Because of the position they are in, athletes at times can’t really say how they truly feel. They have to play the game with the media to avoid being torched in papers and online. With that said though, they can still convey the message they are trying to send in other ways. According to reports, Derrick Rose really was never too enthusiastic about the chance of Carmelo joining him in Chicago, despite other friendly reports. He really wanted another star to come join him and he actually participated in trying to recruit him. Hit the jump.
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Derrick Rose is not your typical athlete. He doesn’t seek out the limelight away from the court. He isn’t out poppin’ bottles or trying to be best friends with other players, he just focuses on himself and winning. With that said, there is a report today from the local paper in Chicago that Rose never really cared about playing with Carmelo, and in fact he wasn’t excited about it at all. He wanted Pau Gasol from the start!
Looking back, it’s clear Rose wasn’t all that interested in teaming with Anthony, who chose to return to the New York Knicks. Rose was much more aggressive in the Bulls’ pursuit of free agent Pau Gasol, not only asking for his phone number, but giving a hard sell to the big man on joining the Bulls.
And here is Rose on why he wanted to play with Gasol:
“[Gasol is] someone that I knew I could play with,’’ Rose said. “You think about Pau, him now being in the East, what he’ll be able to achieve with the way we play, the way we dump the ball in the post a lot. It could be great.’’
Now the paper would be reading too much into it, but if we are being real, it does make quite a bit of sense for Rose to prefer Pau over Melo. Their games may of clashed more than people think and he may feel it wouldn’t of resulted in improvement. This story contradicts the one that was released a couple days ago where it said Rose was friendly towards Melo and did want him. You never know what is what.
