Carmelo Anthony would like Derrick Rose to 'hurry up back' from his civil rape trial
New York Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek admitted earlier this week that Derrick Rose’s absence for the remainder of his civil rape trial has forced the team to “stall a little bit” before installing the offense.
And now the Knicks are conceding that’s become more difficult than they anticipated.
[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Basketball | Mock Draft | The Vertical | Latest news]
“Our hope was that he would be done on Monday or Tuesday and maybe be back,” Hornacek told reporters on Friday, via the New York Daily News. “It is what it is. He’s got to deal with that.”
Again, this is a civil rape trial we’re talking about. After the judge refused to grant Rose a mistrial on Wednesday, expectations are the trial could continue well into next week. It’s unclear why the Knicks would believe this matter would be swiftly tidied up, but it sure seems like that’s what they believed.
“I’m pretty sure if I was (Hornacek) I’d be calling Derrick and telling him, ‘Hurry up. Figure it out and hurry up back,’” Carmelo Anthony told the media on Friday, also via the Daily News. “Just because the way the team is starting to jell together and come together, the camaraderie we’re starting to create with one another, we don’t want him missing out on that.”
Sure, the Knicks want Rose back in uniform. After playing in New York’s first preseason game (a loss), he’s missed the last two (both wins), and they play another three games between Saturday and Thursday. Oh, and the Knicks are paying their point guard $21.3 million to play basketball for them.
But this is a civil rape trial. You can’t just walk into court and tell the judge, “Hey, I know I’m on trial here, but my boss and coworkers really want me back on the job, so can we wrap this thing up?” Unless, of course, the Knicks are inferring they would like Rose to pay his accuser the $21.5 million she is seeking with the lawsuit, which would be quite a thing to ask someone testifying to their innocence.
Of course, it was Knicks president Phil Jackson who first relayed this laissez-faire attitude about the trial, when he told reporters in September, “Derrick has expressed that he’s not concerned about it. I mean he’s quite aware of it, but it’s not keeping him up at night, so we’ll leave it at that.” That comment actually became a source of contention in the trial, when Rose denied ever saying that.
Derrick Rose asked on stand about Phil Jackson's "not keeping him up at night" comment. Rose testified that he never told Jackson that.
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) October 7, 2016
Whether he said it or not, concern over this matter is very much becoming reality for both Rose in court and the Knicks on the court, as it should be when an employee is facing a civil rape trial.
Rose’s accuser alleged he and two friends broke into her apartment and gang-raped her as she lay heavily intoxicated and possibly drugged on her bed following a party at a Beverly Hills home Rose was renting in 2013 — details that were reported in the pretrial process, when the Knicks traded for him, and reiterated when the 30-year-old woman took the stand last week. The 28-year-old Rose and his friends contend the sex was consensual. The Los Angeles Police Department considers the case an open criminal investigation, and a detective in that investigation was found dead on Tuesday.
[The 2016-17 BDL 25: The key storylines to watch this NBA season]
So, as much as the Knicks might want Rose to “figure it out and hurry back,” that is, as Jackson said back in September, out of their control. In the meantime, according to reports out of New York on Friday, they are considering sending an assistant coach out to L.A. to help Rose get up to speed. This has been the latest episode of the soap opera that is the New York Knicks. Stayed tuned for more.
– – – – – – –
Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
