Knicks’ Rose to begin trial for rape
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. » Derrick Rose said Monday he isn’t worried about a rape trial set to start next week because he feels he “didn’t do anything wrong.”
Rose said he is instead focused on his first season with the New York Knicks. His first practice with the team will be Tuesday.
“My concern is just playing well this year,” Rose said. “I can’t think about the case. I feel like I’m innocent and I feel like I didn’t do anything wrong, like I said, and I can’t let that distract me with the year that I have ahead of me.”
A woman sued Rose last year in California, contending the former MVP and two of his friends raped her in August 2013 while she was incapacitated after a night of drinking. Rose and the others say they had consensual sex with her that night.
The civil trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 4 — barring any settlement — the day the Knicks play their exhibition opener in Houston. It’s unclear how much, if any, of the preseason he would have to miss if there is a trial.
“I’m not worried about it, but if I do have to miss time, it’s a part of it,” Rose said. “Of course I don’t want to be in this position, but it is what it is and I’m going to let my lawyers and my team handle it.”
Rose added that he hadn’t heard anything about a possibility of criminal charges being brought.
The Knicks acquired Rose from Chicago in June. The point guard said he is healthy after a series of injuries, mostly to his knees, that have plagued him since his MVP season in 2011.
Because of the injuries, Rose hasn’t played in more than 66 games a season since he first tore his ACL in the 2012 playoffs. Rehab has forced him to report early or stay late after practices and games for much of the last few years, which he said was tiresome.
But he was able to focus on basketball this summer while adding yoga to his workout routine,