Tom Thibodeau on Derrick Rose: ‘This is all positive’

In his brief return to the Chicago Bulls last season, Derrick Rose struggled to reflect the league’s most valuable player he once was voted. In 10 games before getting re-injured, Rose averaged career lows of 15.9 points, 4.3 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

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In his return part deux, Rose isn’t lighting up the score board for Team USA, either. In about 16 minutes in a win over Mexico, Rose finished scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting. The struggle is real.

Rose looks like he is moving well enough, and everything said about his recovery has been positive. He’s playing in back-to-back games in FIBA’s packed schedule, too. Bulls head coach and Team USA assistant coach Tom Thibodeau believes Rose’s international experience this summer will help him return to pre-injury form.

From Sam Smith of Bulls.com.

"“The big thing with Derrick is each day keep improving,” said Thibodeau. “Physically, I think he’s fine; he’s moving with great speed and explosiveness. His shots aren’t going down right now. Just keep building; we anticipated this. When you’ve been off as long as he has, it’s going to take a little bit to time to get into a rhythm again. He just has to continue to be patient, putting the work into each and every day.”“There’s nothing negative about this; this is all positive. The more he practices, the more he plays, the better he’ll get. He’ll be fine. Just take it day by day and get ready for training camp when we get there.”"

Rose said it’s like playing in an NBA All-Star game.

"“Usually when I come in, we have such a big lead, it’s almost like an All-Star game where I’m coming in and just getting guys into a rhythm.”"

While it may be frustrating not to be scoring and going 0-for-5 from the field, the important thing here is that Rose is on the floor. It will likely take a while for Rose to get his shooting touch back (of which he was never that great at) and to perfect his moves to get to the rim. But it should come as long as he is actually playing.

If he gets off to another slow start in Chicago, guys like Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol and Doug McDermott should be able to shoulder some of the scoring load while Rose eases back in.