Derrick Rose's Long Journey Back to Superstardom Is Only Just Beginning
For Derrick Rose, winning a gold medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball came with a silver lining—and not the good kind, either.
Following a strong training camp that had even Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski declaring the Chicago Bulls star and former MVP had returned to being “elite,” per ESPN.com's Nick Friedell, Rose’s tournament performance left us with far more questions than answers.
Chief among the latter: After sustaining a pair of knee injuries that kept him out for the better part of two full NBA seasons, Rose’s road back to superstardom is only just beginning.
Of course, that he’s even on that path at all is a testament to both the miracles of modern medicine and Rose’s own unimpeachable determination, facts that the three-time All-Star heartily acknowledged in a post-tournament interview with NBA.com’s Sam Smith:
"I think this was just a preparation test for me. Just coming here, really learning my routine, becoming a pro. I’m going to transfer this onto the next season with the Bulls because I think this really helped me with recovery wise, taking care of my body, eating right…I still have to get my rhythm back. But as far as I’m concerned, I think performed good.
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“Good” might be a bit of an overstatement: In eight FIBA appearances—all off the bench—Rose registered a mere 4.8 points and 3.1 assists on 26 percent shooting, hitting just one of his 19 three-point attempts in the process.
That’s not to say there weren’t bright spots. Rose was steady-solid in his team’s quarterfinals win over Goran Dragic and Slovenia (12 points on 6-of-10 from the floor), and for the most part, he seemed comfortable careening around the court in his typical frenzied fashion.
But with just two weeks remaining before the start of Bulls training camp, it’s become increasingly clear that Rose’s game is still very much a work in progress.
Luckily for Bulls fans, the pressure about the shoulders of Chicago’s resident Atlas stands to be measures more manageable with the arrival of a player for whom FIBA served more as a renaissance than a rite of recovery: Pau Gasol.
Gasol, who signed a three-year, $22 million tender on July 14, was easily one of the tournament’s most incendiary performers. And while Spain’s gold-medal gambit fell short in a shocking semifinals loss to France, Gasol—who averaged 20 points and 5.9 rebounds on 64 percent shooting—proved he remains one of the game’s elite big men.
To call Gasol an upgrade over the recently amnestied Carlos Boozer would be a criminal understatement. Indeed, pairing Gasol with Joakim Noah not only gives the Bulls one of the NBA’s most dynamic frontcourt duos, but it affords head coach Tom Thibodeau an offensive dynamism that was utterly lacking in Rose’s absence.
Recently, Bleacher Report’s Kelly Scaletta broke down the two’s considerable statistical upside:
"The other thing, and perhaps the hidden beauty to the Bulls' thinking here, is the pairing of Joakim Noah with Gasol in the paint. Among forward/centers last season, the two were first and third, respectively, in assists per game. That’s quite a passing tandem to have up front.
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For all Chicago’s recent success, Rose has never had a sidekick as seasoned or as versatile as Gasol, who—even at a twilit 34—still remains a fantastic facsimile of his once dominant self.
By running part of the offense through Gasol, the Bulls would necessarily be sparing Rose the wear and tear of so many limb-twisting forays into the paint.
Shortly after Gasol’s signing, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale underscored how the move served to both help Rose and hedge against his possible slide into replacement-level mediocrity:
"This is no longer a Bulls team desperate for Rose to be healthy. Well, it is and it isn't.
Superstars like Rose are indispensable. The Bulls cannot replace what he does, the offense he brings, the hope he inspires. But increasing their Rose-less ceiling is the next best thing.
More than anything, that's what Gasol does: improve the Bulls no matter what.
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Parlaying FIBA legwork into improved NBA production the following season is, at this point, a time-tested tale. Gasol might not be the player he once was. But as a five-tool force whose game has never been the stuff of jaw-dropping athleticism, he’s eminently capable of playing a scintillating second fiddle.
As for Rose, the adjustments are sure to be both welcomed and challenging. Welcomed because his basketball immortality has already been laid bare. Challenging because recognizing one’s immortality is different than heeding it on the hardwood.
At this point in his career, it’s incumbent upon Rose that sheer athleticism becomes an element of his game rather than what defines it. This is what makes Gasol and Noah so crucial to Rose’s recovery. For it’s through them that reinvention becomes possible—even if the late-night highlight reels run short of dunks from No. 1.
No one expects Rose to morph into mid-career Steve Nash. What he can do, however, and what he should make his high-hung goal, is approach the next stage of his career less as a basketball berserker and more as a full-fledged floor general.
FIBA was the first in what’s sure to be a series of humbling episodes for the former MVP, glorified training camp though it may have been. Playing Team USA backup to Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry, with John Wall and Damian Lillard looming just beyond the shadows—the footsteps are there, booming forth with a force and confidence Rose has yet to fully rediscover.
To recapture that confidence demands Rose forge new footsteps of his own, even if the path on which they fall feels far longer than it should.
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