Derrick Rose's Injury Forces Chicago Bulls To Search For New Identity, Deals Adidas Shoes A Huge Blow

Once considered as one of the few teams capable of dethroning the Miami Heat this season, the Chicago Bulls are suddenly in the midst of an identity crisis after superstar Derrick Rose suffered another major knee injury.

Rose, who underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee last week, is expected to miss the entire season -- a familiar scenario for the Bulls after also playing without Rose last season while the superstar point guard was still recovering from left ACL injury.

But while they are used to playing without Rose and having proven that they can compete without their best player, veteran power forward Carlos Boozer admitted that that they are in the process of finding a new identity without the 25-year-old point guard.

"It's like a whole new season," Boozer told ESPN Chicago. "It's like starting over again in the middle of the year, where we are right now, so we're still trying to find our new identity without Derrick for this season, because each season is very different. Each team is very different."

Boozer added that the veterans Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Nazr Mohammed, and Taj Gibson should step up and lead the way for their young guys in order to stay competitive this season.

On the other hand, head coach Tim Thibodeau said that the team looked worried in their past few games thinking about who will fill up the scoring vacuum left by Rose, but the 2011 Coach of the Year is more concerned with the defensive effort of his players.

"I think everyone's worried offensively about how we're going to score. And I like what we're doing offensively. I thought guys shared the ball, made plays for each other, turnovers were low. We shot a good-enough percentage, but the defense and the rebounding really hurt us so we got to get that straightened out," Thibodeau said. "Right now we're not playing defense the way we're capable of. And I know we can be a great defensive team, they've already shown me that."

Aside from the Bulls, Rose's latest injury is also expected to significantly affect the overall sales of Adidas, which considers Rose as the face of their basketball products.

Adidas signed Rose to a 13-year deal worth $185 million in February 2012 but the 2011 MVP tore his ACL two months after signing the biggest shoe deal for an NBA player.

While Rose was recovering from his ACL injury, Forbes reported that Adidas' sales number declined significantly, but gained a lot of mileage marketing through their coverage of Rose's road to his much-awaited return.

And now that Rose is out again, analyst Matt Powell believes that it will be tough for Adidas to maintain their growing sales number despite having other notable NBA players in their endorsement roster like Dwight Howard, John Wall, and Ricky Rubio.

"It will be tough to maintain that growth with their marquee player out for the year," Powell said. "Adidas struggled to gain sales in basketball while Rose was out."