Derrick Rose situation example of Knicks normal

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Derrick Rose returned to the New York Knicks on Tuesday after going AWOL and skipping Monday night’s game against New Orleans. Rose and the Knicks assured anyone who would listen that all is better now.

But really, what are the chances?

The Knicks run on chaos like Mardison Square Garden turns on the lights with electricity. And Rose’s explanation seemed to have as many holes as the Knicks defense. So while the Knicks insist that a family emergency was resolved and Rose was not just back, but after paying a fine, back in good graces with the team ready to move on, it was one more strange chapter in a disappointing season.

Rose said that he left for Chicago two hours after leaving the morning shoot around, but during no time in that window of driving to the airport, waiting for a plane, flying to Chicago for two hours and then landing and driving downtown from the airport could he bring himself to answer the texts or calls from team officials or teammates. And the same went for anyone who knew him in Chicago - with team officials trying to search for anyone who had an idea if he was safe.

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“I just had to get to my family,” Rose said. “I talked to them afterwards. Everybody’s on the same page now. They understood right away after I explained myself to them.I talked to them late last night and this morning. … I didn’t want to take any calls at the time. I needed that space to myself and I needed to be around my mom.”

Asked if he felt an obligation to return the calls, Rose admitted he should have.

“Yeah, but things happen,” he said. “Of course that’s not the person I am. I explained to my teammates I didn’t want any distractions to the team, especially what we have going on right now and I apologized to them earlier, just letting them know it will never happen again. This wasn’t me. This never happened to me before and I explained that to the team and the front office.”

According to Rose, he flew to Chicago Monday afternoon, resolved the issue and was back in communication during the game, speaking to Knicks general manger Steve Mills. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek took a long time to get to the postgame media session, certainly speaking with team officials to find out what happened, but he then said after the game and reiterated Tuesday that he was unaware of anything postgame other than Rose being unharmed.

The Knicks’ coach insisted that rumors of dissatisfaction between Rose and the team are unfounded. While Rose was on the bench for the fourth quarter of both Friday and Saturday’s games, Hornacek said that there never has been a rift between the two.

“I think somebody asked me about, maybe in the press conference last night if it had something to do with the Milwaukee game,” Hornacek said. “I was like, ‘No, there was nothing.’ He was happy we won, you know. These guys support each other. Most players, when they don’t get into the game, they probably get a little frustrated, but he was happy for our team and never said anything else and you know when I talked to him this morning, he said, ‘Coach, it has nothing to do with basketball, it’s all about what I had to do with my family.’”

Asked about reports that Rose had told people around him he was unhappy with what was happening in New York and there was friction between the coach and point guard, Hornacek deadpanned, “Yeah, I guess we are. I’ve got to go talk to him.”

“That’s crazy. I never had a problem with a coach in my life, no matter what team I’ve been in on,” Rose said. “I put that on myself because I let that space and opportunity start something especially when people didn’t know what was going on or people are trying to find out or figure out what’s going on with the team. So I put that on myself with not telling the Knicks. It was just bad timing but I’m not perfect, far from it. The front office and my teammates, they knew where I was coming from when I told them what happened.”

Steve Popper writes for the Bergen Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email him at: popper@northjersey.com