Bulls’ Derrick Rose has advanced to playing two-on-two, hopeful that he’ll participate in Team USA’s practices this summer
By Mike Dyce
The Chicago Bulls season ended earlier than they would’ve liked, but it was another season they had to play without point guard Derrick Rose and former league MVP. The good news is that Rose’s rehab is progressing, and the team is optimistic that he’ll be playing with Team USA this summer.
“He’s really in a good place right now and he continues to train. He’s starting to play one-on-one, two-on-two,” said Bulls general manager Gar Forman, via NBA.com. “So he’ll continue to ramp it up. And if everything goes according to plan — which up to this point it has — we’re optimistic that he’ll play with Team USA this summer and have another good summer of work and be ready to go in October.”
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau wanted to put some emphasis on Rose returning next season, and how that could chance impact the next campaign.
“You can’t lose sight of Derrick being back,” said Thibodeau. “That changes a lot of things. … He’s right on schedule. So this is the next phase now. The rehab part went well. The non-contact stuff went well. So now this is the next step, which is good.”