Derrick Rose Injury: Star PG's Extended Absence Will Benefit Chicago Bulls

The revelation that Derrick Rose may miss up to a year recovering from knee surgery seems immune to silver lining at first glance.

In the best of scenarios, Rose might return in time for the postseason only to bemoan his inability to find a rhythm on a team that's spent an entire season acclimating itself to a new life without him. In the worst of scenarios, Rose won't return at all.

There may be no playoffs for the Chicago Bulls. Perhaps there will be another first-round exit, this time to a much higher seed. After all, Chicago may be next year's eighth seed.

As bad as the latter eventualities may seem, Bulls fans should take solace in the system that gave them Derrick Rose in the first place: The NBA Draft.

Just as the San Antonio Spurs wound up with the first overall pick in 1997 after David Robinson played in just six games due to injury, the Bulls could be in position to significantly upgrade their roster without the luxury of ample cap space or valuable trade assets.

Chicago could even help its cause by moving one or two of its aging veterans for some younger pieces. Moving Carlos Boozer's three-year, $46 million deal might be easy, but it's hard to imagine there aren't any clubs willing to take on the remainder of Richard Hamilton's modest deal.

Next season is going to be a rough one for Bulls fans no matter what.

Anything short of outright tanking will only prolong their agony unnecessarily. This isn't a franchise that can be satisfied with feel-good, underdog forays into the second round. Nothing short of a championship will mean a thing for a club that's already come so close.

Whatever the connotations one attaches to tanking, the rules change when a former MVP goes down for a season (or the vast majority thereof).

Not a single ticket-holder would be cheated out of a thing in the event Chicago opted to be deliberately sub-par. Those fans were already cheated by fate and doomed to witness a lame-duck season from its very outset.

The worse this team is, the better it will be down the road. Given that Rose is still just 23, there's no reason to trade future dominance for a few wins next season. It's time for this organization to make the best of the hand it's been dealt.

A 2013 lottery selection should just about do the trick.