Bucks Continue Irking Fans, Meet with Derrick Rose Again

In an offseason that has been marked by hot takes from fans and head-scratching from experts about the franchise’s decision-making, the Milwaukee Bucks continue to ignore/remain unconcerned with/actively solicit criticism from...basically everybody.

In the article, Haynes writes:

Representatives for free-agent point guard Derrick Rose and officials from the Milwaukee Bucks are in discussions to schedule a meeting as early as this weekend, league sources told ESPN.

Once a date is finalized, the meeting is expected to occur in Los Angeles, sources said.

So why hasn’t it happened yet? The Bucks met with Rose once already, and came back empty. Eric and Frank over at Locked On Bucks suggested that the meeting may have been done as a favor to Rose’s agent, allowing him to drum up actual interest by using the Bucks’ reported interest as leverage.

This would be fine, even if it’s super-naive and makes the team look desperate for goodwill from within the NBA’s circles of influence (and incompetent from those outside of such circles). After all, Derrick Rose (2017 version) and his litany of injury concerns is an objectively bad fit on the current Milwaukee Bucks roster.

But if the team is actually interested, what’s keeping the deal from being done?

The main obstacle on an agreement to relocate to Milwaukee has been compensation.

Milwaukee is approximately $1.6 million over the tax. The Bucks have $7.6 million of the full mid-level exception available but can use only $4.4 million to sign a free agent. Exceeding a salary of $4.4 million would trigger the NBA hard cap and restrict the Bucks from exceeding salaries of $125.2 million.

<expletive>-ing LOL. Derrick Rose is so delusional that he thinks he deserves an eight-figure contract when he a) isn’t good anymore, b) would take the ball away from players who are good, and c) is seeking said contract when NBA teams have far less money to spend than they thought. Then again, perhaps the Bucks are more delusional and think that Rose a) is still good, b) would be able to share the ball with Bucks players who need it, and c) can figure out how to create enough room to sign Rose to a deal under their current salary cap situation.

Oh yeah, that pesky salary cap. We know that they don’t have any room to simply sign Rose to such a contract, so we can rest easy, right? Wrong; Haynes adds:

Big man John Henson could be a prime trade candidate.

There is mutual interest and motivation from both sides on finding the 6-11 center a new home, league sources tell ESPN. Henson, a shot-blocking specialist, has three years and $32 million remaining on his contract.

Don’t get me wrong, getting out from under John Henson’s contract would almost be worth signing Derrick Rose...but only almost.

While my personal feelings on the potential move are a matter of public (read: Twitter) record, nobody would argue that the Bucks should avoid searching for players who would make their roster better. As it happens, the Bucks appear to have gotten so good at focusing their searches on the polar opposite of that that they’ve circumnavigated the free agency globe and ended up right over a spot they literally just were, like, less than a fortnight ago. Signing Derrick Rose would be a PR disaster, and likely a basketball one to boot.

But that was then! Fans might have been a tad upset back then, but how are they feeling now?