Derrick Rose Given “Green Light” To Play Extended Minutes
With Derrick Rose now being an officially injury-prone player, managing his minutes has become one of the priorities for the Chicago Bulls since his first major knee injury two seasons ago. Rose suffered another knee injury just this season, and was limited by the Bulls training staff to a 30-minute per game limit.
From the Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson, the Bulls are now cleared to play Rose as much as they need to:
The Bulls have cleared Derrick Rose to play extended minutes if needed, sources said.Initially, the Bulls’ medical staff limited Rose because he was returning from back-to-back, season-ending knee surgeries and he had played just 10 NBA games in the last two seasons. But Rose has started to string games together. And while it’s unlikely his average minutes per game will increase significantly, coach Tom Thibodeau has been given the green light to play Rose more.
Rose is still searching for his consistent rhythm on the floor, but his minutes are up over 30-per in January so far. He’s clearly feeling better and Tom Thibodeau is comfortable with keeping him out on the floor again.
The Bulls are a much different team than they were when Derrick Rose was MVP-worthy. They still need his aggressiveness, but the balance to Chicago’s offense is true with Pau Gasol and this new version of Jimmy Butler. That being said, a fully strong, healthy, and confident Rose to lead this group is best case scenario for a chance to win the Eastern Conference.
