Sports

Derrick Rose goes too far, compares Knicks to Warriors

Derrick Rose’s visions of Knicks grandeur grow by the day.

On Wednesday, Rose told Slam Magazine he thought the Knicks “have a chance to win every game, and in the league, that is rare.”

Very rare. In fact, the only team you could say that about with a straight face would be the Warriors, who won an NBA-record 73 games last season and added superstar Kevin Durant this offseason.

Rose agrees.

“I mean, with these teams right now, they’re saying us and Golden State are the super teams, and they’re trying not to build that many super teams, and Adam Silver came out with the statement and this and that,” Rose told NBA.com on Thursday. “And the expectations I think of us, we just want to win. Talking to Melo [Carmelo Anthony] and all the guys who’ve been around. You’ve got Brandon [Jennings] who just signed for one year, he’s got to show why he’s there. I’ve got to show why I’m there. Joakim [Noah] has to show why he’s there. Everybody’s trying to prove themselves.”





Rose’s first batch of confident comments mostly flew under the radar, but this boast could not be ignored and plenty of eyes are being rolled in Rose’s direction.

The Knicks have missed the playoffs for three straight years, but jumped to 32 wins last season from 17 in 2014-15. Now Knicks president Phil Jackson revamped the roster for a second straight summer by trading for Rose and signing Noah, Jennings and Courtney Lee to add to Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.

“Everybody’s trying to prove themselves,” Rose said. “When you’ve got a group like that, it’s like, alright, I know everybody wants to [win], but we’re going to break this down as simple as possible and try to win every game. I think winning takes care of every category, as far as being an athlete. You look at endorsements, being on the floor, almost everything — I think winning takes care of all that. And if you’re in the league, winning takes care of all the mistakes, or if you have any problems on teams.”





Rose worked out with Porzingis, Jennings and Sasha Vujacic in Los Angeles earlier this month, and he’s spoken with Anthony about getting together after Anthony’s Olympic run is over.

Since Jackson took over in March 2014, much talk around the franchise has been about his triangle offense, but Rose is excited about playing in the guard-oriented style that new Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek ran in Phoenix. The Knicks could blend in elements of both styles this season.

“[Hornacek]’s a guard, and he played on great teams and went far in the playoffs, Finals and all that,” Rose said, referring to Hornacek’s Jazz teams of the late 1990s. “It’s just that you never know who I’m going to play with. You could put Brandon at the 1, put me at the 2 certain times, and have Melo, KP and [Joakim Noah]. So I could move off the ball with them and bring them to the mix.”





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