The End of an Era in Chicago

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
-- William Shakespeare

The Chicago Bulls are about to find out.

An era that started on 26 Jun 2008 has come to an abrupt end in the Second City.

It was just three days before the eight-year anniversary of Derrick Rose being drafted No 1 overall by the Bulls:

Warm and fuzzy memories don't win rings, though, so dude was traded to the New York Knicks.

After missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years, moves were due. But what they got from the trade has left me -- as well as other Bulls fans, I'm sure -- scratching their heads.

As noted, Chicago traded Rose, Justin Holiday, and a second-round pick in next year's draft to the Knickerbockers for José Calderón, Robin Lopez, and Jerian Grant.

Excuse me ... what????

Put into perspective, the Bulls traded a former MVP of the league for:

• an old point guard,
• a big man who's overshadowed by his twin brother, and
• a young point guard who still needs developing?

For shame, Bulls front office. For shame.

Not to mention, Chicago gave up a draft pick a part of the deal, which is more valuable in today's NBA than many think.

Wow! And I'd thought Jerry Reinsdorf's front office was bad before, this should be the icing on a cake that should spell out Happy Trails.

OK, I do understand the move.

Rose was set to make over $21million this season after a season that saw him finally play more than 60 games. The downside is he scored nearly 10 fewer points per game than his MVP season.

Bottom line: Derrick Rose has jumped the shark.

So, this is no time to be sentimental. Gotta move on from the Reign of Rose.

Yes, the highs were extremely high, but the lows were as low as it gets.

I'm not alone in believing the Bulls could've had a shot at a couple of NBA titles if the explosive point guard had never gotten injured. 

However, we live in a sports world awash in injuries, corruption, and players uniting to beat down the rest of the league.

With the impending loss of Pau Gasol and the team focused around Jimmy Butler, Bulls fans can but hope that fresh-face and first-round pick Denzel Valentine can breathe a bit of fresh air into a team that needs to let go of its recent past.

While we're talking about the past, anyone know what John Lucas III is up to nowadays?