The New York Knicks pursued Pau Gasol in the offseason, but they didn't have the cap space or title contender status that he was looking for.

Choosing between the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder was "probably the most difficult decision that I made in my career and in my life," Gasol said.

"I considered it," Gasol said of the Knicks. "But I thought the team was not at the level of others, other contenders and options that I had. I'm coming down to my last few years of my career, and I want to maximize them. And it was difficult to leave L.A. in the first place. But now I feel like I'm in a great position, and we have a great opportunity, and now let's see if we're lucky and we deserve to do something special."

Gasol had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the Bulls' opener against the Knicks.

"Plays where you need a great shot and you know that anything isn't rolling for you, you can easily dump it down and space out," Rose said. "If you double-team, it's going to be a wide-open shot, a wide-open three. … It makes the game easy for everyone."