HONOLULU (AP) — Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose has
established himself among the elite NBA players in just three seasons. His
salary, however, doesn't come anywhere near the top in the league, let alone
his own team.
Because of rookie salary scale restrictions, the
league's reigning MVP earns about $5.5 million a season — far less than other
NBA stars. The scale is on the table between the league and players'
association during its extended labor dispute that could result in more games
being canceled and might wipe out the season.
Rose, in Hawaii this week visiting military personnel
as part of the Hoops for Troops USO Tour, will undoubtedly earn a lot more when
he becomes a free agent at the end of his four-year, $22.5 million contract,
depending on the new agreement, of course.
"I wish it was back like where it was in the
old days where there wasn't a cap," Rose told The Associated Press on
Tuesday. "Back in the day, they were giving guys coming out of college
with multimillion-dollar contracts, so why stop it now? The game is growing.
There's no need to stop it."
The union would like players to get out from the
rookie salary scale quicker than five years. On Monday, union executive
director Billy Hunter mentioned Rose and Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin
during an hour-long podcast with ESPN.com as examples of players who are underpaid
because there are still locked into their scale figures.
The league said it has proposed a new bonus pool
for top-performing rookie scale players who earn league honors as such as MVP
or are on the All-NBA first, second or third teams.
Rose said the labor strife is about getting an
agreement that's fair.
"Greed is not on our side," Rose said.
"We're not greedy. ... What they're trying to do to us is dead
wrong."
The sides met for three days with a federal
mediator before talks broke down Thursday after players said owners insisted
they commit to a 50-50 split of revenues before any further discussions about
the salary cap system could continue. Though staffs from the sides have met
since, no full bargaining sessions have been held and the NBA is expected to
announce soon that more games will be canceled.
"I know that everybody is waiting for us to
play, but it has to be on the right terms." Rose said.
Rose has been waiting and spending most of his time
training in Los Angeles with other NBA players, including Atlanta Hawks center
Al Horford, who also is in Hawaii.
"We owe it to ourselves and others like the
guys who are coming up to have a good deal," Horford said. "I felt
like in the past, the players have given up a lot to the owners and I just feel
like it's excessive that way they're trying to do it ... At the end of the day,
if you look at who's asking for money and all that, it's the owners. They're
the ones that want to make all the drastic changes to all these things that
haven't really been an issue."
Rose, who turned 23 this month, is the youngest MVP
in NBA history and joined Michael Jordan as the only Bulls player to earn the
honor.
"The most difficult part is, every day you
wake up and you see games canceled," he said. "The fans are fiending
for it. I know we're itching to play. And I know that it'll hurt the game
because our fans are loyal and for us not to be playing, I think it'll hurt
them more."
He is coming off a season where he averaged 25
points and 7.7 assists, while leading the Bulls to a league-high 62 wins and
the Eastern Conference finals. The Miami Heat overwhelmed the top-seeded Bulls
by dominating the fourth quarters, with LeBron James containing the Bulls'
point guard.
Rose said he couldn't wait to get back on the court
to silence some of his critics and test some of the things he's been working on
since the playoffs, such as conditioning, isolation skills, going against
bigger players and learning how to get fouled.
"I put a lot of work into my game. I take my
basketball life very serious. That's just my life," he said. "For
people to still talk negative about you, I think that's just life, period. You
just go with it. But I feed off of it."
As far as his first trip to the islands, Rose said
he was humbled by his welcome and meeting the troops. Rose and Horford are
joined by Atlanta's Joe Johnson, Charlotte's D.J. Augustin, Sacramento's Tyreke
Evans, New Jersey's Brook Lopez, Phoenix's Robin Lopez, Washington's JaVale
McGee and Miami's Mike Miller. They are scheduled to visit military families,
hold clinics and play games at an Army, Navy and Marine Corps bases.
Earlier this week, they met with some soldiers
wounded in action.
"They're around my age and younger than I
am," Rose said. "Just seeing that they're fighting for us, I just let
them know we're not taking them for granted."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
