Derrick Rose Wishes Jeff Hornacek Had More Tom Thibodeau In Him

Derrick Rose looks at Jeff Hornacek and wishes he saw more of Tom Thibodeau.

The Knicks All-Star guard is proving to have plenty to say since returning to the team after going AWOL for a game last week and avoiding all communication with the team while he was missing.

First and foremost, on the veteran guard’s mind is the Knicks’ struggling defense and why almost halfway into his first season at Madison Square Garden it still shows no signs of getting any better anytime soon.

“We were just talking about defensive schemes, what I see with our defense, what he thinks our problems are,” Rose said of an intense conversation he was seen having with his coach after one recent practice.

“I just told him, it’s defense. Our defense triggers a lot of things. And I told him he has to be on us hard about defense every day.”

All season long, Rose has preached the need for the Knicks to be better and more committed on the defensive end, and last week’s no-show may be an indication of just how frustrated the veteran point guard has grown with experiencing his words having no effect on the bottom-line.

The Knicks rank as one of the league’s worse defenses in every way measurable. And it’s been that way from the opening tip of the season.

“It’s not just one element,” Rose added of the Knicks’ struggles and shortcomings.

“It’s all of it — effort, schemes, decision-making, personnel, communication. It’s everything. You can tell when we’re out there. You have some games where we have everything clicking. It’s no middle ground with us. It’s either we look good, or we look quite different than that.”

Rose’s years under Thibodeau in Chicago have left him with a clear understanding of what a good defense looks like and what it takes for a team to get to the point of having that kind of identity for themselves.

During the Bulls’ 50-win 2011-12 shortened season, opponents averaged just 88.3 points per night, almost 20 points fewer than what the Knicks are surrendering thus far this season.

“I think it was just Thibs, his details, added Rose, who was fined $200,000 by the Knicks for skipping the game against New Orleans. His details were different, his schemes were different. We’d been together. Everybody was used to playing with one another.”

Beyond offering his new coach a few defensive pointers, Rose still insists he has no issues with him and that last week’s no-show was not about a rift between the two of them over the team’s struggles and direction.

Rose stands by his story that his absence was about tending to a family issue in Chicago, and now several family members have come to town to spend time with him and presumably work things through.

“It’s always good to have family in town, family around,” he said.

“My son’s not here, but my mom’s here, my brother’s here. But my problem wasn’t missing my family. It wasn’t that. They just came in town and just wanted, for sure, to see the Chicago game. And when they’re here, it’s a fun city to be in.”

As for the matter of mastering a defense he and his teammates can be proud of and win with, that’s proving to be a bit more complicated.

“Probably a good three weeks ago when they wanted more of it and we put more in practice and we do shell every day,” Hornacek said of all the work the Knicks are already putting in.

“We do defensive situations every day. Try to go live. At times, it’s pretty decent and other times we kind of revert back.”

[Featured Image by Elsa/Getty Images]