Monday was media day across the NBA landscape. Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rosehasn’t had a full season since 2012 due to knee injuries.
Some are wondering if Rose can return to the MVP-caliber player he was in 2012. In addition to those questions, Rose is also dealing with a civil suit that accuses he and his friends of the sexual assault of an “ex-girlfriend.” Rose says the truth will prevail in that situation, and he has no plans to make changes to his lifestyle because of it.
“I think you all saw everything that was put out,” Rose said on Monday. “I will be proven innocent, but at the same time it hasn’t affected anything. It’s not true,” Rose said, adding, “I take it as motivation. I feel like the devil is just working.”“I’m very confident that I will be proven innocent,” Rose later added.
Rose has filed his own documents proclaiming the sexual activities were consensual.
Rose has now filed docs of his own in which he claims the accuser “consented to sexual interaction with more than one co-defendant on more than one occasion, consented to sexual interactions on the day in question, and invited the defendants to her apartment and buzzed them in.”
Rose says things were so cool the following day — the accuser casually had a cup of coffee with her roommate in the morning after the sex … and headed into work for a full shift. The implication is that a rape victim would have been way too distraught to have done any of that.
Derrick said this summer the focus was on family and basketball. He also mentioned his impending free agency in the summer of 2017.
“This whole summer I had tunnel vision,” he said. “My mindset was just making sure that I was working out every day and spending as much time as possible with my son and focusing on them two things.
“Making sure that my family is financially stable — as far as, you see all the money that they’re passing out in this league, [I’m] just telling the truth, just knowing that my day will be coming up soon. It’s not for me, it’s for [son] P.J. and his future. so that’s what I’m thinking about right now.”
Rose said he wants to stay in Chicago, but was just make note to what’s out there.
“It’s here,” he said. “But when you talk about that much money, the only thing you can do is prepare for it, trying to prepare not only myself but my family. I’m doing all of this for my son. I’m thinking about his future even though we’re all right, we’re comfortable. When you talk about that ‘X’ amount of dollars, I think it raises everyone’s eyebrows. It’s nothing wrong with being over-prepared.”
Rose also had words on those that believe he’s no longer the main attraction in Chicago.
“I can’t get caught up into that,” Rose said, referring to talk about his game. “I know I’m great. It’s a lot of people that don’t know I’m great, that’s the thing. But it’s cool. I know I can hoop. You can put me anywhere, and I know how to play the game of basketball.”
