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Knicks' Rose: I'm here to push Melo 'when he's being lazy'

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Derrick Rose understands whose team the New York Knicks are.

The point guard joined the Knicks in a blockbuster trade this summer from the Chicago Bulls - a squad he once led - and is prepared to take a backseat to Carmelo Anthony in the Big Apple

"My job is to come here and help him win," Rose said of Anthony, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. "This is his team. In practice I'll push him and be on him when he's being lazy and vice versa. There's no bad blood. I'm just here to help him win."

The former MVP emphasized his unselfish mindset entering the season.

"My job is to make (Anthony's) job easy," said Rose, who's been learning where his All-Star teammate likes the ball. "I'm not coming in for my stats. I don't care about my stats. As long as we win, I can sleep easy at night."

The three-time All-Star averaged 16.4 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 42.7 percent from the field in 2015-16 in Chicago, where he spent the first seven years of his career.

Rose believes the way opponents defend him will lead to a lot of open looks for Melo.

"It should just be easy (for Anthony) with the way I play and how teams guard me," he explained. "They usually put two guys on me and bigs don't let me go all the way to the rim. We should have a lot of open knockdown shots and he's a knockdown shooter."

The former first overall pick made an effort to strengthen his friendship with Anthony during the offseason, joining him for team-bonding activities in Puerto Rico.

NY STAND UP!!! 🏀

A photo posted by LaLa (@lala) on

Related - Carmelo excited about Rose: 'I haven't felt like this in a long time'

The revamped Knicks will look to improve upon their 32-50 campaign last year, which saw them miss the playoffs for the third straight time.

Rose is confident his new club could be "scary when (it's) clicking."

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