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It’s been a week since the Chicago Bulls unloaded former No. 1 overall pick and league MVP Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks. Just a day later, the Bulls’ other star, Jimmy Butler, was involved in a swath of trade rumors (that were strongly denied by Bulls’ GM Gar Forman afterward, by the way) on draft night. On Wednesday, Butler went on Rachel Nichols’s ESPN show The Jump and talked about it.
“They called me,” Butler confessed. “I can’t say I was surprised because I knew it had to be one of us, to tell you the truth. Obviously, I enjoyed playing with him. I came into the league when he was the MVP. I got so much respect for the guy. I got no bad things to say about him and I wish him the best moving forward.”
Butler, who will play for Team USA in Rio this summer, appears pretty genuine about his affection for Rose despite on-again, off-again rumors that the two didn’t get along and other team chemistry issues. He made his feelings toward Rose clear in an Instagram post from the day of the trade, in which he called Rose his brother.
Butler also pointed out that he pays no attention to the rumors that he and Rose were at odds, which were more than implied on the Chicago Sun-Times sports section front the day after the trade, with the headline “Butler Did It” emblazoned in a massive font across a photo of the two former teammates.
“If we win, we’re fine, there’s nothing to say, we can get along together.” he said. “We’d probably still be teammates, to tell you the truth. But we didn’t win.”
Fellow panelist Tracy McGrady wondered aloud why one of the two had to be traded at all and Butler answered that he has no idea. It’s fair to say that given the Bulls’ decline this past season after seven straight playoff appearances, something had to change, and it wasn’t going to be Fred Hoiberg, the brand new coach who is firmly supported by the team’s front office.
Thus, if you have to choose between a burgeoning All-Star and an oft-injured vet who hasn’t played 70 games in a season since 2010-2011, the answer appears fairly obvious.
(via ESPN)
