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Rose Isn’t Worried About Bulls:  Some teams may be worried about an extended lockout, that maybe their team will get distracted or out of shape or even worse yet – loses the rhythm or focus that powers winning.

Not Derrick Rose. Not the Chicago Bulls.

“We’re good,” Rose said confidently. “My team. I don’t know about everybody else’s team, my team is good. I know that we remember losing them games in the playoffs last year. The way we lost, like I said, I thought it was ‘all me’. The way I was playing. That’s something I have been thinking about every time I work out, just to push me.”

Rose said he has been a constant gym rat through the entire off-season getting in as much work as his body will allow.

“I just need to sharpen things up. Turnovers. Ball handling. Shot selection. Basketball IQ. Just my all-around game. Just being more comfortable on the floor. Like I always say, each year you get more comfortable with the NBA, the more games you play. My coaches allow me to play through my mistakes so I am more comfortable.”

Rose who averaged 25 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game in the regular season, earning himself his first MVP award while powering the Bulls to a league leading 62-20 record says improving during the lockout isn’t easy, but it’s something he works at daily.

“By working out like I always do,” explained Rose. “Playing pick-up or just playing period. It will help you, but with me I am a different; I love working out. If the lockout continues I don’t know about going overseas or whatever, but I know I am going to continue to work out throughout the whole year.”

Rose admits it’s not easy to stay focused with so much uncertainty surrounding the season.

“The biggest thing is not getting bored. Staying busy,” admits Rose. “Especially when you go to the gym, adding new things on to your workout. Trying new things when you go and workout by yourself. Like if you’re in a hotel – I travel a lot – so running on a treadmill when you get to certain places. I think it’s going to help me with my game and I am just adding things to ‘the bank’”

Rose attended John Lucas’ NBA Lockout Celebrity Charity event in Houston last night and felt bad that he couldn’t play in the game which featured Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, Luis Scola, Jordan Hill and several others NBA standouts that train with Lucas in Houston.

“Too bad I’m not playing,” joked Rose. “I haven’t not played pickup basketball since I was in high school.”

“These games are for the fans. We have great talent in the building.”

Rose was of course asked about the ongoing NBA Lockout and how he is dealing with the process of getting a new deal.

“I am just trying to stay positive right now,” explained Rose. “Of course it’s upsetting, you definitely want to go out there and play. I haven’t played organized basketball, like organized basketball in a minute, so it’s kind of weird. But if anything I feel bad for the fans. Knowing that last year was such a big year and for us not to have a season this year or for us not to play yet this year is definitely hurting them right now.”

Asked if he has an ill-will towards the owners who are hard lining the players for a tougher deal both economically and systemically, Rose said he understood the process.

“Not at all,” Rose explained. “They are trying to get their money’s worth. It is what it is when it comes to that, we have a lot of lawyers they have theirs.”

“I just try to stay positive, even when things are not going my way or our way, I just try and think positive. Hopefully we’ll get something later on down the line.”

Rose downplayed the idea of taking a job in Europe or China as the Lockout plays out, saying he’d considered it but wasn’t really focused on that idea.

“Right now I really don’t know,” said Rose. “If [the lockout] continues a very long time where its past like December, January I might consider it a little bit more, but right now I am trying to stay positive.”

“I thought about it. Of course I would love to just play here. I am from Chicago that my home town, I would love to just play here rather than anywhere else.”

Rose was the youngest MVP winner in NBA history last season and carried his Bulls’ team to a NBA best record while dealing with a rash of injuries to core players.

Hard to imagine that Rose has more to work on… but it seems he has that home town loyalty down pat.

The Homecoming Tour:  You have to hand it to LeBron James and his advisors, they sure keep him busy.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony announced yesterday that they will take part in a four city exhibition tour that they are calling “The Homecoming Tour” – title sponsor Google Plus will stream the four games online, which will feature “friends” of each player in the various cities they call home.

LeBron James will organize the roster for the Akron, Ohio game scheduled for December 1st which will be played at the University of Akron.

Three days later Chris Paul will host a game on December 4th at the University of New Orleans and feature of a roster of players selected by Paul.

On December 7th, Dwyane Wade will compile a roster of players for his game at the University of Illinois-Chicago with the tour wrapping up on December 10th with Carmelo Anthony’s hand-picked squad playing at the Izod Center in East Rutherford New Jersey.

“It’ll be very neat,” Wade told The Associated Press. “First of all, this is something we talked about doing a long time ago as players. To have an opportunity to go to these different cities that we’re from, to bring basketball to them at a high level and also have a charitable component in each city and to be with the guys, it’ll be cool. It’s something we’re looking forward to.”

Wade and several of his friends and teammates have been taking part in a mini-camp in Oregon last week hoping to get ready to play.

“I’m sore,” Wade said. “But that’s why we set it up this way. We want to get into work mode. When we get into the tour, we want to play. We want to be equipped to do that. We don’t want to just run up and down the court and jack up shots. We want to get into the things we need to do when it comes to strength, defense, all those things you usually do in training camp. So we’re getting into that mindset.”

“We’re approaching it as basketball,” Wade said. “We’re not doing it so people don’t forget our names. We’re really doing this to continue to make an impact in the communities that we go to and also to show that we love this game, we’re going to continue to play it and that this is something we all decided to do together. So that’s what makes this special.”

Tickets for the first three games go on sale tomorrow via Google Plus. The New Jersey game goes on sale Wednesday.

Selling The Jazz?  Jody Genessy of the Deseret News is reporting that if the next labor deal in the NBA doesn’t swing the Jazz to profitability that the Jazz could be put up for sale. Such a move would end one of the longest tenures of ownership in the NBA, with the Miller family opting to sell the team they have owned for more than 25 years.

According to Genessy:

One source with intimate knowledge of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies’ inner workings speculated that small-market-related economic hardships could force Jazz ownership to place a “For Sale” sign on the franchise. The source told the Deseret News that the Jazz were expected to report losses in the $17 million range for the 2010-11 season.

“If I was a betting man,” the source said, “my guess is that the Millers will sell the team within the next five years, unless this CBA changes the formula so that the team can make some money.”

Greg Miller who serves as the CEO of the Jazz and runs the day to day business of the LHM Group has said several times that as long as owning the Jazz made sense financially his family was committed to the owning the team.

So it will be interesting to see how this situation plays out. The Jazz are viewed as one of the “hawks” in the ongoing labor fight pushing for a tougher more restrictive economic system that would allow the Jazz to compete financially.

The Jazz have $57.01 million in 2011-2012 salary commitments to juts nine players including $14 million owed to Al Jefferson and $10.8 million owed to Mehmet Okur.

Forbes Magazine estimates the Jazz to be worth $343 million, which is what the magazine valued the team in its 2009 rankings.

The NBA has long disputed the Forbes value numbers, however as the only constant in the space Forbes’ numbers are the generally accepted baseline.

The Philadelphia 76ers carry a Forbes’ valuation of $330 million and just sold to Joshua Harris and his group for a reported $287 million, with outgoing owners Comcast-Spectacor holding on to 10% of the team.

The Charlotte Bobcats were valued at roughly $281 million by Forbes; however Michael Jordan bought control of the franchise for a reported $275 million sale price which included assuming some $150 million in debt.

Larry Miller purchased 50% of the Utah Jazz in April of 1985 for $8 million, and purchased the balance of the team almost a year later for an additional $14 million.

Adjusted for inflation the total purchase price of the Jazz in 2011 dollars would be around $45.4 million.

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