Kobe and D-Rose; What Does the Future Hold?

(a) Kobe Bryant

The significant injuries to superstars Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant at this point should be cause for worry for possibly both of these teams.  While the likelihood Derrick Rose may never return to MVP form he could still return at the end of 2014 and become an All-Star again.  Rose an MVP award winner in just his second season, has had his last two seasons shortened due to two different knee injuries.  When it comes to Kobe shortly after signing his two year $48.5 million dollar contract extension, causes nothing but worry for the Laker franchise.  The fracture in his knee will cause him to miss 6 weeks and has to leave the Lakers wondering, what do we do next?  For nearly two decades Kobe has been dazzling the Los Angeles fan base with MVP caliber play in which he has helped bring the city five championships along with a top tier defensive game which has earned him 12 NBA All-Defensive honors and an all-around game which has given him one MVP award in 2008.  So the question is which of these two franchises needs to come up with a quick reload and not have one of these two players as the key moving forward?  Chicago is already looking to rebuild with possibly trading Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer. While the Bulls are looking to move a few players they are also not ready to give up on Rose which they shouldn’t just yet.  Rose still has a long career ahead of him because of his young age, but now the question is will he ever be able to play a full season and at what level will he be able to play? 

(b) Derrick Rose

The Lakers indeed should begin looking toward building their team for the future with aging stars and contracts that eat up a lot of their salary, in addition to their push over the luxury tax, it’s time for ownership to go to work.  Kobe can still be a core piece, but he is going to need help in the form of young players.  Awaiting the emergence of Wesley Johnson should be growing tiresome. Also, the inability for Coach D’Antoni to trust Jordan Hill as a peripheral power forward this team will need some help that only ownership can afford to give them.  Start with the draft or possibly a draft day trade that helped land Kobe himself from Charlotte in 1996. Various roster moves in LA should be expected during this season and in the off-season. Chicago on the other hand can indeed wait for Rose to return and maybe move a contract or two, but in today’s NBA this has become normal.  Deng is a good second option but he will likely demand a decent return in the off-season as he is hitting free agency.  In closing, no question these two are both great/elite players, but one happens to be at the end due to his age and the other could be facing the end of his career due to health concerns. Only time will tell if one, both, or either will ever return to their prior form.

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(a) http://losthatsportsblog.com/2013/12/breaking-kobe-bryant-out-six-weeks-with-knee-injury/

(b) http://www.ngngsports.com/2013/03/stacey-king-derrick-rose-is-coming-back-in-the-next-week-to-10-days.html#