Derrick Rose quietly reached a milestone here Sunday night when he came off the bench in an otherwise forgettable first half for Team USA against Turkey. Rose's entrance into the game marked the first time the Chicago Bulls star played in the second half of a back-to-back set since Nov. 22, when his ill-fated appearance in Portland that night came to a halt with Rose suffering the second major knee injury of his short NBA career. There was nothing close to that sort of calamity against the Turks, but Rose also proved unable to build on the promise of his Saturday night outing against Finland. In the Finland game, Rose played more minutes (23) than any member of Team USA and had no idea about the achievement until the next day. "Didn't even know until you told me," Rose relayed to ESPN's Bob Holtzman before Sunday's tipoff against the Turks. But the aggression, spring and zip Rose unleashed against the Finns was never in evidence the next night. His feel and timing were clearly missing, too, landing Rose on the bench for the entire third quarter. He didn't get back on the floor after a rough first half until the United States was safely ahead in the fourth quarter, and he finished with just two points in 17 minutes. Yet it also must be said that Rose has seemed more at ease since the squad left the United States for Europe. He's facing all the questions about his knees from nosy reporters head-on, even after Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski told ESPN.com last week that he sensed "a part of [Rose] that's like, 'Quit asking me how I feel, I'm good.'" "I’m just trying to put that behind me," Rose said of any trepidation he's feeling as he ramps up his comeback from the two devastating injuries that limited him to 10 games over the past two seasons with the Bulls. "I know the questions are going to come and they're going to be there the whole year. So I can’t get tired of it. I’m feeling good right now. "Just trying to get in better shape, get in better condition, so that when I do need to score the ball, then it’ll be there." Before the tournament started, Rose likened the prospect of five games in the first six days of the World Cup to an "AAU-type schedule." Team USA was completely off Monday as all six teams in Group C enjoyed their lone "rest day," as it's called on the schedule. But next up for the residents of Group C is a three-games-in-three-nights stretch, with Team USA scheduled to play New Zealand on Tuesday night, Dominican Republic on Wednesday and Mike Fratello-coached Ukraine on Thursday. Read more http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/2935/derrick-rose-feeling-good-after-back-to-back
I've heard it said that "it's one thing to be in shape, but quite another thing to be in NBA shape." I'm not sure that civilians like me can really understand this, but given that Rose has probably spent a gazillion hours working out in the past 8 months, it amazes me that Rose continually complains that he's got to get in better shape.
I get it to an extent. I ran competitively in high school and was fast enough to be in the mix for All State, all of which is to say I was completely unremarkable. I took off about ten weeks the winter of my senior year (competitive runners run year round) to focus on applying to colleges. When I came back, I had slipped from being the caliber of athlete who won our conference regularly and convincingly, to not even qualifying as one of our school's top few runners -- basically I was cut from the A team. It wasn't wind. There were all kinds of weird physiological changes that occurred when I took that off. Like, my legs grew to the same length. Before my time off, my right leg had been a 1/2" longer, mirroring the slope of roads. And I gained a ton of speed I never had before, at the cost of endurance, when the twitch of my muscles began to reorient. DraftExpress called Rose the most athletic prospect they'd ever seen in their profile of him coming out of Memphis. He was a one in a billion athlete. I don't know the particulars of what he's struggling with but he's been out of the game two years. Two mofo years! He must be struggling with all kinds of physiological changes that have nothing to do with getting his conditioning back.
Thanks for sharing, SST. I was a multi-sport athlete in HS and thought I trained hard, but am convinced that I know little about what elite athletes go through. With regard to Rose, we'll need to deal with the fact that we won't know what we have for while. Of course, this doesn't help September on Bulls message boards
I watched Rose today against Mexico. His first shot was jumper that barely touched the front of the rim. He never made a shot all game long, was blocked once. He had 4 assists. I thought this was his worse overall game yet. That being said, the Bulls are now built to where Rose will not have to be the star from the beginning. Added scoring. Improved play by Gibson, Noah. Gasol is in the running for MVP of the World Cup games. So, he can ease back into the NBA.
Yeah, this upcoming year is going to be a wash. We're not going to know how much we can expect from Rose long term until next year after a full, healthy off season. Please bump this comment two months from now when I'm arguing that Rose is never going to be the same player again.
