Derrick Rose reveals how his front office betrayed him while recruiting the then-ringless 2-time MVP LeBron James to the Chicago Bulls.
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LeBron James has been a big deal since his very first game in the NBA. It was clear right from the jump, that the chosen one had all the tools to become the greatest player to ever grace the court. And the player started to deliver on all the expectations almost instantly.
In 2009, the King took what was a frankly mediocre supporting cast at best, all the way to the conference finals. However, due to the lack of quality in the roster after James, the Cavaliers lost in 6 games to the Magic.
The following season the team only made it to the East Conference Semi-Finals, where they succumbed to the Celtics in 6 games. And it seems that was the moment when LeBron decided he had had enough.
He became a free agent that off-season, and head pitches from teams all around the league, including the Bulls. And it seems, here is where the franchise couldn’t help but betray their superstar in Derrick Rose.
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Derrick Rose was not happy with the Bulls keeping mum about their recruiting pitch for LeBron James
In the NBA today, star players are often recruiting other star players directly to join forces with them. As much as there are laws for tampering, at the end of the day, the phenomena is far harder to detect between players. And LeBron James’s 2010 free agency was no different for the Chicago Bulls.
At the time, the team had asked their star player in Derrick Rose to help recruit LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade to the Windy City. But in the aftermath, the player revealed he was betrayed cruelly by the franchise.
In his autobiography, ‘I’ll show you’, the Knicks star said the following.
“I did the LeBron recruiting for Chicago,” Rose wrote. “It was a day after practice, and Bron and Chris Bosh and all of them, we got word — everyone heard it around the league — they were together on one of those banana boat things and were about to team up somewhere.”
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Rose opens up about how the GarPax front office responded
Rose didn’t stop there. He went on to detail how his front office convinced him to play along in an ultimately fruitless endeavor:
“Gar Forman, our GM, came to me with the people from the office about putting a video together for Chris Bosh, D-Wade, and Bron. I didn’t fight it. I did the video. I’m sure Bron and those guys saw it. Then this story came out that I wasn’t big on recruiting. Should I have to say that I recruited?”
“That’s where I’m coming from. It’s a lose-lose. I’m not comfortable saying I’m out there recruiting because I respect my teammates. Should players have to do that? It doesn’t seem right. When I saw the story was Derrick doesn’t want to recruit. I felt like, as my partner in this, the Bulls should have come out and said I’d done it. Like, ‘We got it. Chill. He cool.’ They didn’t.”
When the false story got out, Derrick Rose received some major backlash from the fans and the media. The NBA community started to believe he was filled with far too much arrogance and didn’t want to sacrifice his role. As a franchise, it was the Chicago Bulls’ responsibility to make sure this didn’t happen, and they did absolutely nothing.
As NBA fans know, in the end, the King, the Flash, and the Boshtrich chose Miami. However, it is a shame to not be able to see James and Rose on the same team. Those two on the same team together would be a highlight machine, and perhaps even the potential for the start of a dynasty.
