Bulls' Derrick Rose: Summer's focus was basketball, family

CHICAGO --BullsguardDerrick Rose acknowledged Monday that free agency is on his mind, despite the fact his free agency is still two years away.

Answering a question about his mindset amid a civil suit filed against him over the summer, Rose veered into a discussion about his pending free agency.

"This whole summer I had tunnel vision," he said. "My mindset was just making sure that I was working out every day and spending as much time as possible with my son and focusing on them two things.

"Making sure that my family is financially stable -- as far as, you see all the money that they're passing out in this league, [I'm] just telling the truth, just knowing that my day will be coming up soon. It's not for me, it's for [son] P.J. and his future. so that's what I'm thinking about right now."

Rose reasserted a few moments later he still believes his future is in Chicago, but with all the big money coming into the league because of the new television deals, he wants to keep the possibilities open.

"It's here," he said. "But when you talk about that much money, the only thing you can do is prepare for it, trying to prepare not only myself but my family. I'm doing all of this for my son. I'm thinking about his future even though we're all right, we're comfortable. When you talk about that 'X' amount of dollars, I think it raises everyone's eyebrows. It's nothing wrong with being over-prepared."

Rose signed a five-year max extension worth close to $95 million before the 2011-2012 season, but he has played in only 100 regular-season games since then because of various injuries, including three serious knee injuries.

Despite his ongoing health woes, Rose, 26, still believes he is one of the best players in the game.

"I can't get caught up into that," Rose said, referring to talk about his game. "I know I'm great. It's a lot of people that don't know I'm great, that's the thing. But it's cool. I know I can hoop. You can put me anywhere, and I know how to play the game of basketball."