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Batum’s opinion no big deal to Rose

SALT LAKE CITY — Derrick Rose took some harsh criticism from Portland forward Nicholas Batum after the Bulls’ 109-103 loss to the Blazers on Monday.

“We know that Derrick Rose is a good offensive player,” Batum said, according to the Oregonian. “But you have to play defense, too. He can’t guard Dre. You gotta play defense. He can’t play defense, so that’s why we put Dre inside and try to attack him.”

Dre is 34-year-old point guard Andre Miller, who did manage to pour in 27 points, which included 13 of 13 free throws.

“He threw me under the bus,” Rose said with a grimace. “No, everybody’s got their opinion. I know that I can play defense. It is what it is. It doesn’t get me upset at all. That’s just opinion.”

Standing on Utah’s practice court Tuesday, Rose was asked for a self-assessment of his defensive performance against Portland.

“Too many fouls, that’s what I think,” he said. “Too many fouls and, if anything, it’s scoring in transition.”

Coach Tom Thibodeau repeated the feeling that Rose has made nice strides this season to become one of the Bulls’ better defenders.

“I watch him all year, so I know the kind of progress he’s made,” Thibodeau said. “I don’t care what other people say. I think what’s important is what we think as coaches and teammates.

“Our defense, based on that game, was poor. But I would say our defense overall for the year has been good. Not great, good. We have a lot of room to improve, and I think Derrick’s been very good all year long.”

Brewer on missed dunks:

Ronnie Brewer is one of more explosive athletes on the Bulls, so it was odd to see him miss dunks in each of the last two games.

“That’s part of basketball,” Brewer said Tuesday. “I talked to Thibs about it. I take responsibility because one time I looked back to see if the guy was coming and lost where I was at. The other time, the ball slipped out of my hand.

“At the same time, those two plays could have been the turning point of the game. I’ve got to do better, and we’ve all got to do better. Those are easy plays I’ve done a million times.”

Korver left out:

Even though he set an NBA record for 3-point field-goal percentage last season at .536, Kyle Korver was not invited to the 3-point contest at all-star weekend.

The participants are Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Durant, Miami’s James Jones, Golden State’s Dorrel Wright and Cleveland’s Daniel Gibson.

This season Korver ranks 20th in 3-point percentage at .412. Volume also seems to count with the league, and Korver is just 56th in 3-point baskets per game.

Bulls on Sloan:

A popular question following the Bulls practice Tuesday was asking the former Jazz players to compare Utah coach Jerry Sloan to Tom Thibodeau.

“They’re very strict, hard-core and they stick to their system,” Ronnie Brewer said. “To me, the transition was easy because if you can take criticism and somebody on your back as (much as) Sloan, I think anywhere throughout the league you’re capable (of handling).

“To me, if you can’t take some constructive criticism for the good, you shouldn’t be playing basketball.”