Word came Tuesday that Derrick Rose would be out between 8-12 months rehabilitating his torn ACL.

From ESPN.com:

“We’re at this point very optimistic. … We think of recovery as the long process that’s in stages. But the short answer is the time frame we believe an athlete of this caliber generally requires is about 8-12 months. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer.

“While he will be at hopefully a very high level at 12 months, it still may take slightly longer for him to be at his pre-injury level. That’s not uncommon for athletes of this caliber.”

That means Rose is likely to miss at least the first two-plus months of next season, or he could miss the entire season.

“That’s clearly the range of what’s possible,” Cole said.

To call the announcement a bombshell would be an understatement.

Hopes may be high that Rose recovers and returns as good as ever, but lets be honest, this not-so-picture-perfect-story seems poised for an unhappy ending. To believe that Rose will be just as explosive, just as fearless and any form of durable after a year like the one he has had—and the one he is preparing to have—would be naive.

The fact is, the former league MVP missed 27 of 66 regular season games this year, and couldn’t even last through the first game of the postseason. That’s cause for major concern, even if Rose wasn’t dealing with a torn ACL.

At this stage, the only future more in doubt than Rose’s is that of the Bulls. Chicago made a last-ditch effort to establish some continuity to close out the season by picking up head coach Tom Thibodeau’s option for next season, but even the stability a former coach of the year provides isn’t enough to calm these waters.

The fact is that the Bulls went down to the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers without Rose. Joakim Noah and Luol Deng had their own problems, but that truly doesn’t matter. Even if Chicago had managed to escape the first round, the Celtics and then, quite possibly, the Heat, awaited after that.

The Bulls are not a legitimate championship contender without Rose. C.J. Watson and John Lucas helped propel Chicago to an 18-9 regular season record without the point guard, but they lack experience and disappeared at the most important time of the year—the playoffs.

As if that weren’t enough, the Bulls have little to no cap room to work with this summer. They might be able to bring in a solid backup who could masquerade as a starter, but they don’t have the cash necessary to make that star acquisition.

But that’s okay, right? It’s only, at most, one year. Rose will be good to go after that. Or will he?

Rose is only 23, but there’s not guarantee he returns to his former self after this. He may return too afraid to attack the basket or this may be the beginning of a career marred, borderline ruined, by injuries.

Yes, the Bulls are certainly screwed, for at least a year, but perhaps longer.

And that’s what is truly unsettling, what’s truly pushing the knife deeper and deeper—the fact that Rose, and even the Bulls, may never recover from this.

After the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in a hard-fought, brutally-played seven game matchup, the prospect of heading to Oklahoma City for a shot at Kevin Durant and company was embraced. This would be a tight series, with both teams holding their home court.

Well, the Thunder certainly held their home court, dismantling the Lakers 119-90 on 53 percent shooting from the field. That’s abnormally high, even for an offensive juggernaut like Oklahoma City, and especially for a team going up against Los Angeles’ bigs.

The good news for the Lakers is that they played a passable first quarter. The other three, though? Not so much. But it’s only Game 1, Kobe Bryant and company have time to get it together, don’t they?

Theoretically, yes. That said, the tightly contested match-up that many were expecting may prove to be a pipe dream. The Lakers and Thunder stack up well at tip-off; their starting lineups present almost even match-ups at every position. Where the Thunder truly prevail, though, is on the bench, and not solely because of James Harden, but because the Lakers lack any consistency.

Los Angeles received just 26 points from its bench, compared to Oklahoma City’s 50. That’s insane. Not only are the Lakers tasked with containing Durant and Russell Westbrook, but they are forced to face a supporting cast, that unlike their own, comes out firing.

It’s not that the Lakers bench is truly incapable, but they are far from consistent. The heart of their bench—Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Jordan Hill—do not instill fear on either end of the ball. They hardly look to shoot and at times, appear to be more passive fillers than anything else.

