Five struggling NBA players we shouldn’t give up on

Relevance can vanish in the blink of an eye — one day you’re a star, the next you’re struggling to stay in the league. Here are five NBA players we shouldn’t give up on just yet.

Certain players have a way of getting written off by the NBA and the media that covers it. Whether they never find the right team, undergo injuries, clash with multiple organizations, have personal problems or just straight aren’t good anymore, it is largely assumed that some guys are done. Depending on the player, it may mean that he’s never going to start for a good team again.

It could also mean that they are one step away from being out of the league altogether.

Sometimes, certain narratives are painted for guys and they manage to find ways to contribute to good basketball when they had largely been written off. In honor of J.R. Smith getting his ring, here are five guys most have given up on but could change their career narratives this season.

1. Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose became the youngest MVP in league history at 21-years-old and his struggles since have been well publicized. He tore his ACL in the spring of 2012 and missed all of the 2012-2013 season. Rose returned strong the following year but proceeded to tear his right meniscus and another season was lost. Despite missing six weeks for another knee repair during the 2014-2015 campaign, Derrick Rose played more games than he had since his MVP season and finished the year strong, posting 21.5 points per game against the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. Bulls fans were encouraged that he could regain his All-Star form and looked forward to the 2015-2016 campaign.

In the preseason, Derrick Rose looked sharp but couldn’t avoid the injury bug and an orbital bone fracture forced him to miss time, then wear a face mask. He looked sloppy once he returned, and though he played in 66 games, the Bulls missed the playoffs and many optimists gave up on Rose once and for all. He shot 43 percent from the field last year — his athleticism just isn’t the same it once was and his critics say he’s become the type of high usage, low efficiency player that rarely leads winning teams. Over the offseason, even the Bulls finally gave up on Rose, dealing him along with Justin Holiday to the New York Knicks for Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant.

Why you should still believe:

Lost in the Bulls disappointing season was the fact that Derrick Rose played better after he got the mask off last year. While he was forced to wear the mask at the beginning of the year, Rose averaged 14.7 points per game on 36/23/71 percent shooting splits. All are either well below his career averages and/or are generally horrendous. It’s fair to speculate that his face injury and the bulky mask that he was forced to wear effected his eyesight and in turn, his shooting. Once Rose began play without the mask last year his shooting percentages rose sharply. He shot 45.9% from the field — better than his MVP season — on nearly five more field goal attempts per game than he had with the mask. His three point and free throws rose to 25.7 percent and 83.7 percent respectively, and his points jumped back up to an average of 19.7. Talk of Derrick Rose’s improved play never really established amid the Bulls lost season, but it could potentially be important to the Knicks upcoming season.

The New York Knicks are a polarizing team this year. They’re old, continue to build around Carmelo Anthony instead of Kristaps Porzingis, and appear to be rejecting what has become commonplace NBA logic. However, Phil Jackson’s offseason moves have them starting Derrick Rose, Courtney Lee, Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis, and Joakim Noah — a unit that should theoretically be able to play with anyone in the league. While it is a fair point that they have little depth and will likely be forced to put Sasha Vujacic on the court again this year, there is reason to be excited about the Knicks and Derrick Rose.

While Derrick Rose is the antithesis of the triangle point guard Phil Jackson would like to have, it remains unclear how many triangle concepts new Coach Jeff Hornacek will use in New York this season. He will probably let his teams play uptempo like in his last coaching stop in Phoenix, which should play well into what Rose does well. He has never had a pick-and-roll weapon to play with quite like Kristaps Porzingis and the attention defenses must give to Carmelo Anthony may open up driving lanes for Rose to succeed. If he plays like he did in the latter part of the Bulls season last year, or even manages to improve on that, he could find himself averaging nearly 20 point per game again.

With the league loaded with quality point guards, it may be a stretch to say that Derrick Rose will become an All-Star again. But if he shoots around 45 percent, limits turnovers, and distributes properly, he should be able to build on the momentum he established last season. Without the pressure to be a franchise player, Rose could thrive picking his spots with the Knicks. A point guard who can create his own shot and score around 20 points per game is a solid second scoring option. Derrick Rose has been through enough adversity that no one would blame him if the Knicks chapter of his career wasn’t a good one, as many expect. But there are reasons to be hopeful, and the still yet 28-year-old Derrick Rose should be able to be a good Knick.