Dissecting Derrick Rose’s, “it’s the league’s fault” comment

In his new book, I’ll Show You, Derrick Rose shared his thoughts on Jimmy Butler’s antics and why the NBA is the one responsible. What does he mean?

Derrick Rose’s new upcoming book, I’ll Show You, has received a meaningful amount of publicity as of late, primarily due to his comments on the Jimmy Butler and Minnesota Timberwolves fallout.

According to the Star Tribune, when discussing the subject matter in an advanced proof, Rose wrote:

"“Look, it wasn’t his fault. It’s the league’s fault. Nothing against Karl-Anthony Towns, he’s cool — and he’s good. But you get these kids and you spoil them before they achieve something.“"

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Rose went on to say:

"“Jimmy was feeling, ‘Why’d y’all pay them first and I was the one that got you to the playoffs?’ That’s all it was. Jimmy wasn’t doing it right, though he was right.”"

What’s intriguing about this particular NBA dilemma that Rose alludes to is that Michael Jordan once touched on the subject as well, only the context was slightly different.

When being interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey Show, back in 2005, a cap spike and the large max contracts you see nowadays had not occurred in the NBA yet, but corporations, on the other hand, were still prevalent at the time which Jordan strongly disagreed with.

Jordan explained:

"“When Corporate America came to us, we had a game that could validate their admiration and sponsorship, now they get that before they play one game. So you’re rolling the dice to see if this kid is ever going to be good or not. In essence, your paying the kid off of the potential that he may be great.”…“I think that sets bad work ethic. When you get something so easily, you’re not going to work as hard.”"

The branding/corporate issue is still contemporary in today’s NBA with various young prospects signing shoe deals only a couple of months after their one-and-done year in college (e.g., Ben Simmons), but now the “unearned” rewarding process has only been amplified with the way the latest collective bargaining agreement has been set up.

Yet, in Rose’s case, his lenses are also slightly more modern.

Coming into the league in 2008, his viewpoints reflect a period when the league was moving towards becoming more player-centric, with the Derrick Rose rule serving as an example, but the league not making a more significant shift until David Stern’s retirement and Adam Silver replacing him in 2014.

Which is why, in a sense, Rose’s NBA experiences are sort of in the middle since he received a glimpse of both worlds. Not only did he witness and play during the player empowerment era, but he was also around to see what the league was like prior to the new CBA, along with there being a distinct free agency approach (higher emphasis on player mobility).

A similar career timeline and thought process can be applied to Butler’s situation as well since he was drafted only three seasons after Rose.

And to Rose’s and Jordan’s point, though the player empowerment era has been beneficial for NBA players – which is a great thing to have since NBA organizations have rarely ever shown loyalty towards their players and the NCAA system is flawed – it’s also not holding the players who don’t put the work in accountable, which is what other former players and NBA veterans have openly sided with him on.

If you look at the Derrick Rose rule and how it differentiates from today’s player salary system, for example, the CBA created the rule during the 2011 lockout, after Rose had become the youngest MVP at age 22, won Rookie of the Year, was voted an All-Star starter twice, and had led the Chicago Bulls to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, all within his first three seasons.

Subsequently, a couple of days before the start of the 2011-2012 season, Derrick took up 30 percent of the Bulls salary cap when he agreed to sign a five-year, $94.8 million dollar extension.

With the current CBA that is in place today, however, any rookie, regardless of career achievements, is now eligible for a lucrative five-year max rookie contract. Some recent examples can include Devin Booker’s five-year, $158 million extension, Andrew Wiggins’ $146.5 million deal, and Karl-Anthony Town’s $190 supermax deal (both contracts of Towns and Booker are worth 25% of the cap in 2019-2020)

Likewise, for free agents following the 2016 cap spike – though it has leveled off since then – there has been an enormous increase in maximum-salaried player contracts, a list that can include many superstar, star, and all-star level players who are more than worthy of these high numbers (e.g., Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Damian Lillard), but also primarily consist of players who are nowhere near the same class.

Ideally, in a perfect system, there would be a middle ground: a player would have to accomplish several accolades and prove to be a player of high caliber, before being compensated with a lucrative contract, but players who never reached this level, or are older veterans, also wouldn’t be forced to be underpaid, like in years past. After all, injuries and trades happen all the time in sports.

All that said, in the end, it’s really only up to the player’s union, Adam Silver, and team owners to decide if there needs to be modifications in the next CBA, whether that will be in the summer of 2022 or 2023.