Bulls will be a better team with Rose or Beasley

CHICAGO — I went back to look at what I wrote when the Bulls stunningly won the right to the first pick in the NBA draft.

In the astonishment of that night, I declared my complete devotion to Derrick Rose, the incredible point guard from the University of Memphis.

You know how sometimes you have the thought that, given a few twists of fate and one more shot of tequila, you could have ended up marrying someone other than the person you're with and perhaps even been content? This is sort of like that, but without the physical relationship and the household chores.

So I read what I wrote a month ago — oh, the strident pro-Rose prose! — and thought to myself: You know what, Rick? It's not as if Michael Beasley is sauteed salmonella. This isn't a choice between Derrick Rose and Mini-Me from the "Austin Powers" movies. This is Michael Beasley, who dominated the intense Big 12 competition he faced as a freshman at Kansas State.

The Bulls will do just fine either way at Thursday night's draft. They'll be a better team with Rose or Beasley. Rose would be the better fit, but it's not as if Beasley is the guy who shows up at a Blue Man Group tryout with a microphone and his face painted plaid.

There are no guarantees here, obviously. Beasley's background is a concern. No matter what he says about each person's "normal" being different, there is nothing normal about attending five high schools and one prep school in five states. And one year of relative stability in college does not answer the worries about him. General manager John Paxson talks about players' character a lot, but unless he can find a way to convince people Beasley was an Army brat and thus had to move around a lot, this is going to be an issue until the 19-year-old Beasley proves it isn't.

"On the basketball side of things, I'm 30 years old," he told reporters last month. "Off the court, I don't know. How mature do you want me to be? I don't know if you want me to act 25 or 30 or 40. I'm a kid. I'm going to mess up.

"I hear a lot about character issues, 1/8that 3/8 I have character issues. But I've yet to hear what those character issues are. Until somebody tells me what my character issues are, I don't feel the need to change."

That Beasley often felt the need to change high schools to find the right basketball system for him is the very definition of a character issue. Character issues don't always have to manifest themselves in a criminal record.

But, again, if the Bulls decide he's the better player and that whatever compelled him to be a vagabond in high school has nothing to do with his future success as an NBA player, then go for it. He's that talented. If the Bulls draft him, we'll know they're confident he won't self-destruct.

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