No, he's not Jordan, but he sure looks good

Derrick Rose started, stopped on a dime, and took off again.

He crossed over, hit the brakes once more as a defender flew by, elevated and squared his shoulders as he floated through the lane, giving him a clean look at the bucket.

Sure, the shot dropped, barely touching the net as it fell to the floor.

But that wasn't the impressive part.

No, what was impressive was that Rose knew he had the shot.

There were a half-dozen players on the court Tuesday night at the UC who tried the same move, including Michael Redd, and not a one of them knew what Rose knew.

He knew it wasn't a guess, a heave or a prayer.

It was in the bucket the minute he slammed on the brakes and went airborne, under control and with complete certainty.

And on opening night, when the Bulls pounded a bad Bucks team 108-95 as Vinny Del Negro made his debut and Scott Skiles returned with Milwaukee, it was all about Rose, who, whether he likes it or not, is going to hear Michael Jordan's name every time he makes a spectacular play like the one described above.

Simply put, there hasn't been anyone in Chicago since Jordan able to make a play like that, and make it look that easy.

Hey, he's not Jordan and no one should ever expect him to be, but he's got a chance to be a great one, and after one game he's already the best player to put on a Bulls uniform since Jordan left.

The good news is there's a chance something positive will happen whenever Rose has the ball, but the bad news is he sometimes has to throw it to a teammate.

Rose had 9 assists to go with his 11 points, and he consistently drove to the hoop and distributed the ball like a 10-year veteran, creating open looks, lots of space, and several easy dunks for his mates.

But also like Jordan, several times his teammates weren't anticipating a pass or couldn't convert an open 10-footer, costing Rose an easy double-double in his first NBA game.

"He's in there beating himself up over the 4 turnovers,'' said Del Negro, noting Rose threw away the first pass of his career. "He's got a lot of character. You can work with a kid like that.''

As for Del Negro, he seemed to spend less time coaching than he did listening to assistants Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff - who have several decades of head coaching experience to Del Negro's none.

"I'm 1-0 and got the game ball,'' laughed Del Negro. "We did some good things. We have a lot to work on.''

The Bucks didn't offer much of a test, and fortunately, Skiles provided the humor for the evening merely by being Skiles.

He looked miserable most of the game, and while he may have disliked Ben Gordon - who added to Skiles' unhappiness with 18 points Tuesday - you got the feeling watching Skiles that he's going to miss Gordon after watching Michael Redd freelance.

That is not a match made in basketball heaven.

But that's Skiles' problem. Del Negro's will be to avoid any tendency to limit Rose's creativity.

There doesn't appear to be anything Rose can't do on the court, including win games by himself on the nights his teammates can't help.

Forgive me for thinking again of Jordan, but why does that sound familiar?

brozner@dailyherald.com