Chicago columnist: Cavs' Rose is a 'dinosaur'

A Chicago-based columnist said the end is near for DerrickRose in terms of his NBA career and the sooner he realizes it, the better.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times writes that Rose, a Chicago native and a former NBA Most Valuable Player while he was a member of the Bulls and now a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is finished.

"Former Bulls guard Derrick Rose, however, now faces some hard truths — truths many of his apologists have been ignoring for years," Cowley wrote. “The ‘meetings and graduations’ he was so focused on being able to attend someday? Well, it might be time to start scheduling them because his career seems to be coming to an end."

Cowley didn't stop there in regards to Rose, who signed last summer with the Cavaliers as an unrestricted free agent for the NBA minimum.

One former teammate Thursday said Rose barely looks like the same player he was even in his final season with the Bulls (2015-16). And while Rose’s sample size for the Cavaliers this season is small (10 games), the six points, four turnovers and one assist — not to mention the apparent lack of interest — he had in 13 minutes Tuesday against the Spurs looked more G League than NBA.

The Sun Times columnist tripled down on the Cavaliers now-backup point guard.

"Rose isn’t even Rose anymore," Cowley wrote. "His athleticism was unmatched coming out of Memphis, but once his knee injuries stripped that away, he was exposed as a poor outside shooter with a low basketball IQ. He never added to his game. He never evolved.

"Now, at 29, Rose is in a what-now situation. He’s a dinosaur."

Rose and his Cavalier teammates (27-19) will host the Indiana Pacers on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.