Report: Sixers “have expressed interest in trading for Detroit Pistons guard Derrick Rose”

The Philadelphia 76ers have shown interest in trading for Derrick Rose of the Detroit Pistons, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports.

From Haynes’ reporting:

The Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and multiple teams with championship aspirations have expressed interest in trading for Detroit Pistons guard Derrick Rose, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Clippers have checked in on Rose as well, but it was more of a common exploratory talk, sources said.

The Lakers and Sixers are in search of point guard assistance for the stretch run, sources said.

The information in this report is so oddly worded that I don’t know what to make of it. Are the Sixers and Lakers named because they were the only two teams Haynes could confirm or did he do so to indicate a more serious level of interest, relatively speaking? If it’s the former, the Sixers could merely be doing their due diligence. If it’s the latter, the Sixers could be actively engaged in trade talks. I’d lean toward the first scenario, at least as far as due diligence, given that the Sixers have been mentioned in rumors with lots of players lately. It’s worth noting that in the same article, Haynes also reports that Rose isn’t looking to be traded. “Display/show/express interest” is a funny phrase.

In any case, does Rose make sense for the Sixers? The Sixers need a real point guard to wedge between Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, and Rose checks that box. But that doesn’t mean the fit is perfect. Rose has been a below-average shooter from the perimeter for just about his entire career (last season was Rose’s only in which he didn’t shoot below-average from 3PT), and even in his prime, Rose was at his most lethal penetrating the interior to attack the rim or kick out to a teammate. The Sixers need more space, not more players looking to work through the paint. Defensively, Rose’s teams have a history of performing better when he’s off the court than on.

For the Sixers, the former MVP would help in some ways and hurt in other ways. The Sixers don’t have a lot of trade assets, so there’s likely to be a significant opportunity cost for trading for someone like Rose, who is having a productive season offensively and has an established reputation around the league. What he offers is likely to be offset by his shortcomings in a playoff environment, in my estimation. With that said, I’d lookout for a better fit than Rose or lean toward making this current roster work.