Newly acquired New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose has already dubbed his new squad a "super team," after he and former Bulls teammate Joakim Noah joined the team.
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That left the rest of the basketball world laughing at him (it certainly wasn't with him).
Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is one of the people who thinks the Bulls did themselves a favor in cutting ties with the former All-Stars. In fact, it was Noah's own decline that prompted the Rose trade to New York, according to Reinsdorf.
"We felt Joakim wasn't going to be a frontline guy anymore," he told the Chicago Tribune. "I was pretty confident that Pau [Gasol] was going to leave, so it was important for us to get the center in [Robin] Lopez."
"It was time for Derrick to go on and play someplace else and try to establish himself," Reinsdorf added.
The Bulls missed the playoffs last season, despite having Rose in the lineup for 66 games—-it was the first time he'd played in more than 60 games since his MVP season in 2010-2011. Noah played in just 29 games last season because of shoulder surgery.
Reinsdorf said he was disappointed that the old core of Rose and Noah couldn't contend for championships but that it "just didn't work out."
[Chicago Tribune/NY Post]