Bulls' Rose: The spotlight has been 'tough'
Derrick Rose drew a crowd of ballplayers to his first youth basketball camp at the Joy of the Game center in Deerfield.
The Bulls guard also attracted a throng of media members to the camp Thursday, when Rose held his first local interview since his rookie season ended with a playoff loss to Boston.
Other than a trip to Team USA minicamp in Las Vegas, Rose has spent most of his summer in Santa Monica, Calif., working with personal trainer Rob McClanaghan, a former walk-on guard at Syracuse. Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook was Rose's frequent workout partner.
By the sound of it, living in Southern California didn't do much to change Rose's lifestyle, though.
"Other than working out, going to the movies, I was in the house the whole time," he said.
Of course, Bulls fans want to know what Rose has in store for an encore. He was a landslide winner for rookie of the year and probably exceeded expectations last season, which is unusual for a No. 1 draft pick.
Rose mentioned working on his outside shot, then got a little technical when describing his summer training regimen.
"One thing I'd say is my jump shot, but just being consistent with everything I do and being a professional," Rose said. "All my moves, getting angles on people, just going around them, cutting them off - like Steve Nash does - and just be a pro."
Early in the summer, Rose endured a couple rounds of bad publicity. First came news that the NCAA accused him of having a fraudulent SAT score before attending Memphis. In other words, he was charged with having someone else take the test for him. Memphis found no proof and stated its case before the NCAA in June.
So far, no verdict has been announced. Nothing would affect Rose's status as an NBA player, anyway.
"That didn't bother me at all," Rose said. "I know I didn't do anything wrong. That was up to Memphis, what they had to do. Coach Cal (John Calipari) told me don't worry about it."
Rose then issued an apology for a photo taken at a college party, in which he apparently made gang-related hand gestures at the camera as a joke.
"I'm not a kid anymore. I'm always in the spotlight," Rose said. "I've got to be the leader of this team. I can't do foolish things anymore.
"It's still tough, but I'm learning. When I go out in public, I can't really act the way I want to act with my friends, kid around with them. It's like I've got to grow up. I'm only 20."
Here are Rose's thoughts on a few more relevant topics:
On Ben Gordon leaving for Detroit as a free agent: "I guess they're looking into the future. They had to make a business move. Ben is a great player, one of the best scorers I ever played with and a great guy. We'll miss him a lot. He took a lot of pressure off me last year."
On the Bulls' chances of signing a premier free agent in 2010: "I can't recruit anybody. I hope they want to play with me because of my game, not because I came up to them and said, 'Yeah, come play with me.' I would love to play with some of the players that are coming up on that free-agent list. But it will be up to them. They'll have to make their own decisions and hopefully they'll consider the Bulls."
On how the Bulls will do next season: "We're going to be good. The main goal is we want to get further each year. Now we just want to make it past the first round and hopefully go to the championship. That's the goal. I'm not looking to get any less. As a player, you want to win the championship."
On taking more late-game shots now that Gordon is gone: "I don't know right now, but I hope I am. I missed a lot of them last season, but I hope I learn from them."
On John Salmons, who most likely becomes the starter at shooting guard: "Small forward, shooting guard, whatever - John is a player. He rarely says stuff on the court. He's quiet like I am."
On Team USA minicamp: "(I learned) that team is way bigger than what you think it is. The tradition of the team, the people that played there and the legacy of it. Hopefully, I will (be added to the squad for next year's FIBA World Championships in Turkey). I played hard. The only thing was I was out of condition a little bit."
On his camp: "It's a fun camp. Just trying to get kids out here to teach them the fundamentals of basketball; to have fun and compete while they're out there. I'm 1-8 (in traditional camp game 'Knockout'), which is kind of embarrassing. But there are some good players out there."