Good news for Bulls: Rose looks more like old self
There's something about Derrick Rose that bodes well for the rest of the Chicago Bulls' season.
One piece of evidence was a foul Rose committed in the fourth quarter Sunday against Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson.
The 6-foot-5 Clarkson tried to pull up for a jumper, Rose went up and just smothered the shot. Rose got all ball at first but rejected the shot so thoroughly he fouled Clarkson on the way down.
Rose still has some hops.
At the same time, Rose now routinely blows past almost anyone who guards him 1-on-1. In the three games since the all-star break, Rose is averaging 26 points, 5.7 rebounds and shooting an impressive 57.4 percent from the field.
“Tonight he looked like the same old Derrick Rose,” Kobe Bryant said after Sunday's game at the United Center. He was talking about the pre-knee surgeries Rose.
Sure, the numbers will drop when Jimmy Butler returns from a knee injury in a couple of weeks. But it's not just the stats that are impressive about Rose. He will never hit 2011 MVP-level again, but Rose is back to showing plenty of the elite athleticism that made him an NBA sensation.
Rose, however, is nonchalant about the positive signs.
“I just feel like I'm back. I'm just out there playing,” he said. “Whatever I could do to give my team a victory, that's what I'm going to do. They're giving me midrange, they're giving me drives to the basket.”
Well, no team just gives Rose drives to the basket. There's always a defender trying to stop him. Rose is just getting past people. He's also finishing well, having perfected the running bank shot, which is especially effective when he drives left.
“I don't know how good I could become,” Rose said with an expressionless face. “Nobody knows.”
The story of Rose's season is built around the accident suffered in the first practice of training camp, when he took an elbow to the face and suffered a fractured left orbital bone.
As a result, he missed nearly all of camp and played with blurry vision in his left eye for a couple of months.
Rose started playing better around Christmas. Since the holiday victory in Oklahoma City, he has averaged 19.5 points, 4.2 assists and shot 46 percent from the field.
When the season began, Rose talked about how he was able to spend the summer getting better at basketball, as opposed to rehabbing a knee injury. That hadn't happened since 2011.
“He's been playing phenomenal,” teammate Taj Gibson said after Tuesday's practice. “We're just trying to keep him healthy. He's been doing a great job in practice, talking, trying to lead the right way.”
Coach Fred Hoiberg suggested Rose also is doing a better job moving the ball upcourt quickly. The Bulls started the season intending to play faster. But after five years, minus injury time, of jogging upcourt and waiting for former coach Tom Thibodeau's play call, the new style was an adjustment for Rose.
“No. 1, he's really pushing the pace,” Hoiberg said. “He's getting the ball down the floor really quickly. … Our wings are allowing Derrick to have penetrating lanes because of the spacing.
“That's where it starts with the team. You want that initial thrust, the push, and Derrick's doing a phenomenal job with that.”
After three knee surgeries, Bulls fans have learned to hold their breath every time Rose gets up slowly after a fall. There always could be another injury waiting to happen, but Rose bringing this kind of speed to the floor, the future of a Rose-Butler backcourt seems brighter.
Bryant paused before Sunday's game to greet Rose and 3-year-old son P.J. After the game, the retiring Lakers star left Rose with some parting thoughts.
“I know it was tough for him at first because to have an injury like that that comes out of nowhere, it can mess with you mentally, right?” Bryant said. “Because something like that comes without warning.
“You never know when it's going to happen again. The key for him is to stick with it. Control what he can control and not worry about what he can't.”
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