Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose Won't Match Last Year's Brilliance

Last year Derrick Rose ignited a city.

Chicago, Illinois is a city known for its basketball prowess and most notably because of the immortal Michael Jordan. In 2011, Derrick Rose began to etch his name into Chicago Bulls lore alongside the great No. 23.

However, on the stat sheet, Derrick won’t produce the same brilliance again in 2012.

Now in no way am I devaluing Derrick Rose as a player, saying that he’ll be any worse or less exciting to watch, rather, I'm pointing out what he accomplished in 2011 may have been a career year for the Bulls point guard.

In the 2010-11 season Derrick Rose averaged 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. He was the clear leader of a Bulls team that made the Eastern Conference finals and finished with the best regular-season record in the NBA.

Most people play with the understanding that a player of Rose’s age and skill only gets better as he gets older. This year, with Rose, that won’t be the case. Don’t be upset if you see Rose’s numbers dip a little.

One reason for the decline is the shortened NBA season. It’s known that Derrick Rose is a player that loves to take the ball to the rim and it’s his mantra to be able to finish the play with contact better than any player in the league.

In a season where there are multiple back-to-back-to-back games and spurts of seven games in nine nights, taking theses hits are going to take a toll on you.

His shooting numbers will be down from tired legs, and we’ve also seen him injure his elbow from a hit he took near the rim. 2012 is going to be the longest short season we’ve ever seen.

I’m aware that D-Rose’s assist numbers will be up because of the addition of long-time Pistons guard Richard “Rip” Hamilton.

Hamilton, along with the improved Ronnie Brewer, allow for Rose to play a more toned down brand of basketball. This is why his assist numbers are up nearly a full assist early into this season.

Early into 2012 Derrick Rose is averaging 19.6 points, 8.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Derrick Rose isn’t going to lose his flash or his knack for the exciting play, but his game is becoming more fundamental than it ever has before and that is going to tame the dazzle that we’re used to seeing from him.

He’s learning to pass more, and make the right pass for that matter.

Richard Hamilton is helping Derrick adjust to having another scorer on the team. I’ve said this from day one, it’s not the best piece but it was the right one as long as he stays healthy.

Part of the reason Derrick Rose was so brilliant in 2011 was because he was required to shoulder the entire load for the Bulls. That’s not the plan in 2012 and as a fan I’m happy about that.

We saw a quick glimpse of it against the Atlanta Hawks on January 3^rd when the Bulls defeated the Hawks 76-74. The Bulls made a furious comeback, led by Derrick Rose’s 17 fourth quarter points.

With just three seconds left and the game tied, everyone expected it to be Rose who took the final shot, but instead he was used as a decoy and Joakim Noah found a slashing Luol Deng for the game-winning lay-up.

Now you could argue that Rose’s fourth quarter was brilliant, and truthfully, it was. But in 2011, Derrick Rose takes the final shot in that situation. It’s just a small indication of how things are changing in Chicago this season.

You never want to overuse your best player to the point where you run him completely dry, especially in a compact season, so you need to be as careful as possible.

Derrick Rose is still going to be the exciting hometown kid that we all love to watch and try and emulate, but he’s not going to be the MVP type point guard that we grew accustomed to watching for 82 games a year ago.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.