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Chicago Bulls beat Cavs; Rose throws twist into 2010 free-agent summer

Derrick Rose picked an odd time to revise his personal Chicago Bulls history.

Rose threw a minor twist into the 2010 free-agent summer, with a layer of disrespect.

Before the Bulls' 108-94 preseason victory in Cleveland, Rose was asked about getting to play with both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the Cavaliers this season. This scenario could have happened in 2010 when the Bulls had cap space while James and Wade were free agents.

Everyone knows how this story turned out. James took his talents to South Beach, joining Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat and went to the Finals four straight years.

"Yeah, yeah, I tried too," Rose told reporters at the morning shootaround. "Like people always said I didn't recruit. I tried to recruit. I put out a video, but it wasn't for me to say that. I felt like the organization was supposed to say that, and they didn't. I put out a video for (Wade), Chris Bosh and LeBron."

Asked why he hadn't mentioned this until Tuesday, Rose put the burden on the Bulls.

"I mean, it ain't for me to say that, but, yeah, they (the Bulls) didn't say anything about it," Rose said. "They sent (the video). I don't know if they really actually looked at it or played the video, but I made a video. At the time it wasn't for me to say that. … I just wanted to see who had my back."

There's really no reason to doubt Rose made a video, probably at the request of the team to play at the meeting with James in downtown Cleveland.

At the same time, Rose never disagreed with the story lines that emerged during the 2010-11 season. The spin was he didn't feel comfortable recruiting James because he felt it was disrespectful to Luol Deng. He also wanted to be the franchise player on his own team and Bulls fans loved him for it, especially when Rose won MVP and led the Bulls to a 62-20 record.

Several knee surgeries later, it's easy to say the Bulls would be in far better shape today if Rose was able to reel in James. Remember early that summer the Bulls were thought to be the favorite, but it wasn't meant to be.

Even though Rose called out the Bulls for not having his back, he insisted all is good with his hometown franchise, which traded him to New York in June 2016.

"There's no bad blood with Chicago at all," Rose said. "I understand the business side, like it's a business before anything, so I understood that, and the year that I had in New York it was a heck of an experience. Even though we were losing I learned a lot, I learned more the business side to it.

"I really played on a bad team. I really have to be professional about it, learn how to block everything out, and just focus on my game and grow from it. So everything happened for a reason. That's the way I took it."

Rose should begin the season as Cleveland's starting point guard, since newcomer Isaiah Thomas is expected to be out with a hip injury until January. Both Rose and Wade signed one-year deals for the minimum salary.

"It's a blessing. It really is a blessing," Rose said. "I'm really fortunate to be here, happy to be here. It's like a clean slate. I'm going to take advantage of this."

The Bulls (3-2) looked good Tuesday using their fast-paced, heavy ball-movement style. Justin Holiday erupted for a game-high 28 points and rookie Lauri Markkanen got hot, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. Denzel Valentine added 14 points.

Cleveland's game has been 3-point shooting, at least before Rose and Wade arrived, and the Bulls held their own in that category, going 15-for-41 from long range. Holiday and Markkanen both went 4-for-7 from behind the arc.

Nikola Mirotic left the game in the first quarter with a sprained ankle.

• Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls

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