Here’s how well Jalen Rose handles losing.
Despite proclaiming Sunday that he had never lost five straight games on any level–college, high school, even elementary school–his 1995-96 Denver Nuggets team began the season with six straight losses and endured one other six-game skid.
In other words, he doesn’t remember it well, which makes sense for a player who has starred in the NBA Finals, played in two NCAA title games and won two high school state championships.
The Bulls’ current five-game skid has revealed Rose in all his glory and fury, hitting big baskets and imploring teammates to play harder and officials to call fouls correctly, scowling when that doesn’t occur and firing a headband into the crowd when the buzzer signals another defeat.
“I’m just being who I am,” Rose said. “Every team I’ve played on, I’ve basically held that role [of leadership].”
Rose’s leadership extends to the locker room, where he has taken Dalibor Bagaric to task for loafing in one game and upbraided Marcus Fizer after another. Rose declines to reveal the nature of these conversations, stating that what happens in the locker room remains there.
“He has shown good leadership as far as going to guys, talking to them,” coach Bill Cartwright said. “He’s been fine, as long as he’s saying the right thing.”
Rose has a delicate balance on his hands. He’s the veteran star of a rebuilding effort centered on teenagers.
“The only way they’re going to learn is by making mistakes,” he said.
And as often as Rose wants to wring somebody’s neck for a mistake, a play will follow that reminds him of this team’s potential.
“That’s what allows you to say, `That’s OK,'” Rose said. “We’re in an uphill battle almost every night.
“The thing you have to do is focus on the big picture, believe and keep getting better.”
