It’s time for the annual ‘is Derrick Rose back to his old self?’ conversation. And for the record I’ve been confident in saying ‘never again’ for the past two years. His injuries have just held him back too much and I don’t think he’ll ever get the explosive first step back.
Ken Berger of CBS Sports has recently interviewed a couple of NBA executives and despite his recently great performance against Oklahoma City, they’re calling it.
“For sure, he’s somebody that’s still a very good player,” a Western Conference executive said. “Is he an MVP candidate? I don’t know, but how many guys in the league are? There’s five every year.”
Scouts and executives who’ve studied Rose through the Bulls’ first six games, through the preseason and in some cases last season all provide essentially the same report: The lift is gone. So is the explosiveness. After Rose missed nearly two full seasons with knee injuries, it’s no wonder. Then came the facial fracture that Rose suffered on the very first day of training camp, one that continues to blur his vision.
“After five games, because he’s not averaging 25 points a game, he’s no longer Derrick Rose — I don’t know if that’s fair,” one of the executives said. “But if he has a five-game stretch where he scores 25 a game, everybody’s going say, ‘D-Rose is back.’ Well, I don’t know if that’s fair, either.“
If you’re one of those people that say ‘maybe he’s back’ whenever he drops 25, chill. It will always be a blip, it has been for years.
There’s no point speculating anymore, Jimmy Butler is the leader of the team now, Rose should make an effort to dish more assists. Yes I said it.