The Thunder’s bench presents just the opposite, and while it’s mostly because of Harden, guys like Nick Collison, Derek Fisher and Nazr Mohammed bring intangibles off the sidelines the Lakers crew just doesn’t.

And when playing a team like Oklahoma City, a deeply talented starting five will only get you so far, and that’s assuming Metta World Peace plays up to his potential.

Los Angeles addressed its need for a starting point guard with the acquisition of Ramon Sessions, and even strengthened their bench with Hill, but it’s simply not enough.

So, while the Lakers may steal a game, or even two, from the at times, lethargic Thunder, their hope of advancing is slim.

Slimmer than any of us were led to believe coming in.

Paul can take over games almost on command, but his reluctance to do so is somewhat troublesome. The point guard is incredibly unselfish—too unselfish. He dribbles for far too long, creating an unnecessary sense of urgency deep within the shot clock, thereby, making him and his team vulnerable to turnovers.

The Clippers’ superstar is averaging 20.7 points, 7.7 assists and 2.8 steals per game during the postseason, but his production is marred somewhat by his turnovers—3.3 per contest—and incessant ball-handling.

Paul is the best point guard in the league—true story—but he has the potential to become even better. He has to take on a more self-centered role on offense. And while that sounds shallow and abrupt, Los Angeles is at its best when he is in complete control.

There’s no need for Paul to stifle his, and his team’s, creativity through the overuse of dribbling. He is one of the best playmakers in the game, but he often takes too long to develop those plays or won’t accept that they’re not there.

We know Paul can make decisions in the blink of an eye, we’ve seen him do it before. But through the first round, he hasn’t, at least not consistently. And it shows.

Paul is averaging nearly 40 minutes per night thus far, meaning he’s in control of Los Angeles’ offense for almost the entire game. Well, over the course of the Clippers’ seven game series, they got off 438 field-goal attempts to the Grizzlies’ 534. That’s nearly 100 less shots, so just think of how many points were potentially left on the board.

In the end, Los Angeles passed through Memphis, but shooting a slightly better field-goal percentage while taking 100 less shots isn’t going to fly against the incredibly efficient Spurs.

And let’s not make unfounded accusations, because it’s hardly all Paul’s fault. That said, he is one of the primary culprits as it’s his job to create and maintain a flow within the offense.

Fortunately for Paul, though, he’s so great at what he does, that we hardly notice. He carried the Clippers for the better part of the first round, leading them to victory despite an overwhelming deficit in the field-goal attempt department.

But again, how much longer will that work? How much longer can Paul get by being too unselfish?

Not much longer, that’s for sure.

His intentions are clear, they’re genuine and also clever, but the execution needs improvement. He’s the Clippers’ most important player, yet has failed to grasp the urgency that must be associated with every possession during the playoffs.

And that’s bittersweetness of Chris Paul, as the understanding that he can take over a game and lead his team to victory is tainted by the fact that he’s his own kryptonite.

In career-defining fashion, Iguodala propelled the Philadelphia 76ers to victory over the Chicago Bulls Thursday night. It was a win that clinched the series for the Sixers, sending them into the second round.

And while the victory was the result of a team effort, it was Iguodala’s heroics in the game’s final seconds that sealed the deal.

After Chicago’s Omer Asik missed consecutive free throws, Iguodala took the ball the length of the court in under five seconds with his team down one. He attacked the rim, drew contact and subsequently, the foul. He sank both attempts from the charity stripe to give Philadelphia a one-point lead with just over two seconds remaining. The Bulls’ last ditch effort was unsuccessful, and confetti rained down.

The composure it takes to accomplish what Iguodala did cannot be taken lightly. He was not having an efficient series on the offensive end, shooting just 35 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from beyond the arc.

But he found other ways to contribute, grabbing rebounds, dishing out assists, forcing turnovers and protecting the ball. And despite his lackluster shooting, when the Sixers needed a big play in Game 6, when they needed someone to step up and exude that killer instinct only stars possess, Iguodala rose to the occasion.

