There is a lot of discussion about Derrick Rose saying that he heard there was tension between him and the Bulls front office. Especially since Owner Jerry Reinsdorf issued a strongly worded statement. However, there was another nugget in that article that needs attention. There is growing evidence that Derrick Rose preferred to play with Pau Gasol over Carmelo Anthony:
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.’’
If you really think about it, this does make a lot of sense. Gasol fits more into the team mentality that the Bulls have created while Rose has been their star. It’s interesting to me though that Rose wouldn’t be aggressive to get a top 10 player in Melo who could really take pressure off him on the court though.
This will be an interesting season in Chicago.