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While much of the talk from the Bulls last night centered around the Bulls trading up to acquire Doug McDermott, Derrick Rose's name did come up. Specifically, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Rose will participate In Summer League practices before the team departs for Las Vegas in July, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
There had been some rumblings that Rose would participate in these practices, and now this just confirms it. I would like to reiterate that these practices will be held in Chicago, and Rose won't be traveling to Vegas and playing with the team. Still, I like that Rose will be taking part in the practices in advance of the Team USA camp later in the summer, as I fully advocate Rose playing as much basketball as he can before next season.
K.C. also had some other Rose "news," although at this point, it's really not news. This refers to Rose not recruiting another star player to Chicago. ESPN Chicago's Nick Friedell was also on this beat, tweeting out that both Thibs and Gar Forman were non-committal about Rose being active in the recruiting process.
While other players, like Dirk Nowitzki, are already making pitches to LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, Rose remains silent because he doesn't want to "disparage current teammates." Of course, this doesn't mean that Rose wouldn't like some help, and for all we know, the former MVP is doing some behind-the-scenes recruiting. K.C. reports that Anthony's camp knows Rose would welcome the Knicks star to Chicago, and that the rumors of Rose preferring Kevin Love over Melo are pure "fiction."
The Rose not recruiting stuff is a bit overblown, but I must admit I would like it if he was putting forth more of an effort to try and get these other studs to Chicago. While it might not matter all that much, some of these stars like to be courted, and having Rose put out a strong pitch could only help. Luckily, Joakim Noah is there to pick up the slack, and I'm sure Noah will continue to press Anthony hard.