So Now What?

Derrick's hurt. This sucks. There's little point in hashing out right now how much this sucks (a lot), or how much it's going to hamper him in the future, or whether we should go burn down Adidas headquarters. For now we can do three things:
1. Breathe a sigh of relief that it's not an ACL.
2. Punch any and every Rose-hater gloating on Facebook
3. Decide what to do about the Bulls going forward.

3 is tricky. If it had been an ACL, it would've been much simpler. Blow it all up, trade Deng and Boozer for whatever you can get, play the rookies, tank (I know a TT-coached team would have a hard time doing that, but still...), and rebuild around whatever's left of Rose, JFB, Noah, Taj, Mirotic, and your draft pick (picks if Charlotte can stay halfway decent).

But with the Meniscus injury, it's not that simple. If Derrick goes the safe route and has it reattached, he's looking at a 4-6 month recovery time. Which, of course, means anywhere from right before the start of the playoffs, to sometime in the 2nd round. Now, in case you haven't been paying attention, the East is terrible. It's not out of the realm of possibility that a Bulls team without Rose (or even Butler) for an extended period of time could come away with the third seed. But it's pretty unrealistic to think Derrick could step in right away and the Bulls would have a chance to beat the Heat or Pacers in a 7 game series. If he's able to come back in March and have a chance to get back to the game speed, then...

Unfortunately we don't get a crystal ball to tell us which end of the recovery time he might fall on. And the trade deadline being in February, unless Derrick is able to recover quickly (hey, it can happen), the Bulls will be faced with a tough decision with Deng. Personally, I say if they can get a decent asset for Deng, pull the trigger. I love Lu, and appreciate everything he's done for the Bulls, but the team (as constructed now) championship window is closing. The Bulls still have a bright future, but they can't waste Derrick's prime rebuilding again. If they can get a good young player (or even better, a first round pick in a loaded draft, even a late pick), they'll still be in good shape going forward.

And if Derrick chooses to have the Meniscus cut out instead of replaced, shortening his recovery time in the short run but potentially his career in the long run, then I put that squarely on all of you that had jokes when he decided to play it safe last year instead of rushing back from injury. (Hypothetically) Thanks a lot, jackasses.