Derrick Rose senses the Knicks won’t hold his disappearance Monday against him based on management’s response since his return.
Indeed, Rose doesn’t think missing that game has damaged his chances of having a long-term marriage with the Knicks. Rose, who was fined roughly $200,000 for missing Monday’s game, can become a free agent July 1, but the Knicks can offer him a lesser three-year contract extension at any time before that. Rose likely will seek a maximum contract.
“When I was in the room [with Steve Mills and Phil Jackson] I felt they understood where I was coming from,” Rose said before Thursday’s 104-89 win over the Bulls, his former team. “I hope the incident didn’t change their minds. Who knows? This is a business. If it was to happen [a divorce], I’d still play the way I normally play wherever I’m at.
“It eases everything when the front office knows where you’re coming from and understood,’’ Rose added.
Though he didn’t so much as text the organization to say he wasn’t showing up for Monday’s game against New Orleans to be with his family in Chicago, Rose said he believes his teammates have accepted his apologies. He spoke to the team before Tuesday’s practice.
“All comes from teammates,’’ Rose said. “When I came back felt nothing but love. I apologized to them. It eases everything when they understand. If I came back and felt negative energy and people looking at me different, I felt nothing but love and they gave me room and space to actually think and process everything.”
He had a solid return with 25 points in Wednesday’s loss in Philadelphia, then scored 17 points Thursday against Chicago.
Rose, known as sensitive and reserved, wouldn’t say why he needed to be around his family, but sources contend his issues were not team-related. He has said in the past he missed his 4-year-old son, who lives in Chicago.
The Bulls traded Rose in June because of his injury history and occasional weird incidents, though he never went AWOL while with them.
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said he didn’t have any problems coaching Rose.
“I enjoyed coaching Derrick and glad everything’s OK,’’ Hoiberg said Thursday. “I found him easy to coach, coachable. You could call him out in film sessions and he didn’t talk back. He has had a tremendous amount of success, youngest MVP ever. He’s got a lot of great basketball left in him. I felt him good to coach.’’
Bulls forward Taj Gibson, a native of The Bronx, said the episode was uncharacteristic but gave Rose his due as a great teammate.
“I was surprised just like anybody else,” Gibson told reporters at the Bulls morning shootaround. “It’s really hard to go missing in the NBA because you got so many people that’s going to check on you from agent, you got [team] staff, general managers, teammates, so it’s really tough, but you never know. Things happen.”
Gibson admitted Rose can be too honest. Rose admitted he had blown off the Knicks’ phone calls because he needed “space.’’
“I feel Derrick has grown into his own,” Gibson said. “He doesn’t really care what people think anymore. Some players tend to go out and just say things because they know what fans what to hear. He’s coming at you real, telling you how he feels.’’
As for the fan reaction at the Garden, Rose said, “I hope love. Hope nothing but love out there. They just want to see you play hard.”