Derrick Rose: It Was 'Super Awkward' Playing Supporting Role to LeBron James

For years, Derrick Rose's Chicago Bulls and LeBron James' Miami Heat did battle for Eastern Conference supremacy, with James always coming out on top. So when Rose signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers last year to play a bench role for the team, it was a strange moment for the 2010-11 MVP. 

"I was just trying to make it back to the league, man," Rose told Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. "I had to sign with a team that I had battled with for four or five years. I played with a player I battled with for four or five years in LeBron." 

"Come on, man. It was super awkward," he added, "but that was my only way back."

The awkwardness didn't last long—Rose only played in 16 games for the Cavaliers, averaging 9.8 points in 19.3 minutes per game, and was traded to the Utah Jazz at the trade deadline in February before being released by the team and signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

Rose is also coming off the bench in Minnesota but has thrived as the team's sixth man, averaging 14.3 points and 4.9 assists in 28.4 minutes per contest.

And he's grown comfortable in the role, knowing he doesn't have to be the team's superstar or shoulder an intense burden as he often did in his Bulls days:

"It's relaxing now, bro. It was a different league when I was doing that. It was just different. You can't do it by yourself anymore. Coming here, I think coming off the bench and Thibs uses me for offense, defense. Him having that confidence in me to throw me out there and say, 'You're going to stick DeMar (DeRozan), you're going to stick this person.' I'm all for it just to show the young guys how to succeed.

"I don't look back. Coming here, I don't have to look back, dude. I got Lu (Luol Deng) here, I got Taj (Gibson) here, I got Jimmy (Butler) here. I feel like I'm a different player. To adapt to this league now, you got to be able to shoot, period. I feel my game is more controlled and I have better pace to my game. I'm not out of control and reckless. I've matured as a player, but it's going to take the public seeing me more and seeing the team win more."

Rose also noted that he feels healthy, and in his new role, he isn't required to play a taxing role. For a player who had his prime cut short due to a litany of injuries—and who is now 30—that's all the more important. 

In his first seven seasons with the Bulls, Rose averaged 19.7 points and 6.2 assists per game, playing in three All-Star Games while winning the 2008-09 Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP in 2010-11. He was one of the game's brightest stars, but now he's content to be one of the league's better role players.