any team in the NBA—it don’t have to be the NBA, it could be the college level, high school level—you should believe in yourself and have the confidence in yourself that you’re playing on a superteam anywhere. So I have a lot of confidence, and I’m not taking that back.”
Even with the Knicks eliminated from playoff contention, Rose was undaunted in his praise of his own team. He said the Knicks were “more talented” than the Miami Heat and just didn’t get any luck this season even though Miami is still battling for a playoff spot. Maybe he’s talking about what the Knicks would have done in 2010.
Again, maybe if Rose (and Carmelo Anthony) were both in their primes, we might be talking being on the verge of that superteam status, but that’s certainly not what Knicks fans were getting this season and everybody else knew that. This season ended for Rose the way that way too many have in recent times – injured. Rose will reportedly need surgery for a torn meniscus.
Before the injury, Rose’s numbers were decent. He averaged 18.0 PPG, his highest average since the 2011-2012 season. But those numbers and the ones put up by his Knicks teammates aren’t superteam numbers, not even close. Rose’s comments are a lesson that we should only reserve the term “superteam” for a club that wins a championship or two and has more than two All-Stars in the prime of their career. At the very least, let’s reserve the term for teams who aren’t eliminated from the playoffs with more than two weeks left in the season.
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