As a point forward, Iguodala is not liable to blow up the stat lines, but he’s also not one to disappear either. If his shot isn’t falling, he’ll create for his teammates, if his passes aren’t crisp, he’ll hit the boards, and so on.

No, this isn’t LeBron James were are discussing, nor is it a player who is likely to lead his team to a title this year, but this is an athlete who can contribute in so many different ways, that his efforts and abilities go overlooked altogether.

Make no mistake, without Iguodala, the Sixers would be contending for Anthony Davis in the upcoming draft, not playing their way toward the second round of the playoffs. His versatile arsenal coupled with his impenetrable leadership abilities make him great. Not good, great.

Would Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday receive as many open looks if Iguodala wasn’t breaking down opposing defenses? Would Spencer Hawes be playing his way toward an enormous contract if he wasn’t being fed the ball by his small forward? And would Thaddeus Young be as effective if Iguodala wasn’t constantly pursuing pick-and-rolls?

Absolutely, positively not.

Iguodala is the heart and soul of the Sixers. He is one of the most underrated players in the NBA who rarely receives recognition as a superstar.

But he is, and his game-winning free throws Thursday night proved it. Those aren’t easy foul shots to hit, yet he hit them both. And as a result, we must come to understand that being a superstar isn’t always about gaudy stat lines and perpetual pompousness.

Sometimes, it’s about just being there for your team, in whatever capacity they need you to be.

Dirk Nowitzki is a stallion, but he can hardly carry the Mavericks to a championship on his own. The team’s first one was improbable, to say the least, but now, with an even older core and thinner supporting cast, a second go at it for one of the game’s greatest is damn near impossible.

Hardly anyone expected Dallas to successfully defend its title. Losing Caron Butler, Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea was crippling to their depth chart. And yet, there wasn’t too steep a cause for concern. The Mavs, granted that they move a few contracts, were set to become major players for both Deron Williams and Dwight Howard this summer.

Howard’s decision to void his Early Termination Option shot one version of that blueprint to hell, at least for the time being. But that’s okay, because after a horrible season in New Jersey, Mark Cuban’s team was still an early favorite to land Williams.

But not anymore.

From ESPN.com:

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com this week that the Mavs were convinced early on in their 2012 planning that having sufficient salary-cap space to be able to legitimately recruit Dwight Howard alongside Williams was the surest route to landing Williams. …. One source well-acquainted with Williams’ thinking told ESPN.com this weekend that the Mavericks, in their current state, have no better than a “50-50 shot” of getting D-Will’s signature in July … despite the fact that the Nets aren’t any closer to landing Howard than they are.

The Mavericks are officially no longer a powerhouse. Their Lamar Odom experiment failed miserably and two of their most valuable role players, in Jason Kidd and Jason Terry, hit the open market this summer. And unless Williams is an avid fan of Shawn Marion and Rodrigue Beaubois, that leaves Nowitzki as Dallas’ only enticing asset.

Here’s the catch, though. Nowitzki is 33 going on 34, and that’s a tough sell, when it’s the only sell, for the 27-year-old Williams. Why should he commit long term to an aging team whose best player could drop off at anytime?

Cuban and the Mavericks always seem to figure it out, but this isn’t just about replacing Chandler, or even Kidd and Terry. This is about one of the NBA’s greatest players, approaching his twilight years, a reality he simply cannot stave off.

The Mavericks have prided themselves on depth for the better part of a decade, but suddenly, their unsettlingly porous, and their greatest asset, in Nowitzki, has become a borderline liability because of a number next to his name.

Without another star, without a sidekick to shoulder some of Dallas’ burden, Nowitzki’s title window has closed. Ironically enough, though, the window is also closing on the Mavericks’ chance to land that prolific partner for Nowitzki.

You do the math.