Rose Needs to Blossom

D-Rose. Former MVP. Superstar.  One of few to be compared to Michael Jordan. But also to Tracy McGrady… why? Injuries. He was on track to becoming one of the greatest players of all time, and still may be considered one by many, but then he faced knee surgery… repetitively. He hasn’t been healthy in ages. His play has been above average for a point guard but nowhere near his potential. He’s now just returned for crunch time… Just before the post season, but will he have what it takes to thrive and succeed under his given circumstances? Will Coach Tom know how to handle the rotations now that he is back and playing alongside new players? How will they mesh? Will they make a clean first round exit? A clean first round sweep? A push deep into the playoffs? Only time will tell.

The Chicago Bulls do not have the privilege that teams like the Atlanta Hawks or the Cleveland Cavaliers have as one of the top seeds in the east. With all of their injury problems this season, it appears the bulls will be coming in at perhaps the 6 or 7 seed in their conference. Happy to be in the playoffs… Not so happy if they are playing Cleveland, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the first round. Although the Bulls do finally have their starting 5 out there and their full roster healthy, Tuesday night was only the fourth night the Bulls have had their full roster available and only the 20th game this season that they had all 5 of their starters on the floor. Needless to say, things may get shaky out on the floor unless these guys can pull it together and learn to play with one another on one of the most intimidating stages in all of sports. Rose is still stuck at 20 minutes a game and looked winded Tuesday evening, which is to be expected of a guy who missed so much time. We can only hope he can pull it together real quick… Like real quick. He’s got four games before his performances start mattering more than just for his own reassurance and confidence. Soon all of Chicago will be on the edge of their seats waiting for Rose to drive to the rack and slam one home over a 7 footer. Soon all of Chicago will count on D-Rose hitting the game winning fade away to walk off into the conference semi’s. Soon Chicago fans will be waiting for D-Rose to carry them deeper and deeper into the playoffs, until he can not go any more. Soon… All too soon it seems, unless he’s still got a few tricks up his sleeve. We can all hope and wish for the best but we will just have to see what Derrick Rose brings to the table this post season, and for the remaining four games this season. And that’s exactly how long he has, four games to pull it together and be ready to birth the Chicago Bulls into title contention. No pressure.

Rose’s return on Tuesday proved to be an average startup. Not his worst game but also not nearly his worst. Thankfully that worst game was more of a one time deal as Rose put up 1 of 13 against the Bucks earlier this season… That was ugly. And it was just two days before his surgery, so you can imagine his confidence coming back after recovering was not nearly at its peak. Rose Tuesday, shot 1 of 6 from 3 point land, 3 of 9 overall, and put up 9 points in 19 minutes. Not awful, especially not for his first game back… But now D-Rose at his prime… at all. And that is where they will need him if they hope to make a championship run this year. All athletes can relate however that taking time off and returning is never an easy task. Coach Tom put it best when he said, “He looked like a guy who missed 6 weeks.” Tom expressed that it will take time for Rose to get his conditioning back.. Hopefully not too much time though, time is limited. He’s got a few games to figure it out because a performance like his on Tuesday night could be the difference between a first round elimination and a deep playoff run.

Regardless of whether you like the Chicago Bulls, or even like basketball, you simply have to respect a player of such magnitude like Derrick Rose. We can all agree, whether we want the Bulls to take the title this year or not, that we want to see D-Rose healthy and competing and at least making this post season interesting. Best of luck and I hope the Rose blossoms.

3 thoughts on “Rose Needs to Blossom

  1. I’ve had a career ending sports injury and it sucks. My heart goes out to him. Cool post, I’m interested to see how everything ends up happening with the season’s end.

  2. Such a shame that a great young talent has had the first part of his career slowed down by injury. I definitely feel if Rose can play productive minutes in the playoffs the Bulls have a great chance with Butler and Gasol to make some noise when they are all fully healthy.

  3. It is a shame what injuries can do to an athlete’s career. As with anything, sports require first talent and then luck to become successful. It’s a shame that D.Rose has struggled through so many injuries, but unfortunately, it is just bad luck and bad timing. A wrong step here or an awkward cut there and a player is out for a season or more. This problem is even more recognizable in baseball. There was actually a major league caliber arm coming out of my home town two years ago. He threw 95 mph and was set to pitch for WVU as a freshman. In their fall season, he blew out his arm and got tossed aside. There is so much talent out there that teams have no reason to work with the injured. It’s sad, but it’s true.

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