Rose calls Knicks Carmelo’s team, says
DERRICK Rose was “the guy” in Chicago starting with his rookie season in 2008, beloved as the hometown savior and the youngest MVP in the history of the NBA. He averaged 17 shots as a point guard through seven seasons, dominating the ball, the endorsements and the cap space.
But now in New York and actually healthy following the first day of training camp, Rose has placed himself on a lower rung of the franchise ALMOST three months ago, Carmelo Anthony sent out an impassioned plea for athletes to ignore their corporate image and marketability for the sake of taking a stand. And while Colin Kaepernick actually took a knee during the national anthem, the Niners QB represented “the prime example of somebody stepping up,” according to Anthony.
“I think he was the first one that actually stepped up and did something the way that he wanted to do it, use his voice in the way that he wanted to use it,” Anthony said Tuesday. “That’s the only thing I was asking. I didn’t know he was going to do it that way. But it is what it is at this point. Obviously, something good hopefully should come out of what he’s doing. I don’t think he’s being disrespectful. He’s not having a loud protest. He’s doing it quiet. He’s doing it in his own right and if people want to follow suit they follow suit. That’s on everybody else.”
Anthony threw his support behind Kaepernick but declined to say whether he’d also kneel for the anthem. The Knicks players have said that any protest, gesture or action will come after a unified decision. The Knicks, by the way, totem pole - below Carmelo Anthony.
“My job is to come here and help (Anthony) win,” Rose said Tuesday. “This is his team.”
At this juncture any hierarchy is simply preseason speak and contingent on various factors, starting with the pending civil trial and criminal investigation into allegations Rose raped a woman in California. Then there’s the evidence of a failed partnership between Rose and Jimmy Butler in Chicago - “It had to be one of us (traded),” are holding training camp this week at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
“I haven’t even thought that far as far as what I’m going to do with the national anthem,” Anthony said. “Whatever I’m going to do I think we’re all going to do it as a unit, as a team. We’re all going to be on the same page when we do that. As far as kneeling, standing, I had an opportunity to do that in the Olympics. I stood strong and put my hand over my chest and represented my country the way I had to. I don’t really know as far as what’s going to happen or not. I do know that something will be done. We will continue to try to get back into the community as a team, as players, and keep this convo going.”
Anthony said that critics of Kaepernick have misunder- stood his message.
“A lot of people turned their backs on him, was calling him all types of names, that he’s stupid for doing what he was doing. But it’s not Butler said — and the expiring contract that may prompt Rose to rethink deferring to anybody, including Anthony.
All that is under the cloud of Rose’s grim injury history, with five consecutive seasons either partially or fully sabotaged by surgery.
“(Anthony’s) been here the longest, he went through a lot of things here, experienced a lot, so this is his team,” Rose said. “I can only speak of me and Joakim (Noah). We’re coming in here, we’re battle tested. Our job is to until you really get to the nitty-gritty of what he’s trying to say and what his message is — I support him, to be honest with you,” Anthony said. “I support the courage that he had to take that stance on the level that he’s taking it. As far as everybody else, I don’t know if kind of the masses thought the following would be as crazy as it is and everybody would follow suit with him. I thought people thought that everybody was going to turn their back on him. I think it actually brought people closer to him and his message and his cause. Everybody does it in their own way. He wanted to kneel on the national anthem. His argument was not with the actual flag, it’s everything else that comes along with it. My thing was police brutality. Somebody else’s thing might be education. So I think we all have to just figure out what’s our task we want to tackle and go forward with that.” make his job as easy as possible. That means if it’s sacrificing, we’re sacrificing. Whatever he wants us to do, we’re going to do it, bro. We don’t want no problems. We just want to win.”
If it weren’t for the legal mess — which is only getting messier — Rose would already be experiencing a better season than his final one in Chicago. Last year he suffered a fractured orbital bone during the first day of training camp after an accidental elbow from a teammate. Rose then played his first 19 games with a protective mask while his shooting percentage tumbled.
The 28-year-old left Tuesday’s session at the Knicks practice facility unscathed.
“(The eye injury) affected me a lot, man. Coming back, I had double vision. I couldn’t see. But you still had people criticizing my game and critiquing my game. I wasn’t 100 percent. I wasn’t even 80 percent but I didn’t want to lose my conditioning and I was out there playing,” Rose said. “I love playing so I was just out there competing and along the way people