There had been rumblings toward the end of the 2014/15 season that there was tension between Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose, with Rose supposedly becoming frustrated with Butler’s expanded offensive role with the Bulls, rumblings that Butler categorizes as false, Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com writes. “I think he’s always been supportive of me being aggressive, especially on offense,” Butler said. “We all know that I’ll be the aggressor on defense. So from what I can tell, the guy’s always been in my corner.”
The swingman believes the only reason his relationship with Rose was even discussed is because of Chicago’s season ending on a disappointing note in the NBA playoffs, Friedell adds. “The only reason that it came up is because we lost,” Butler said. “I don’t think we have any beef or whatever you want to call it. I think we just want to win. We didn’t win, so now [people say] we’re beefing, now we have a problem with each other, and I don’t think that’s the case.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- The league has temporarily disallowed the four-year deal worth approximately $44MM that Monta Ellis inked with the Pacers, Zach Lowe of Grantland reports in a series of tweets. Lowe is quick to stress that Ellis will indeed become a member of the team, but Indiana simply ran out of necessary cap room, and will need to change the order in which some other transactions are finalized to make Ellis’ deal work.
- The salaries that Ellis is set to earn with that Pacers contract are $10.3MM this coming season, $10,763,500 in 2016/17, $11.227MM in 2017/18, and he has a player option for the final season worth $11,690,500, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- Pacers 2015 second-rounder Joseph Young will be paid $1,007,026 and $1,052,342 the first two years of his deal, both of which are fully guaranteed, and $1,097,658, which is non-guaranteed, during the 2017/18 campaign, Pincus relays, adding that a fourth season, worth $1,142,974, is a team option (Twitter link).