Michael Carter-Williams: ‘A number to me is not that important'

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It was a twitter storm of the worst kind, an unexpected introduction for Michael Carter-Williams to Chicago when he announced he would return back to taking Number One for his Bulls jersey.

In the 3-hour span, he went from new darling to unwilling and unnecessary villain as Twitter attacked him for taking Derrick Rose’s old jersey number—a backlash his family saw online Monday.

“My family and my brothers and sisters were like, ‘Man, everyone’s going crazy on Twitter.’ I was like, ‘Ah, man, that’s not how I want to start.’ It was nothing personal,” Carter-Williams said. “To me, it’s not even a big deal.”

After his first practice as a Bull, Carter-Williams seemed somewhat amused by everything surrounding the jersey number, and showed remarkable maturity and perspective given he just turned 25 a few days ago.

“I just want the city and the team and the organization all to be focused on one thing,” Carter-Williams said. “I think the fans are a big part of this organization and I didn’t want to have any distraction. I want everything to be positive. A number to me is not that important.”

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Carter-Williams showed a level of deference to what Rose accomplished and also to the fans who clearly disapproved of him taking a number he wore his rookie year and in college.

The new Bulls backup point guard wants his play to do the talking more than any arbitrary attribute, which is why he avoided the controversy and decided to go with number seven.

“If I play well or we play well or we play bad, I want them to support us instead of focusing on why is Michael wearing No. 1? I don’t mind wearing another number and everyone being on the same page,” Carter-Williams said. “People are entitled to their own opinions. D-Rose did a lot for this city. He was born here. He was the youngest MVP ever.”

Although this wasn’t Carter-Williams’ first lesson in the passion of social media, he certainly got a taste of the passion of Bulls fans and it’s clear he wants to win them over.

“I respect it. Like I said, it’s not a big deal to me,” Carter-Williams said. “A number to me is just a number.”

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