Derrick ROSE
New K nicks point guard Der rick Rose takes as hot at some Q& A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: How hungry or driven are you to approach the kind of elite player you were?
A: I’m always driven, I’ve always been driven. I always had the underdog mentality, no matter where I was at in my career. But going through the injuries, you could be down. At one point, I wanted revenge and all that, but actually just going through it, I’m taking it as a challenge. I’m putting in all the work that I’m putting in, I’m doing everything I could do to actually get back to that player, but it takes time. It takes patience. That’s what I think I developed over these last couple of years is patience. Like dealing with everything I was dealing with. Being 23, 24 at the time, having the injuries, learning who I was becoming as a man, having a son, being the man of the household, taking care of my family, I was doing that at a young age, at 19. So having all that on my plate and just trying to find my identity in this world, I’m taking it all as a challenge now.
Q: Do you miss being that MVP player?
A: No. I know I could become better. ... I was a dumb player at the time.
Q: Then how did you get to become MVP?
A: I was reckless. ... I wasn’t being smart. I wish I never dunked the ball. ... I was playing too fast, I wasn’t changing up my speeds. I wasn’t reading the game right. And I think my IQ of the game wasn’t as high as it is right now. I feel like I’m more in control. I’m more balanced.
Q: How would you describe your on-court mentality now versus when you were that reckless MVP?
A: I think I’m able to read the NBA game a lot better, and pick and choose my spots. When I was younger, I was trying to figure out the league. I was still trying to figure what type of player I was gonna become. And now, I feel like with the IQ that I have and with the experience I have after playing nine years, I could really go out there and pick and choose my spots, instead of just going out there shooting shots trying to win the game.
Q: What does drive you now?
A: Greatness. I think it drives everybody. Being obsessed with greatness. ... Not only in basketball, but in life period. I watch a lot of documentaries. I just always have that curiosity of what ticks people to dedicate their whole life to one thing.
Q: Have you studied other athletes at all?
A: I wouldn’t say studied, but observe and try to watch as close as possible.
Q: Who would you watch?
A: People like Pele, people like Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, like Bobby Fischer (smile). I try to see what ticks people and makes ’em obsessed with whatever their interests are.
Q: Was your on-court mentality as a young player similar to Russell Westbrook’s?
A: It’s different with Wes. Wes plays with some type of meanness to him, mean streak to him. I never played with a mean streak to me, I just played to play. I can’t play that way, upset or mad. Wes seems like he thrives off that. When I’m on the court, I’m a totally different player. I don’t know where it comes from, I don’t know what it is but, I don’t know, it’s some type of confidence level in me just knowing how hard I work. If my mean streak is a Chicago way of playing basketball, like not backing down. We use the term “not going.” Like I’m not backing down away from no challenge. I play to win, then it comes out in that way.
Q: During all the rehabs, what was the low point?
A: I think all of ’em had some type of low point to ’em, but the process of getting up in the morning, I hate. I’m not a morning guy. So getting up in the morning, just knowing that you gotta work out every single day.
Q: Murray Park was also known as Murder Park. What was t he worst thing you ever saw?
A: The worst thing I ever saw was someone getting pistolwhipped in the park. Like someone stole from a neighbor a few blocks away from where I lived.
Q: What was that like growing up watching something like that?
A: Traumatizing. I saw my brother’s best friend die. Just seeing him like bleed out in front of you, and just being like helpless, no one can do anything for him, that was traumatizing. To tell you the truth, that was kind of regular in my neighborhood.
Q: How good were the games in Murray Park?
A: Oh, they were good. They were very competitive. The younger guys couldn’t get on the court. I was probably the only kid in my neighborhood to get on the court and play with the older guys, so like all my friends used to stand around the court and cheer me on whenever I used to go out there and play, and I’ll score, they’ll start like cheering for me, yelling for me, talking smack to all the older players that I’m actually like a kid out there
scoring on the older guys (smile). I was probably the only kid that could play with the older guys.
Q: You were the No. 1-overall pick in the draft. What was that like for you?
A: My whole life I’ve been hearing like, “You have to be accustomed to the attention, be accustomed to all the fame,” and all that, but that’s something that I’ve done in the past and got used to over the past, but that’s not who I am. Being at 28 years old, I figured that out like a couple of years ago going through all my injuries that I’m just not built for it, but it’s my profession, and so I can’t whine and complain about it.
Q: How painful was losing that 2008 NCAA championship game to Kansas when you were at Memphis?
