Dear Bulls, It's Been Four Years. Move on From Derrick Rose.

It’s no secret that Derrick Rose has been the biggest upside and disappointment for the Chicago Bulls in the last ten years. Not surviving an entire season since his 2010-2011 campaign, Rose has left a lot of questions on whether or not he will ever be able to be the leader the Bulls are looking for.

Rose had all the hype coming out of college. A Memphis star and No. 1 overall pick, followed by Rookie of Year, NBA MVP, and three All-Star appearances, saying Derrick Rose started off strong was a major understatement. But it doesn’t take much to end someone’s reign of success.

Since his 2010-2011 season, Rose has yet to complete an entire season without injury and last season was the only time he has completed at least 50% of the team’s games throughout an entire year. At this point, it’s an expectation that Rose will go down with one injury or another. Whether it’s his knees, back, hamstrings, or nose, there seems to always be something wrong with the player most expected to run basketball by this point.

It feels like forever since Rose has been capable of performing the way he was able to during his first three seasons. It’s a distant memory at this point being able to watch Rose make passes that people never dreamed of and slice through defenses with handles that only 2K players were capable of having.

For the Bulls, they have been the most loyal team a player can ask for by waiting three seasons on a player they hope will one day be able to perform the way he did in 2010. They’ve even built a team around a player who they, at this point, are praying can be the lead man. They drafted a player they believe could be the driving force behind the team in Jimmy Butler, taking pressure off Rose to lead in every aspect of the game.

It could be time the Bulls stop waiting though. They’ve built a team that can compete for a championship without Derrick Rose, yet they still wait for him to become elite again. Even now that he has returned, it’s like watching a 35+ year-old player have to rest every other game in order to stay healthy throughout the entire season. But Rose is 27-years-old! He isn’t an older player. He’s the same age as Stephen Curry and three years younger than LeBron James. When a player isn’t even 30-years-old and needs to be rested as much as Kobe Bryant, who’s nearly 40-years-old, it leaves a lot of questioning on whether or not he will ever be able to lead a team.

There’s no question that you have to respect the loyalty that the Bulls have shown this far. Their loyalty is exactly what’s keeping them out of contention for an NBA Championship though. Having a

team that contains players like Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, Joakim Noah, and other quality players put the Bulls a true point-guard away from completing their construction.

At this point, the Bulls aren’t going to get much for Rose if they try to trade him. Maybe a backup guard at best. But it’s not secret that the front-runners for the NBA Finals don’t include the Bulls this season. Knowing that, it could be in their best interest to take advantage of it. Keep Rose on the roster simply because at this point you’ve invested three, almost four years into his health, but that shouldn’t stop you from using a draft pick on a solid point guard that can fill their void. Use Rose as the player he is, and that is sixth man. He doesn’t have a body healthy enough to be a dominant point guard, so allow a younger player to become dominant instead. Then, you can allow Rose to work off the bench and strengthen his body to be able to compete the way the Bulls hope he can.

Instead of sitting on something that keeps letting you down, move on… to a degree. You have Jimmy Butler as your star and the rest of your starters as surrounding players any team would love to have. Now, it’s time that another player gets the opportunity to play point guard instead of wasting the talented lineup that the Bulls have created because they are hoping Rose can one day be great again.

It’s apparent that most of the NBA and NBA fans have realized the Derrick Rose is becoming more and more irrelevant with each season that passes. Why wait for him to disappear completely before you move on?