Raptors Watch
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- ROSE DOWN ON BULLS
Jalen Rose was the obvious centre of attention yesterday when the Raptors arrived at the Palace of Auburn Hills for the morning shootaround.
Rose grew up in nearby Detroit, where his high school, Southwestern, won the State championship in the Palace, and attended the University of Michigan in nearby Ann Arbor.
He loves playing at home, and close to home in Toronto, and he particularly likes being out of Chicago.
Rose was traded to the Raps on Dec.1 along with Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter for Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Chris Jefferies. Since the trade, all the parties involved have played nice when discussing their former teams. Yesterday, Rose took the gloves off a little bit.
"I wouldn't root against that team. I do follow what they do, being a fan of the game," Rose said. "But to be honest, it's almost a situation (in Chicago) that it was before I got there -- a situation that is not improving record-wise and the people they were talking about making a foundation of the team are not necessarily the guys they're using. The same guys I was playing with aren't the same guys they're using predominately."
The Bulls were a dismal 7-16 before the blockbuster deal and are an almost-as-bad 8-14 since the trade, including a 105-89 loss to the Pistons at home on Tuesday night. The Raptors, on the other hand, were 8-8 before the trade and are 11-8 (heading into last night's game) since the deal was made. Rose let it be known to the Detroit media yesterday that he is content in Toronto.
"It's a long season and we'll have to wait and see what happens," he said, "but Toronto is a much better situation for me at this point of my career because I need to be in a situation where we're trying to play in the playoffs."
AROUND THE RIM
Rose needed more than 60 tickets for last game's game for family and friends, prompting Morris Peterson, who is from nearby Flint, to jokingly complain that his older teammate had taken all the player's tickets.
"I beat him to the punch," Rose acknowledged. "I've been doing this a couple of more years, so I've got back door theories on how to get tickets" ... Forward Michael Bradley, who has missed the entire season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in his right knee, said he should be back and ready to go in about two weeks. Bradley has yet to begin full practices with the team, but he does work out for about 45 minutes each day with assistant coach Jay Triano.
