Jimmy Butler: I had nothing to do with Derrick Rose trade
By Tom West
Jimmy Butler has addressed the Chicago Bulls’ offseason moves again, saying he had nothing to do with the departure of Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol or the Derrick Rose trade.
Once the Chicago Bulls’ season ended following a disappointing ninth-place finish in the Eastern Conference, NBA fans knew big changes would be coming. Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol had both expressed interest in leaving during free agency (according to various reports at the time), and the duo of Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose weren’t getting along. Even if supposed chemistry issues between the two were blown out of proportion, their fit on the court clearly wasn’t ideal.
Along with both Noah and Gasol leaving as expected, to the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, respectively, Derrick Rose — for years the franchise’s face and on-court centerpiece — was dealt to the Knicks in one of the summer’s biggest trades.
Butler recently addressed the departures again, emphasizing that he had nothing to do with Noah and Gasol’s choices or Rose needing to be traded. Per ESPN:
"“That has nothing to do with me. I don’t move guys,” Butler said before Thursday’s Team USA practice at the United Center in Chicago. “It’s like I always say: People are going to think what they want to think.That doesn’t bother me. I know where I stand. I know who I am.I’m happy for [Rose]. He’s happy for me,” Butler said. “I’m glad we get to go against each other whatever day that may be when the season rolls around.I talked to Jo. We texted a few messages. Nothing too serious, but we’re always going to have love for each other because we’re always going to be teammates. We were in those trenches together.”"
It’s easy to believe Butler when he says he didn’t intentionally cause the Rose trade. They were friends and, as Butler reiterated, it’s not as if he has the power to move players. And while he’s said in the past that the Bulls front office would occasionally text him to solicit his advice on certain matters, if Butler ever went so far as saying he wanted Rose to be dealt away, chances are we probably would’ve heard about it.
Rather, it was Butler’s play and demeanor on the floor that told the Bulls everything they needed to know.
Neither Butler nor Rose are great three-point shooters, and both have had far more success with the ball in their hands than operating off of it. Butler’s ascension as a scorer (he averaged a career-high 20.9 points per game), coupled with his drastically improved playmaking ability (a career-high 4.8 assists), made any future fit with Rose — a ball-stopping guard through and through — a questionable prospect at best.
Butler, like anyone who watched them, knows this. Which could explain why, during an appearance on The Jump shortly after the trade with New York went down, he hinted that a trade was bound to happen.
After making that comment, though, Butler refused to go any further, saying simply, “I have no idea,” when pressed on the matter by Tracy McGrady.
The Derrick Rose era is over in Chicago. Now it’s time for a bizarre new age of Chicago Bulls basketball, featuring a no-spacing lineup mix of Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson or Nikola Mirotic at power forward, and Robin Lopez.
It seems beyond everyone what the Bulls were thinking in teaming two aging, ball dominant, non three-point-shooting alphas in the backcourt. But it’s happening, making for a potentially ugly offensive flow that should prove relatively easy for opponents to stymie.
Have a blast, Jimmy Buckets!
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