"Everybody has to be on the same page," Rose said. "Until then, we're going to continue to get our ass kicked."
Asked who was not on the same page, Rose was quick with a response.
"It's just the whole team," he said.
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"I think communication is huge," Rose said. "We're quiet when we're out there, and it's leading to them getting easy baskets. We got to give a better effort. It seems like we're not even competing, and it's f---ing irritating."
Rose didn't buy the notion that because the Bulls have new pieces, notably Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and Aaron Brooks, and continue to play through injuries, those issues explain why his team continues to falter after a stretch last month in which it won 13 of 15 games.
"We're midway through the season," Rose said. "That should be a part of [the discussion]. There's no excuses. My biggest thing is competing. Playing this game for so long, when you don't have that edge, we're going to keep getting our ass whupped."
Physician, heal thyself. Hopefully all of these comments from Rose, Gasol, Thibs, etc., signal the breaking point for this apathy. I'm glad they are mad. They should be mad. At each other, and more importantly their own selves.
And I hope that Rose still has the type of credibility with his teammates that he needs for these words to work a positive, rather than a negative. When a primary culprit calls out the effort, it could be more divisive than productive. Granted, his statement that "It's the whole team" is better than saying "the guys need to play harder" of course, but I'm not sure that nicety will cut it.
Its a catch-22. I'm glad Rose is speaking up and showing some fire, on the one hand. On the other, there's an eye rolling aspect to it as well.
