Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose were rumored not to get along as Rose's tenure in Chicago came to a close, but was Butler the reason why?
As they left Chicago this offseason, Rose and Joakim Noah tried to paint Butler as a diva behind a split locker room in the Windy City. As a new season starts with Dwyane Wade in town, Butler still denies his role in the Bulls breakup.
“Am I a diva? I don’t call it that,’’ Butler told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday. “My will to win rubs people the wrong way sometimes. I can blame it on that, but won’t apologize for it. Never will.
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“As far as that talk goes, I don’t care. I’m going to keep working and if people don’t like it, people want to say what they want to say, that’s fine. I know, and I think these guys know, where my heart is and how I want to do right by everybody.’’
According to Sun-Times, Rose and Noah thought the younger Butler tried to jump the line to be the leader of the team, which they saw as their right. Butler also felt too many of the veterans were satisfied with coasting during the regular season.
“I say this in the most humble way possible and I mean that, is the [young players] here see Jimmy Butler the two-time All-Star, the Olympian, a 20-point per game scorer, the player I have been since a lot of these young guys came into the league,’’ Butler said. “They didn’t see the guy that was trying to get off the bench like other people have, and I don’t need to say names. So as my role changed, the way I go about the game changed. If I’m not playing well I’m hurting my team because I’m supposed to be a reason we win.
“Now, the way I handle my business is, ‘Look man, I want to win. I don’t give a (expletive) if you like me or not. I’m here to win.' "
The new-look Bulls face Noah, Rose and the Knicks in what will be an intriguing game Nov.4 at the United Center.