It doesn’t sound like Brandon Jennings will be the New York Knicks starting point guard on opening night, next Tuesday, against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That honor will belong to Derrick Rose, as planned.
His status has been up in the air of late. He hasn’t been with the team; he’s been in Los Angeles, as the defendant of a civil lawsuit that claims he and two friends sexually assaulted an ex-girlfriend. But Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek nevertheless expects him to be in attendance and ready to start the season, per Newsday‘s Al Iannazzone:
“We’ll have to see how he is, but I would anticipate yes, he probably would,” Hornacek said after practice on Tuesday. “If we had no practices or one practice and then we had to play the game then maybe it would be a different story. But we have three days to practice, he was there at training camp, so he has seen our stuff.
“I would probably say at this point if he’s there at all our practices I probably would start him.”
There’s no real surprise here. As Hornacek alluded to, Rose was with the Knicks at training camp, so he isn’t walking in blind. That being said, a fuss was made that they haven’t been able to implement all their stuff, because he’s not there. If they were looking for continuity to start the year, it would make sense to bring Rose off the bench and start Jennings.
Then again, Rose has one year left on his deal, and the Knicks clearly traded for him to see if he can have a future in New York. Plus, you know, the optics. There’s no telling if Rose will be suspended for his involvement with the civil trial, and there’s no guaranteeing he’ll be able to stay healthy. So they’ll want him on the floor as much as possible, as soon as possible, to justify their decision to trade for him.
