Bulls News: Jimmy Butler Clears Air on Nonexistent 'Beef' with Derrick Rose

There is no beef between Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose—at least that's what the Chicago Bulls' newest max-contract star said when he appeared on ESPN's First Take on Wednesday.

As relayed by ESPN.com's Nick Friedell, Butler said of Rose to Skip Bayless and the crew, "I think he's always been supportive of me being aggressive, especially on offense. 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."

What's the truth here? It doesn't even matter. It's not as if Butler would have admitted there was something up between him and Rose if there was really an issue. Butler's too smart and team-oriented for that.

Rose is simply too quiet to participate in any drama. When you think of the term troublemaker, Rose is not the guy who comes to mind. In the end, the competition will likely be good for both men. Iron sharpens iron.

This is the first time Rose has had a backcourt mate who actually allowed him to play like a traditional point guard.

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

The challenge for Rose is to accept and embrace the role. Translation: He'll need to be a little more Chris Paul and a little less, well, Derrick Rose. Paul knows when to turn up the aggression, even though he isn't blessed with the physical gifts Rose possesses.

Rose never had the luxury of dialing it back from a scoring standpoint. Butler's emergence as a legit 20-point-per-game scorer provides Rose that luxury.

Another factor lost in this non-story is the exit of Tom Thibodeau's less than inventive, stale offense and the arrival of Fred Hoiberg's more exciting scheme. If it operates the way it's designed—with the Bulls' talent, there's no reason it shouldn't—Rose and Butler will both have opportunities to shine.

This issue between Rose and Butler was supposedly created when Butler tried to shoot the Bulls out of their scoring drought in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, as reported by Dan Bernstein of CBS Chicago.

Rose seemed to shut down and let Butler go for it. Chicago was subsequently blown out in an embarrassing elimination-game loss at home. Butler knows where the talk originated, but he thinks the result of the game and series is more the culprit than any real rift.

"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."

Winning cures all—even the beef that doesn't really exist.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Lastly, liking teammates is an overrated element on a team. Players don't need to like one another as people. They just need to trust them as basketball players and commit to giving their all to accomplish a unified goal.

How many teammates truly liked Kobe Bryant when the Los Angeles Lakers were winning titles with the Mamba? The same thing goes for Michael Jordan during his six championship runs in Chicago. Steve Kerr and Will Perdue surely can't have had a ton of love for His Airness. Kerr and Perdue each had well-known run-ins with Jordan.

Players on teams that win accept roles. There's no reason Butler and Rose won't do that—we haven't seen anything that suggests they can't coexist. Let's hope it's failure or natural attrition that eventually breaks this team up, not some silly beef.

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