While Rose has told people he's all right, details have been scarce, and the lack of an explanation is a problem for Rose moving forward. Of course, everyone hopes that he and his family okay. But no one would have had a problem if he'd needed to address a personal matter and taken leave from the team - as long as he'd actually told someone about the issue. There have been countless times where someone, be it a player or coach, has needed to go take care of a family situation, and no one would ever stop anyone from doing so.
Instead, the Knicks were blindsided. When the Knicks convened for shoot-around at the team's practice facility in the suburbs north of New York on Monday morning, there was no hint Rose would be absent from the game. He was present at shoot-around, and when Hornacek met with members of the media less than two hours before Monday's game, only one player - rookie forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas - was said to be unavailable.
The lack of information puts Rose in a potentially problematic situation and leaves his team sorting through additional drama as it tries to right itself from losing eight of its last night games. When, or if, Rose does return, he will have to address questions both from his teammates, the media and the fans in New York. And his answers need to be satisfactory if he wants to not endanger his status on the team.
The truth is that Rose needs the Knicks more than the Knicks need him at this point. Despite his resume, which includes being the No. 1 overall pick in 2008 and the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2011, Rose is no longer a player to be feared by opposing teams. Yes, he's proven he can still score this season, as he's averaging 17.3 points per game. But Rose's defense has been below average, and his lack of a three-point shot (he's shooting 24.5 percent, and is a career 30 percent shooter from behind the arc) leaves him at odds with the modern NBA, where effective shooting at virtually every position - up to and including at center - is vital.
Set to enter unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career this summer, Rose needed to prove he could be a difference-maker after being acquired by the Knicks this summer from the Chicago Bulls for a package of Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant and Jose Calderon. The fact Rose spent most of training camp in Los Angeles as a defendant in a civil rape trial, in which he was eventually found not liable, only made the need for a fresh start all the more apparent.
Instead, Rose has looked like the same player he was the past two years in Chicago in the wake of two lost seasons to knee injuries -- a decent scorer who does little else. That's a player without much demand in today's NBA.
And all of that was before Rose disappeared Monday and the Knicks continued their recent tailspin in as ignominious a way as possible. Between Rose's disappearance, Carmelo Anthony and Kyle O'Quinn both being ejected and at one point trailing by 29 points at home against a Pelicans team 10 games below .500, it doesn't get much uglier than it did at Madison Square Garden Monday.
So where does everyone go from here? As dawn breaks, details remain scarce about Rose's situation, and it would be helpful for everyone to hear from Knicks president Phil Jackson. But given Jackson's two most recent public interactions with the media have consisted of him commenting on LeBron James and his "posse" and then subsequently criticizing Anthony, it seems unlikely Jackson is about to break his silence with the team's beat writers anytime soon - particularly given a potentially delicate situation. However, these instances are precisely the kind Jackson should handle, given he's being paid US$12 million a year to be the face of the organisation.
A suspension for Rose could be possible, but that would require him rejoin his teammates. There has been no indication when - or if - that will happen as of now. There's already been speculation of trouble between Rose and Hornacek, especially after Rose was benched in favor of undrafted rookie Ron Baker at the end of Friday's game in Milwaukee. Given that is the only win the Knicks have had in the past two weeks and Baker's play in the fourth helped swing it in New York's direction, it's hard to fault Hornacek for how he's handled his point guard.
A buyout is another possibility, given Rose is on an expiring contract, but given he was already starting for the Knicks, and it didn't appear that was going to change anytime soon, it's hard to see how getting bought out and going elsewhere would do anything to help his status heading into the summer. Instead, it would only add to the baggage Rose is currently toting as he tries to land another lucrative contract in free agency.
In trading for Rose and then subsequently signing Courtney Lee and Noah to big-money contracts in free agency, the Knicks hoped to surround Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis with the kind of talent necessary to turn the Knicks back into contenders in the Eastern Conference. Instead, it's simply reverted the Knicks back into the same ridiculous mess they've been for virtually all of the past 15 years. Now they have a point guard that has gone missing, a center in Noah who is the runaway winner for both worst contract of the summer - one that has over three years remaining - and now has Anthony leading the league in ejections after getting tossed for the third time during Monday's loss.
For all of their problems, however, even after Monday's loss, the Knicks are two games out of seventh place in the Eastern Conference, and three games out of fifth. Losing eight of nine may make it seem like the season is over, but in the Eastern Conference it just means its the Knicks' turn for a slide down the standings, and there's plenty of time to right the ship.
The question now is whether Derrick Rose will be part of those efforts. After the way Monday played out, its anyone's guess what will happen next.
