By CHRIS HERRING
June 24, 2016 8:44 p.m. ETIn today’s 24-hour news cycle, athletes—particularly high-profile ones who have fallen from grace—generally are relieved to escape the New York City spotlight.
Perhaps that’s what makes Derrick Rose so interesting: The 27-year-old former MVP, who was formally introduced as a Knick on Friday, said that moving halfway across the country and into the nation’s largest media market will be a “fresh start,” suggesting that it will actually reduce the pressure that he felt in his final seasons with the Chicago Bulls.
“I don’t know why I was traded, but I would like to tell [the Bulls] thank you,” Rose said at Madison Square Garden. “I’m grateful to be here. I feel like they’re gonna appreciate me a little bit more.”
The Knicks sent center Robin Lopez and guards Jerian Grant and Jose Calderon to Chicago on Wednesday in exchange for Rose, guard Justin Holiday and a second-round draft pick in 2017.
While scores of Bulls fans were undoubtedly angry with their team for shipping Rose out of his hometown, where he not only played high-school ball but was drafted as a No. 1 overall pick in 2008, others had grown tired of seeing him on the sidelines as he dealt with a steady string of injuries following his contract extension. (He’s in the final year of that contract, and will make $21.3 million in 2016-17.)
On Friday, Rose appeared excited about the prospect of moving, and repeatedly described what he perceived to be the difference between Chicago and New York, saying that while the former is a busy enough city, the latter “is a bit faster—the city don’t sleep at all.”
“In Chicago, you go downtown, and it’s like a desert—you don’t see anyone,” said Rose, who added that he was taken aback when he saw his name and image on the Garden’s facade as he arrived for the news conference. “Here, it’s always somebody out. There’s always something to do, or an event to go to.”
While the glare of playing in front of his hometown fans, particularly ones who had become disillusioned with him, seemingly took a toll on Rose, he said his decision to wear No. 25 with the Knicks was a way to honor his fans in Chicago. “A lot of people at home are surprised by this move, so I’m not forgetting about them,” said Rose, who attended the same high school as fallen star Benji Wilson, who was shot and killed in 1984. He wore Wilson’s No. 25 before he began his college career. “This is for them.”
Rose said Friday that he finally feels healthy, and maintained that there’s no chip on his shoulder to prove he’s still an MVP-caliber player after missing nearly 60% of his games over the past five seasons. He declined to say how many games he thought he could play next year, suggesting that he’d only jinx himself by doing so. He said his top priority is to reach the playoffs next season with his new team.
The soft-spoken Rose smiled a handful of times when asked about his situation in New York. He acknowledged fantasizing, back in 2014, about how good the Bulls could have been had Knicks star Carmelo Anthony signed with them that summer as a free agent, and said he’s excited to have Anthony as a teammate now. And when he was asked about Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks budding star forward, Rose said, “Man, it was hard playing against him last year, because he’s so good.”
Porzingis, he said, is “somebody I would die to play [with]—and now I got two of those guys on my team.”
The question now is who Phil Jackson and the Knicks’ front office can put around that trio. But Rose indicated two things: First, that he’d want Bulls center Joakim Noah, a free agent, to join him in New York. And second, that he’d be willing to recruit other players to the club this summer, something he generally was uncomfortable doing with the Bulls.
It’s clear Rose wants to bring some of Chicago with him to New York. But he’s happy to have a new home, with considerably less pressure on his shoulders than he felt before—something you generally won’t hear about any athlete stepping into the New York spotlight.
6/24/2016 4:47 PM