Derrick Rose's Return a Silver Lining for Chicago Bulls' Disappointing Season

CHICAGO — It didn't end the way he wanted it to, but Derrick Rose will take it. After everything he's been through, finishing a season on two legs is enough of a win.

Yes, the Chicago Bulls got blown out at home by the Cleveland Cavaliers in embarrassing fashion to end their season Thursday night. And there's no shortage of uncertainty with the team's future that won't be resolved until the messy, inevitable divorce between management and head coach Tom Thibodeau plays out. But the biggest question mark in the Bulls' world over the last three years, the simple one of whether Rose could stay healthy, ended, for once, with good news.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

"I always look at it as me stepping on the floor and just me walking off the floor as a positive," Rose said at his locker after the game. "I'm just happy with how my body responded when I came back. I'm happy with everything I learned this year, everything I went through individually, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I'm good. I'm at peace with myself. Of course I'm mad we lost this game and we're out the playoffs, but it gave me a chance to really go into the summer with a game plan."

This will be the first summer since 2011 in which Rose isn't rehabbing from a major knee injury. For once, his game plan doesn't have to be focused on just the act of getting back on the court. He's done that. Now, he can focus entirely on how best to work on his game once he's there.

Rose's season was in many ways a microcosm of the Bulls'. The team played only a handful of games throughout the course of an 82-game regular season with the entire roster healthy and available. Key players (including Rose) were in and out of the lineup constantly, and that led to a lack of continuity and consistency that they were never able to build in time for the playoffs.

Which Bulls team would show up on a night-to-night basis varied wildly. In one stretch of games in late January, they lost four out of five, and the one win came against the Warriors at Oracle. That about sums it up.

On an individual level, Rose's season was also fraught with inconsistency. He missed a few games at the beginning of the season with minor, lingering ankle injuries. His precautionary minutes restriction wasn't lifted until around the All-Star break. His propensity to take ill-advised three-pointers and hesitance to attack the basket was a point of contention all year.

Aaron Gash/Associated Press

Still, flashes of the "old Rose" popped up during the season, games or even just quarters where he was an unstoppable force driving to the basket. Like the Bulls, Rose could look like the player who won the league's MVP award in 2011 one night and get outplayed by the likes of Detroit Pistons guard Spencer Dinwiddie, a D-League call-up, on another night.

And then the knee injury hit, and Rose was sidelined for 20 games. He returned for the final five games of the regular season, not exactly enough time to get his feet under him before the playoffs hit.

But he survived, and it gave him something to build on.

"I want to say this about Derrick: This was a long year for Derrick," Thibodeau said Thursday, likely having coached Rose for the final time. "The good thing is, I think he has regained his confidence. You have to remember, he hasn't played in three postseasons. Getting this experience is really good for him."

Rose's first playoffs in four years (not counting the 2012 playoffs, in which he tore his left ACL in the first game) left plenty of reasons to be encouraged. He was more consistently aggressive than he was during the regular season and had three 30-point games, one against Milwaukee and two against Cleveland.

And his knees held up.

Rose will spend the summer in Los Angeles, just like he did last year before playing in the FIBA World Cup. The difference is that this time, his starting point is a healthy, successful postseason run.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

All the work he's put in over the last three years to come back from three serious injuries is finally paying off, and he'll be able to hit the ground running this summer. He's a different player now than he was in 2011. The explosiveness is still there, but it's more calculated and controlled.

The outside shooting, aggravating as it was at times, has started to tighten up as he's taken better shots and forced less. It takes time to adjust to what a body can and can't do post-injury. Now, he'll have a whole summer to figure it out.

"It's all about being consistent and staying in the gym," Rose said. "That's one thing that I think I did well was prepare myself for every game, even though I didn't perform the way I wanted to perform. My body felt good. It's all about going into the lab this summer and putting my game back together. See where that takes me."

In all likelihood, Rose will never be able to quite shake the injury-prone reputation. The United Center will still hold its breath every time he stays on the floor a few seconds too long after taking a charge or diving for a loose ball. That's just the reality.

But, at least for now, he's put the worst of it behind him. He's still only 26 years old, and after years of seeing his career threatened to be cut short, he looks to have many productive years ahead.

Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter at @highkin