Derrick Rose Admits He Went AWOL In 2017 Because The Knicks Sucked And Lied So Much He Just Wanted To Retire

[Source] - I actually loved my experience being in New York. Cool place. With the way things were the last couple of years in Chicago, I saw I needed a break.

When I left the Knicks that day in January 2017, that’s what it was about. I just needed to go home.

I had decided I was done playing. I saw the same thing that was happening with the Bulls was going on with New York. I could tell that the season wasn’t going to be the season everyone thought, that I thought. I didn’t know if I wanted to hoop anymore. Especially when it started to feel like a business. Of course, you know it’s a business. They always say that. But you know it’s also hoopin’. But it had started to feel like all business, no joy. That’s when I wanted out. I wasn’t having fun.

And around and around we go. Welcome to life as a Knicks fan. I read this story this morning – it’s from Rose’s autobiography – and just nodded like, yep, that sounds about right. I mean this is a story that Coley had in the strangest, most unexpected stories in sports this decade. 

Remember before this season started, Derrick Rose said those magical words. He called the Knicks a super team.

Yeah, that’s where we were before the season. Then it all came crumbling down. FAST. I still remember Derrick Rose just straight up missing a game during the season. No one had any idea what the hell was happening. How does that happen? I still have no idea. We live in a world where everything is tracked. You can find out where someone is in roughly 15 minutes if you’re as powerful as the Knicks.

And of course this falls on Phil Jackson wanting to run the goddamn triangle. I’ll never understand this move. Yeah, Phil was supposed to be a great hire. But he also refused to adapt. He wanted the game played like it was the late 90s-early 2000s. That’s not the case when you have the roster the Knicks had.

Early on in the season, Phil really didn’t force anything. But as time went on, it converted all the way to the triangle and we played through that almost the whole year. For the team we had, I think deep down [coach Jeff] Hornacek really wanted to play that more up-tempo style. 

There were times during a game where we would play free. And it didn’t matter what we did. We’d end up coming back, and Phil would be like, “What’s that?” I remember one time we beat Boston and he told Hornacek he didn’t like the way we finished that game. We ended up winning the game. Melo got kicked out the game or something like that, something crazy, but Phil didn’t like the way we finished that game. It’s like, “Damn, in the league you’re happy to get a win.”

Well, that’s encouraging. This goddamn franchise, man. I know people like to point blame at Melo for the Knicks not being good, but I’ll never believe that. It was always the front office first. Everyone knows the type of player Melo is/was. He’s a guy that likes to play ISO ball from the wing and needs the ball in his hands. They never played into that system while also giving up a ton to get him. Melo didn’t make the trade. Melo didn’t waste money like the front office did.

Being such a disaster you force players to go AWOL and want to retire? Go New York, Go New York, Go.