Chicago Bulls: 3 least favorite teammates Derrick Rose ever had

Former Chicago Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose has mostly made friends throughout his NBA career, but that’s not always the case.

A player that is usually as likable as the former Chicago Bulls superstar and MVP winning point guard Derrick Rose doesn’t tend to make that many enemies among any of his teammates. But any player that is as good as D-Rose can still make enemies along the way, even if it isn’t necessarily always with his teammates.

When most Bulls fans would think of a player who didn’t make many friends among his teammates, the likes of all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan and small forward Jimmy Butler are the first names that come to mind. But even other former Bulls stars like D-Rose and forward Scottie Pippen could clash with other teammates along the way.

D-Rose and Pippen are two of the more likable players in Bulls franchise history. Only one of the two was able to get an NBA Championship, but the former is more abundant in recent memory for Bulls fans.

In his early days with the Bulls, D-Rose got a quite start. He was the 2008-09 Rookie of the Year, 2010-11 NBA MVP, three-time All-Star selection, and one-time All-NBA Team selection. He never got the Bulls beyond the Eastern Conference Finals, and injuries started to take hold of his career in a big way heading into the mid-2010’s.

Since departing from the Bulls during the 2016 offseason, Rose has also played for the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Here’s a look into the three least favorite teammates of D-Rose during his NBA career to date, including his run with the Bulls.

3. Carlos Boozer, Power Forward/Center

In the latter end of his NBA career, 6-foot-9 and 260 pound former Duke Blue Devils big man Carlos Boozer did have some quality years with the Bulls. But he didn’t get his chance with the Bulls, and that talented young core in the Windy City, until the early 2010’s.

Originally Boozer was a second round pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2002 NBA Draft. Boozer was a gem find for the Cavaliers out of the gates, and he was even better during his run with the Utah Jazz. He was a two-time NBA All-Star selection, 2002-03 All-Rookie Team selection, and one-time All-NBA team selection.

During the 2010 offseason, the Bulls and former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson made a pretty good trade deal to get Boozer from the Jazz for a second round pick and Mario Austin. But that was a sign-and-trade deal that brought Boozer to the Windy City.

While Boozer was a decent part of the Bulls during the early 2010’s, it does appear that D-Rose valued having star big man Pau Gasol in the mix more so than the former Blue Devil. The Bulls parted ways with Boozer prior to landing Gasol ahead of the 2014-15 season. Rose reportedly (NBA.com) stated “we needed him”, in regards to the Bulls landing Gasol ahead of the 2014-15 season.

This is not necessarily to say that the Bulls didn’t value having Boozer in the mix, but Gasol was a pretty big upgrade to the frontcourt rotation. It’s hard to find a final name to put on this list, but Rose was clearly in favor of landing the latter of those two big men.

2. LeBron James, Forward

Although they were teammates for a very short span of time, D-Rose and current Los Angeles Lakers superstar forward LeBron James apparently clashed when they played together with the divisional foe Cavs. At a low point of D-Rose’s career, during the 2017-18 season, he joined up with the Cavaliers and LeBron.

D-Rose played in just 16 games with the Cavaliers. In those 16 games he played in with the Cavaliers, he averaged 9.8 points per game, 1.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.3 blocks. Rose would wind up hitting an ultimate low point during that 2017-18 season after he was part of a massive multi-team trade that sent him to the Jazz.

The Jazz waived Rose before he even played in a single game with them.

Later that same season, he signed a contract for the rest of the year with the Timberwolves. And he would play out the 2018-19 season in a Timberwolves uniform before a torn UCL would end his run in the Twin Cities.

Apparently when LeBron and D-Rose were teammates with the Cavs, the latter of the two found it “super awkward”. With that he was more or less referring to how he wound up with the Cavaliers in the first place, but it still didn’t seem like the match made in heaven that it once appeared it could be when the two were rivals in the early 2010’s.

What makes matters worse is when the likes of LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh spurned D-Rose and the Bulls during the 2010 offseason to join up in South Beach.

1. Jimmy Butler, Small Forward

The player that D-Rose most notably had some beef with during his run with the Bulls, and the Timberwolves, is “Jimmy G. Buckets”. From previous reports of Butler and Rose beefing about work ethic, to the former of the two not really caring when the latter was traded, these two just don’t mesh all that well.

The five-time NBA All-Star selection, two-time All-NBA honoree, four-time All-Defensive Team selection, and 2014-15 Most Improved Player of the Year award winner. The former Marquette Golden Eagle was a steal for the Bulls in the latter part of the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft. Paxson and former general manager Gar Forman snagged Butler with the 30th overall pick in the first round of the 2011 draft.

Butler would spend six seasons with the Bulls, and bits and pieces of two with the Timberwolves. He spent more than half of the 2010’s as a teammate of D-Rose. There were constant storylines along the way not necessarily of Rose and Butler causing huge stirs in the locker room, but at least getting annoyed with the other’s presence at times.

Now with the Miami Heat, Butler is more at home and seems to have a better culture fit than there was in his latter days with the Bulls, or with the Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers. This Heat team could be a dark horse to make a run in the East once the season resumes at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL, next month.