A: Very painful. Very painful. I mean literally. You know the fireworks that go off, like after they win? The s--t burns you. That’s what people don’t know. Like when the fireworks go off, the fire from the fireworks actually come down and burn you if you’re like walking off the court. So literally, it’s painful (laugh).
Q: What is your favorite Bulls memory?
A: Getting the [2010-11] MVP trophy.
Q: Describe Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek.
A: Coach Horn is an old-school type coach. He allows players the freedom to go out there and play the way that they want to play.
Q: What is it about Kristaps Porzingis’ game that really impresses you?
A: He’s always working. He’s never satisfied.
Q: He’s kind of like a freak, isn’t he?
A: Yeah. To be that mobile at 7-3. It’s a lot of guys that come in the league and change the league, but to be 7-3 though as like a center and be able to move and be that mobile, and just his balance. He doesn’t even run like a 7-3 guy. He runs like he’s a small forward, and plays and does moves, step-backs like he’s a small
forward. I think he’s the first guy at that length on this league that we’ve ever seen move that way.
Q: What have you learned about Carmelo Anthony as a teammate maybe you didn’t know?
A: He’s very vocal. Like he wants to win. Like his will to win. Coming in the locker room, getting on guys, always being that voice on the huddles just letting guys know, “This is what we have to do, and this is how we’re gonna do it.” That’s something that I’m learning, like I’m a quiet guy. I always led by example. And for me, being vocal, that’s the next step for me, so it’s good to have him around.
Q: Describe Knicks fans.
A: The greatest in the world, to tell you the truth. They really know basketball. It’s different when you go in an arena and sometimes you hear chatter, like it’s not even about the game. The chatter is about business, lunch, where they’re going after the game. You don’t hear that here a lot. Like you hear a lot of fans that are into the game, telling the players what they need to do or what they should be doing on the floor. I just love to hear it just to get the feel for the crowd, and that’s what they have here.
Q: Have they embraced you from Day 1?
A: It seems like it. My job here is just to win, by any means. I don’t care about my average. I don’t care about my stats at all. I’m just here to help Melo and the other guys to win and push the team as far as we can, and try to rebuild this culture here.
Q: Superstitions?
A: Before games, I don’t eat that much. I put on my shoes a certain way. Taking my supplements at a certain time, drink my energy drinks at a certain time. Little things like that.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, my grandmother.
Q: New York pizza?
A: Love it.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Leonardo [DiCaprio] Q: Favorite entertainer? A: Tupac.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Linguini with marinara sauce and grilled chicken.
Q: Describe the Garden of Dreams experience this week with Michael Young, a boy who suffers from leukemia.
A: It means a lot, especially when a kid is a fan of yours, with me having a son, too. I get worried when he has a cold, or when he falls or when he hurts himself, so let alone he has leukemia and you have to take him in for treatment. I can only dream about how devastating that must feel sometimes, but at the same time, it makes me value my time with my son, having those times with them kids like that, making their day, because my son is so blessed and he’s healthy, so it’s a blessing that my son is healthy. It’s a blessing that I get the little time that I have with them kids because they put a lot of things in perspective.
Q: Could you see yourself, if all goes well, playing in New York for a long time?
A: I would want it to be that way, but it’s not up to me.
Q: Why would you want it to be that way?
A: I love the environment here. I love just everything that comes with New York. I love it.
Q: I read where you said, “Great things are coming.” What were you referring to by that?
A: One of my best friends, his dad, he was like a father figure to me. His quote always to us ever since we were in sixth grade was, “It gets greater later.” I totally get it now ... coming from Chicago, where a kid don’t cherish their life or treasure their life like they’re supposed to, and I grew up in that. And me being able to get out, and having the discipline and having the determination, and having a great family and having them protect me the way they did. ... I could have been content just winning MVP and having a certain amount in my bank account. A lot of guys would love quit having two knee surgeries, let alone three surgeries and an orbital eye surgery. Even after I get done playing basketball, not to sound cocky, I’m a hustler by heart, like it’s something that’s always gonna drive me to compete, or something that’s gonna push me to be better.
Q: Message to Knicks fans still dreaming that championship dream?
A: It takes time. We’re giving it everything we got. I know I’m giving everything I have. And as long as I’m a part of this organization, the goal is a championship.
Q: How realistic is that goal?
A: Very realistic. Like right now they thought we would be like 2-16 right now, something like that. For them to even think that, that drives us. Everybody on this team is chasing something right now from the starting five to the guys on the bench to the coaches to the GM to the owner. We all want that championship. But it takes time, it takes dedication, and it takes sacrifice.