New York Knicks: Did NYK Mishandle The Derrick Rose Situation?

In the aftermath of the Derrick Rose saga, New York Knicks management slapped him with a fine. Did the Knicks handle the situation correctly?

If you haven’t heard yet, Derrick Rose went missing prior to last night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Rose was present during the team’s morning shoot around, and then disappeared until he made contact with teammate Joakim Noah after the game.

Upon returning to the New York Knicks’ practice facility on Jan. 10, the reason for his absence became clearer.

Rose left New York City to fly to Chicago to be with his mother and tend to a family issue. Many speculated that Rose’s relationship with head coach Jeff Hornacek led to his disappearance, but he shot down that rumor.

Rose is maintaining his stance that this incident was strictly a family issue that needed immediate attention. Now that Rose is back in practice, Knicks management proceeded to fine Rose for his actions Monday night, but will not suspend him.

The fine could come close to $200,000.

Rose went AWOL on Monday, didn’t reach out to his employers about his whereabouts, returned to his employers on Tuesday, and is expected to play on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Team president Phil Jackson has declined to comment on the situation.

Here is the problem with this situation.

Derrick Rose

When Rose says that he flew back to Chicago to be with his son and mother, I believe him. Family emergencies do arise and players should have the ability to deal with them.

However, why not let Knicks officials know about the situation prior to your disappearance? Why not pick up the phone when the Knicks were reaching out to see where you were?

When you are employed, you have a responsibility to reach out to your employer and let them know that you will not be making it to work. If you don’t show up to work and fail to provide a reason for not showing up, you are likely to be fired the following day.

If an NBA player had pulled a Rose-type move under head coach Gregg Popovich, do you think that player would be playing in the following game? It’s hard to imagine they would be.

Not because Popovich doesn’t respect his players and their family issues off the court, but because he’d expect to be notified prior to the game.

Dealing with family issues is a valid excuse to miss a game. Failing to notify the Knicks prior to the game about these family issues is inexcusable, and should have resulted in a suspension.

Phil Jackson/Steve Mills

The Knicks organization have a responsibility to hold their players accountable for their actions. If Rose had let Jackson or Hornacek know about the situation prior to the game, we wouldn’t even be speaking about this today.

The reality is that Rose didn’t inform anyone, and in turn, made the Knicks look clueless last night.

How do they respond? They fine Rose for his actions and move on. I’m sorry, but you’d assume that a franchise would be inclined to punish their player for making them look publicly confused.

To top it off, Jackson won’t even comment on the situation, which is interesting considering Jackson is the team president.

Jackson was supposed to come in and change the culture surrounding the Knicks. Instead, it’s still much the same. No accountability.

I give credit to Jackson for drafting Porzingis, keeping our first-round picks, and putting together a competitive team (at least on paper) for this NBA season. However, much like the “posse” and ‘Melo comments, this was mishandled.

Jackson had to deal with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal while coaching the Los Angeles Lakers, so he should be better suited to handle this situation.

Luckily, we’ll all forget about this situation—a lot sooner if the Knicks can get back to winning basketball games. Tomorrow, they head to Philadelphia to face off against a 10-25 76ers team.

The Knicks, for all the games they’ve recently lost, are still just two games back of the No. 8 seed.

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The 76ers are a team that the Knicks should beat. However, given their recent failures, there’s no such thing as an easy game for the Knicks.

If everyone truly wants to put this drama behind them, beating the 76ers would be a fantastic start.

The 76ers have 10 wins on the season, and only the Brooklyn Nets have fewer wins. For most teams, the 76ers are exactly the team they want to play. For the Knicks, this is a scary game. Given their inability to defend anyone at a high level, every game is losable.

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Drama like this can either bring a team together or push them further apart. Tomorrow night at Philadelphia, we’ll find out where this Knicks team is headed.