TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Derrick Rose completely shut down any notion of him being a shoot-first basketball player when fielding media questions after the New York Knicks’ first day of training camp on Tuesday.
“I’m not selfish at all,” Rose said at the Knicks’ Tarrytown MSG Training Facility. “One of the reasons I love the position I’m in is because it allows me to be the point guard, which I am. With the Bulls, I had to learn how to score the ball in crazy ways because I had to adapt to the league.”
Rose was the centerpiece of a Knicks roster overhaul that also included free agent deals for Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings. The 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player doubled down on his previous comments about having more offensive options in New York than he did with the Chicago Bulls, starting with Kristaps Porzingis as an example.
“With KP, how young he is, Imma make him run. He’s only what, 18 or something like that? He’s young, man,” Rose laughed. “But coming here I have so many options, and KP he can pop, post, he can pass, he’s skilled. He’s very talented. I can play with him in many ways. Then you think about Melo on the other side of the court.”
Rose expanded on the possibility of a cat-and-mouse game with Anthony on the floor.
“We can pick-and-roll, 1-3 pick-and-roll, 3-1 pick-and-roll,” he said. “Give it to him in the post, cut off him, like it’s so many options just with them two players that it’s kinda scary when we get everything clicking. But it takes hard work and dedication coming in here every day, making sure we’re working our butt off.”
In 72 games last season, only 1.7% of Anthony’s offensive possessions came after setting a screen for the ball-handler, according to NBA.com. He shot 37.5% on those possessions but got to the free throw line 17.2% of the time, a team-high for Knicks roll men.
Rose said the way teams defend him will create easy offense for Anthony.
“The way that I play and how teams guard me, they usually put two people on me,” Rose said. “The big’s job is to not let me get all the way to the rim, and the guard’s job is to go over the screen or under, but just to contain me. And when people guard me like that, usually the big — you see Pau [Gasol] in Chicago had a lot of shots, made 12 to 14 points off of just mid range shots.
“And this team has a lot more shooting, so [Carmelo] should be having a lot more open shots, knock-down shots, and he’s a knock-down shooter. So, my job is to make the game easier for him.”
Kristian Winfield covers the New York Knicks for Elite Sports NY. You can start the conversation on Twitter @Krisplashed.