Derrick Rose is about to make a lot of money

ESPNChicago’s Nick Friedell writes:

The Chicago Bulls’ “top priority” during Wednesday morning’s initial contact period between teams and agents will be to set up the framework of Derrick Rose’s contract extension, according to a league source.

Rose, whose rookie contract is up after this season, became the youngest MVP in NBA history last season while leading the Bulls to a regular-season-best 62 wins. He is expected to receive a max extension when the time comes, although no formal offers can be made or signed until Dec. 9, according to an NBA memo issued to all teams Tuesday night.

Rose is going to get a pay upgrade. And it’s going to be a big one.

As Friedell explains, the new collective bargaining agreement has a clause allowing a player completing his rookie contract to make up to 30 percent of a team’s salary cap if he’s been voted an All-Star twice, made two All-NBA teams, or been named league MVP.

Not surprisingly, this clause is being called The Derrick Rose Rule.

We can probably expect D-Rose to sign a five-year contract extension for something in the neighborhood of $100 million. There’s no question he’s worth every penny.

Of course, a quick look at the salary situation provides a cause for concern. After extending Rose, the Bulls will have the bulk of their available cap space — over $50 million per season — gobbled up by the combined contracts of Rose, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng.

That doesn’t leave a lot of room for improvement in other areas.

Boozer isn’t worried. He thinks the team has what it takes out-of-the-box:

“I think we can accomplish a championship. I think we have the talent and the leadership in place. The experience of last year’s playoff run and the season we had has prepared us. A championship is the next step in our progression.

“Don’t get me wrong: We need to get in the lab and get to work. But if you ask anybody in that locker room, we have a championship-caliber team.”

I beg to differ.

I just don’t think the Bulls can beat the Heat — their most likely competition for control of the Eastern Conference — as presently constituted. There’s too much pressure on Rose to create everything. He needs help. It doesn’t have to be a Robin to his Batman sort of thing. The help can be provided by committee.

But that committee can’t include Keith Bogans.

I know, I know. I harp on this. Everybody harps on this. But it’s the reality of the situation. Without a shooting guard who can be a legit scoring threat, teams will continue to throw their entire defense at Rose and dare somebody else to step up.

Want to know what the potential impact of a legit two guard could be? Check it: Last season the Bulls were 26-2 when Bogans scored at least 6 points.

That’s not exact science or anything, but it does indicate that even modest production from the SG made the Bulls darn near unstoppable.

But the soon-to-be and well-deserved extension for Rose is going to make it all but impossible to upgrade at shooting guard unless somebody (coughJasonRichardsoncough) decides to take a huge pay cut.