ROSY TIMES COMIN’
Knicks excited to get point guard back now that civil trial is over
BOSTON — Upset that his friend and teammate missed two weeks of preseason, Joakim Noah ripped the motive of the woman who accused Derrick Rose of rape — blaming her for Rose’s absence before a jury ruled in his favor Wednesday.
“It’s a blessing to have (Rose) come back. I don’t even know what to say. It’s great that the truth came out,” Noah said after a California jury ruled that the accuser hadn’t proven her claim in the civil trial. “But at the same time we didn’t have our point guard for all of preseason. All of this because of a girl who was trying to make money off my friend. “It’s wack.” Noah said the trial had been a distraction for Rose.
“That’s not an easy situation for anybody. (Rose) is a tough kid. But it’s definitely a distraction. He’s not here,” Noah said. “It’s a distraction not just for him but the whole team. But it’s not his fault. It’s just some girl who went out of her way to make money off of him.”
Rose left two weeks ago with a goal to clear his name and keep his money. In those respects, he scored a big victory with the jury’s decision Wednesday — perhaps best exemplified by a statement from the company paying Rose millions of endorsement dollars.
“Our partnership with Derrick remains unchanged,” Adidas released not long after the verdict.
Still, the circumstances left Rose with just three practices to recover lost time before the regular season opener in Cleveland on Oct. 25.
Noah, who played with Rose in Chicago the last eight years, doesn’t think it’s enough.
“I don’t think so,” the center said. “But we don’t have a choice. We just have to keep our mind on getting better. ”
Jeff Hornacek left open the possibility of Rose playing in Thursday’s preseason finale in
Brooklyn, but it sounded remote, at best. Following Wednesday’s victory over the Celtics, Hornacek was unsure when Rose was to fly back from L.A.
“The only thing is if he says, ‘I’m going to be there (Thursday) morning (for shootaround), I want to play, I want to get out there,’ Then I’ll consider playing him in the game,” Hornacek said. “But I don’t see that being the case. ”
Hornacek originally expected Rose to return to New York over a week ago, but the 28-year-old decided against flying back and forth from L.A. during the trial. So Hornacek delayed the installation of his offense, while Rose missed nine practices and, assuming he’s out Thursday, five preseason games.
Rose said he was working out vigorously during the trial, which centered around accusations from the 30-year-old “Jane Doe” that Rose and his two friends gang-raped her about three years ago.
“We spent a lot of time working out with him this summer. But having something like that is heavy,” Noah said. “But overall I thought he dealt with it great. We just look forward to having him back here playing basketball.
“It’s an unfortunate situation but the truth came out.”
Carmelo Anthony is excited to get the starting five together for the first time since training camp.
“Oh man, that’s great news where Derrick can just kind of put that behind him, focus on the task at hand and get back in the flow of things,” Anthony said. “From that standpoint we’re kind of excited about that just to have him back in the fold.”