Derrick Rose Says He Made A Video Recruiting LeBron And Dwyane Wade To Chicago In 2010


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The summer of 2017 was one of the craziest in NBA history, with so many stars changing teams. However, very few of those changes happened in free agency, with most stars, like Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, and Kyrie Irving moving by way of trade.

The last offseason that could rival the 2017 offseason in terms of star movement and shifting the balance of power in the league was 2010, when LeBron James and Chris Bosh left Cleveland and Toronto respectively to go to Miami in free agency and join Dwyane Wade. All three players were free agents and their willingness to structure contracts accordingly created a short-lived dynasty with the Heat.

While Miami ended up winning the recruiting battle for those three stars that summer, there were plenty of other teams involved. The Knicks were rumored as a potential landing spot for LeBron, while Chicago was in play for James and Wade. The Bulls’ top star at the time was Derrick Rose, who would end up winning the league’s MVP award that season, and for a long time there has been widespread belief that Rose wasn’t willing to recruit players — something many praised him for when pointing to how “soft” James was in seeking out other stars.

However, that apparently wasn’t the case. Rose, who now plays with Wade and James in Cleveland, spoke to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday and opened up for the first time about that summer and how he did try to recruit Wade and James by making a video.

Did you ever think what it would be like running with Wade and James?

“Oh yeah, yeah. I tried too. 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.”

The organization didn’t send that?

“They didn’t say anything about it. They sent it. I don’t know if (Wade, LeBron, Bosh) looked at it or played the video. But I made a video. But at the time, it wasn’t for me to say that.”

The video of you saying, ‘Come play with me?’

“Yes, yes, yes. I did that.”

Seven years later, this certainly changes the narrative around that summer. Rose did try to recruit those top stars to Chicago, but feels like the organization should have been the ones to make that known. Instead, he was content to move forward as his own star rather than make sure people knew he was trying to bring in James, Wade, and others to Chicago.

Rose has long been viewed as one of the league’s quiet stars, but now we know that, when there were opportunities to go after top players and try and make the Bulls better, he was willing to try and recruit players to join him.

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