New York Knicks

The New York Knickerbockers, commonly referred to as the Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in New York City. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City; the other is the Brooklyn Nets. The team, established by Ned Irish in 1946, was one of the founding members of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which became the NBA after merging with the rival National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949. Along with the Boston Celtics, the Knicks are one of only two original NBA teams still located in its original city. As they played the debut game, the Knicks is technically the oldest franchise in league history.

The Knicks were successful during their early years and were constant playoff contenders under the franchise's first head coach Joe Lapchick. Beginning in 1950, the Knicks made three consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, all of which were losing efforts. Lapchick resigned in 1956 and the team subsequently began to falter. It was not until the late 1960s when Red Holzman became head coach that the Knicks began to regain their former dominance. Holzman successfully guided the Knicks to two NBA championships, in 1970 and 1973. The Knicks of the 1980s had mixed success that included six playoff appearances; however, they failed to participate in the NBA Finals.

Derrick Rose

Derrick Martell Rose (born October 4, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the University of Memphis before being drafted first overall by Chicago in the 2008 NBA draft. Rose became the first guard to be drafted first overall in the NBA draft since Allen Iverson in 1996 and would subsequently win NBA Rookie of the Year. In 2011, Rose was named the NBA Most Valuable Player, becoming the youngest player to win this award at 22 years and 6 months old.

In 2009, an NCAA investigation revealed that Rose's SAT scores had been invalidated, making him retroactively ineligible to play for Memphis. As a result, the NCAA vacated Memphis' entire 2007–08 season.

Rose has struggled with significant knee injuries since his 2010–11 MVP campaign. In the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers, Rose tore his ACL in his left knee. Rose required surgery and was subsequently sidelined for the entire 2012–13 season. Rose returned to play in 2013–14. However, on November 22, 2013, during a regular season game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Rose injured his right meniscus which caused him to miss the remainder of the season. Rose returned once again the following season, but knee injuries continued to riddle him, causing him to miss 30 games.