Derrick Rose knows what he wants his role to be with the Memphis Grizzlies, and he recently had a talk with Ja Morant about it. While Rose, 35, will be a veteran leader for the team, he made it clear what his expectations are for his teammates. #DerrickRose #MemphisGrizzlies #JaMorant #espn #nba
"Look, I'm not here to babysit," Rose said during media day. "I'm not here to babysit, micromanage, or anything. I'm not here to be a plant, a plant in the locker room, or any of that. I'm here to help guys win. I'm not here to steal minutes. I'm not here to steal nobody's job. I'm here to win. Once again. I'm here to show that I still have a lot left in the tank."
Morant, 24, has been the Grizzlies' young star. There is no question about his talent, but his off-the-court behavior has been causing him trouble. Morant is currently serving a 25-game suspension for appearing on social media holding a gun, which the NBA considered to be conduct detrimental to the league.
Rose said he took the initiative to reach out to his new teammate. He first contacted former Grizzlies guard Tony Allen to try to get Morant or his dad's phone number with the goal of him "chopping it up and having a casual conversation with them."
But there also needed to be a serious conversation about what the expectations are going to be this season. Rose said he was not going to get into the details of their conversation, but he did say he was honest with Morant.
"I just told him I'm not here to babysit you. I'm not here to follow you around. I'm not here to cheerlead… I'm here to push you," Rose said. "I'm very fortunate to be in a situation where a lot of people look at his game and they kind of compare our games together. But he's on a whole other level. It's my job to push him and let him know in times whenever he is being reckless, to calm down."
This comment, however, doesn't mean Rose will be taking responsibility for everything Morant does. Before moving on to the next question, Rose clarified what he meant by "reckless."
"Me saying reckless, I'm talking about on the court," he said.
Morant, who is about to start the first year of a five-year, $197 million maximum contract, did not participate in the team's media day.
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