It appears as if a Rose finally will bloom in Chicago in winter.
NBA sources confirmed late Monday that the Bulls will complete a blockbuster trade of their three top scorers–Ron Mercer, Ron Artest and Brad Miller–plus Kevin Ollie to the Pacers for high-scoring forward Jalen Rose and backup point guard Travis Best.
The deal, still not official, is expected to be completed Tuesday if neither team tries to make further changes. The NBA office was closed Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday.
Rose, who just turned 29, is one of the most versatile players in the NBA, one of four players to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists last season. With a somewhat reduced role that enabled the Bulls to pry him away from the Pacers, Rose is averaging 18.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists this season. In what was probably his last game with the Pacers on Sunday, he scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as Indiana beat Philadelphia.
Best, a seventh-year point guard, is averaging 6.9 points and four assists in a limited role behind rookie Jamaal Tinsley. Best, who will be a free agent after this season, averaged 11.9 points and 6.1 assists last season. Best and Rose will give the Bulls their most proficient offensive duo since the 1998 championship team.
It seemed clear the long-rumored deal was imminent Monday as the short-handed Bulls asked Miller and Artest not to play against Miami. The eccentric Artest wore his jersey under his street clothes on the bench.
“Coach [Bill Cartwright] said he didn’t want us to play tonight, that there’s a trade on the table,” Miller said. “They wanted to make sure we didn’t get hurt or anything. He didn’t say anything about who or what was involved. . . . No one told me a deal is done yet.
“Things have been getting better,” Miller added. “We’ve been having fun playing, and me and Ron have been playing the best overall of late, I think. That part makes it interesting.”
That part is why the Pacers apparently are willing to give up a player the caliber of Rose, who was their leading scorer in the Finals against the Lakers in 2000 and a former NBA Most Improved Player. His role has diminished as the Pacers made a commitment to youngsters Al Harrington, Jonathan Bender and Jermaine O’Neal, but they remain in the playoff race and have been seeking a center to take pressure off O’Neal, as well as an outstanding defender like Artest with Harrington out for the season.
The trade had been discussed for weeks, and a breakthrough came in the last few days when the Pacers agreed to take Mercer.
Mercer makes $6.75 million per season through 2003-04. The Bulls were concerned that taking on Rose’s contract, which pays him $10.87 million this season and goes up to $15.69 million in 2005-06, would limit their maneuverability for future trades.
Mercer, the Bulls’ leading scorer at 16.8 per game, is on the injured list. Artest is the team’s second-leading scorer at 15.6 and Miller is third at 12.7.
“I’m on a team that should be winning,” Artest said, vowing to play any position but center for the Pacers if the deal goes through. “I can’t blame no one else but myself. Can’t nobody in this league stop me, so we shouldn’t be losing all these games. I should be doing more–40 points, 20 rebounds, all that stuff. I should have done more.”
Rose isn’t getting 40 and 20, but he opened the season with 43 against the Nets and led the Pacers in scoring in eight of their first 11 games. A member of the storied Fab Five at Michigan, the 6-foot-8-inch left-hander is regarded as a leader whom the Bulls can use for building with Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry.
But the team didn’t want to put pressure on the youngsters with Miller gone, so the Bulls asked to keep Charles Oakley and have him help out at center the rest of the season. The Pacers may also add guard Norm Richardson for salary-cap purposes.
Rose and Best have said they did not want to be traded to a last-place team like the Bulls. But the Bulls believe Rose will embrace a chance to run a team. Best is an offensive-minded point guard, and the Bulls hope to re-sign him after the season, especially if they cannot get Duke’s Jason Williams in the draft.
Meanwhile, second-year guard Jamal Crawford said he is targeting March 1 to return from his knee injury.
“There’s a possibility it will happen [Tuesday],” Cartwright said of the deal. “We don’t want to risk injuries tonight. Possibility is the word we’re using.”
