Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose blames FIBA ball on poor play
By Bryan Rose
While USA Basketball hasn’t had much issue with the competition during the FIBA World Cup, Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose can’t say the same.
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Rose has struggled with his shot during the tournament and after he missed all five of his attempts against Mexico on Saturday morning, the former NBA MVP is now shooting a putrid 21.6 percent from the field. Of course, outside of a ten game stretch, Derrick Rose hasn’t been on a basketball court (at least in game action) for nearly two years, thus rust is expected.
That isn’t Rose’s biggest issue though, not according to the former Memphis Tiger who blames part of his struggles on the FIBA ball.
“I didn’t score but this (FIBA) ball is not my ball. I’m not worried about that,” Rose said. “My thing is conditioning and when we get back to the NBA season, I know that I’m used to that ball. Use this as conditioning and get in a rhythm of pick-and-roll and defensively get into people, playing fullcourt, trying to pick up very hard and give this team a rhythm. We have great shooters and scorers on this team so just try to give them the ball to get them in rhythm.”
Derrick Rose is not the first player to complain about the FIBA ball and it’s well documented that a change in the rock can at times be problematic for some. That said Rose’s struggles are far greater than just his shot as mental miscues (unforced turnovers, etc) are also having an impact on his game.
Hopefully D-Rose will get all of his kinks ironed out before the Chicago Bulls begin their season.