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Rose pushing for Butler All-Star selection

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Jan 29

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It’s probably a long shot for Derrick Rose to be added to the Eastern Conference All-Star team Thursday when the reserves are announced in a vote of the conference coaches.

But Rose is lobbying for his teammate, Jimmy Butler, who is among the favorites to be added.

“I’ll be happy for him,” Rose said before the team’s morning practice at UCLA about Butler potentially being added to the team. “The way that he’s been playing in the East I think he deserves it; he’s been helping this team out a lot.”

As for himself, Rose said with his concentration on his return and recovery, being an All-Star has been a secondary consideration.

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t even thought about it,” Rose said. “Whatever happens, happens. If I go, get a chance to experience a great time with my son. If I don’t, I get the same thing. So I haven’t even thought about it. I’m not going to let that define what type of player I am or how I’ve been playing. It would be an honor to be on the team, but, if not, I’m going to continue working out the same way I’ve been working out, and hopefully be playing the same way I’ve been playing.

“We’ve got a winning a record,” Rose said about the significant accomplishment thus far. “If I don’t (get selected), I have seven days to do recovery stuff. That’s fine with me, too. The way I’ve been playing, the confidence I’ve been playing with, it’s been actually fun to play in these games. I can’t worry about accolades that come with playing right now, all the individual awards and all that. It’s all about winning games and being healthy.

“Every game I just try to add a little bit more,” said Rose, coming off 30 points, 11 turnovers and the game winner against the Warriors. “I’m going to have games like we had when we played Miami when I didn’t play the way I wanted to play, missed a lot of open shots. I can’t be down on myself when I have games like that; I work too hard and I know it’s one game.”

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Butler is expected to play Thursday against the Lakers as he is recovered from his flu. Mike Dunleavy is a game time decision. As for Rose, Thibodeau said he’s deserving of being selected as an All-Star. But Thibodeau also said there are so many others well deserving and indicated Rose’s working toward playing full time can hurt him as he was cautious in the early part of the season.

“Yeah, I do think he’s deserving, and hopefully it does work out,” said Thibodeau. “It’s unfortunate because you can make the case for a lot of guys. And there will be some guys that will be left off that should be on there. Certainly you wouldn’t be wrong if you said this guy should be on and this guy shouldn’t. That’s the tough part of it. And then you start, like when guys are close, I think as coaches we look at, ‘OK, what was the availability of the guy? How much did he play?’ And then, ‘What was the impact on winning?’ Certainly with guys that are close to each other. I think Derrick has gotten stronger and stronger as the season has gone along. To me, when Derrick is playing up to his ability, he’s certainly an All-Star. And I think he’s getting stronger and stronger and string games together. That’s the important thing.’’

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