Derrick Rose hasn't looked like Derrick Rose this season. Not for long stretches, anyways. Oh sure, you'd see flashes of his former brilliance, but they were never more than flashes.

He had traded many of the adventurous forays to the rim with cautious pull-up jumpers, and was shooting a miserable 40.7 percent from the field and 28.7 percent on 3-pointers. He was still getting to the rim a decent amount, with 26.2 percent of his field-goal attempts coming within 3 feet of the rim, but his free-throw rate had plummeted to .224, his lowest mark since he was a rookie, last season notwithstanding.

Still, it stinks to see Rose go down again. Even if he wasn't playing like the MVP Rose of old, the chance that he might get there at some point was enough to make him one of the most fascinating players in the league, and now we may not get a chance to see even the limited version of him again this season.

Rose suffered a tear of the medial meniscus in his right knee, the same injury that ended his season prematurely a year and change ago. Though he wasn't nearly the same player from his peak, Rose was posting a 31.3 percent usage rate and playing 31.0 minutes per game, so his absence is going to be felt for both the Bulls and Fantasy players.

What's in the future for Rose?

There are a few ways Rose's recovery could go, and until we find out the exact nature of his surgery, there isn't much concrete we can go on. If, as he did last time, Rose opts to undergo a full repair of the meniscus, that will bring his season to an end and push his rehabilitation into the summer. And, given the recurrence of the injury already, getting the full repair done is no guarantee that Rose will be any healthier on the long term.

If he opts for a debridement procedure and gets the injured part of the meniscus removed, the timeline could be much shorter. Kemba Walker is likely to return about six weeks after undergoing that procedure, and that seems to be a pretty typical timetable. Metta World Peace returned from a similar procedure after just 12 days a few years ago, but that probably isn't a good example. He was at the end of his career anyways, and relied so much less on his athleticism anyways.

In all likelihood, Rose's season is over, for Fantasy purposes. If you can afford to wait for a few days -- or if an obvious replacement isn't yet available on waivers -- see if Rose gets a miracle prognosis. The chances of it happening are vanishingly slim, but if the only downside is missing out on Tim Hardaway or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on waivers, there really isn't much risk.

Who replaces Rose?

Given recent history, we will probably see Kirk Hinrich step into the starting lineup, but Aaron Brooks is the guy who is going to see a bump in his playing time. We just saw D.J. Augustin thrive in that role last season for the Bulls, so should Fantasy owners expect the same from Brooks?

Brooks averaged 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 12 starts last season for the Nuggets, but there is almost no chance he will be asked to do as much playmaking for the Bulls. They have Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol to run the offense through, so letting Brooks pound the air out of the ball would make no sense. Even when Brooks has played with Rose off the floor this season, he is averaging just 5.5 assists per-36 minutes, though he does add in 19.2 points in that time while posting a team-high 27.7 usage rate in those minutes.

The biggest question is whether Tom Thibodeau will be able to trust Brooks with a 30-plus minute role. In the 11 games Rose has missed so far this season, that hasn't been the case. Brooks' production and role has increased with Rose out, but not to a level that would make him much more than a borderline starting Fantasy guard.

Brooks, with Rose out: 24.2 minutes, 12.9 points, 1.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.5 turnovers, 0.6 steals, 1.9 3-pointers made

Those are fine numbers, but they probably won't make a difference maker out of Brooks. There is potential for more, but the fact that Thibodeau has barely trusted him with a larger role in Rose's absence has to be concerning. Brooks is worth taking a flier on if you have a roster spot going to someone like Marcus Smart or Jerryd Bayless, but he is by no mean's a must-add player. He might squeak into the top-50 among guards in Rotisserie leagues from this point on, but right now it's hard to see any separation between he and other borderline options like Langston Galloway or Jordan Clarkson.

New roles for stars

A big part of D.J. Augustin's rise to Fantasy prominence last season was the lack of other options for the Bulls. They ranked just 28th in offensive rating a year ago, compared to ninth this season, and Rose hasn't been a big part of that; the Bulls score 105.7 points per possession with Rose on the court and 105.4 overall, a negligible difference.

A Big part of that has been the addition of Pau Gasol and the emergence of Jimmy Butler as a true go-to scorer. Last season, the Bulls needed to rely on Joakim Noah's passing out of the high post and Augustin's shooting, but they have many more options available now. We should see the playmaking duties split pretty evenly across the board, with Butler, Gasol and Noah seeing an uptick in their assist numbers, while Brooks serves as more of a scorer than a facilitator.

There will be an adjustment period, but the Bulls are in a much better place this season than they were last. For Fantasy owners, I would expect them to spread things around more than the last time, when it was pretty much all Noah and Augustin all of the time.