As Derrick Rose Struggles to Recapture Glory, Bulls Left with Identity Crisis
OAKLAND, Calif. — There was a time the torque-testing cuts and explosive bursts that had marked the gallant guard play of Derrick Rose had freed him and his family from the menaces of Chicago's South Side. They then took him from No. 1 overall pick to Rookie of the Year and NBA MVP for the hometown team before he even turned as old as Michael Jordan's jersey number.
Now, those gifts are becoming harder and harder to appreciate.
Last Friday was going to be a big night, with or without Rose. The Chicago Bulls were going to challenge the Golden State Warriors' perfect season. No one had come into the Warriors' house and lived to celebrate a regular-season victory since Rose's game-winner in the Bulls' last visit on January 27.
When Rose took to the Oracle Arena court this time for a pregame workout, though, there was no suspense. Hope had already been dashed. Rose had been ruled out well in advance because of a sprained left ankle that clearly was not exactly debilitating.
It mattered not how grand the stage could've been or how palpable the buzz in the building was—as usual—in the moments before reigning MVP Stephen Curry's own pregame warm-up.
Safety first for Rose. Even to the ridiculous-looking point that the protective mask he started wearing before the season stayed strapped to his impassive face, start to finish, as he shot around.
Not exactly the look of the same old daring swashbuckler. He stood there in his black game shorts and those eye-catching red, designer sneakers with the 773 shouting out his hometown area code, and Rose blocked out the anticipation of this game to be played.
He went all the way down to the fundamentals, shooting a weighted ball from around the basket. He tried to keep his elbow under the ball, minimize the hitch in his jumper and—because the ball so often pops out of his hand too hard—grow confidence in his mid-range bank shot. The high running floaters he worked on using just that left ankle to take off were never to push his body to perform in the big game at hand.
Rose's ankle was good enough, though, that he's now expected to play Tuesday night in Portland against much lesser competition.
He'll never be one to give up, but he has backed off his former ferocity in ways both mental and physical.
Who can rightly quibble with him when he says he is playing through some ongoing double vision from the fractured orbital bone suffered the first day of training camp. Yet, by the same token, that injury wasn't supposed to be a long-term problem—and obviously it has dragged on in that way that things with Rose keep being a drag.
For a club that is 8-4, working pretty hard and getting its headliner back now after having competed gamely against the undefeated defending NBA champs on their court, the Bulls are in an awkward place.
There's an awful lot of talent here. There's also a real lack of identity.
And it's because of who Rose has become—or who he hasn't become again since his 2011 ACL tear. Even now, as new coach Fred Hoiberg updates the offensive system and has the Bulls shooting more three-pointers than ever in their history, there remains the pull that Rose maybe can dominate his way.
Maybe not, though, so you also have Jimmy Butler pushing for superstar responsibility, Pau Gasol asking for more touches in the post and everyone unclear on what this team's pecking order really is.
For the Bulls to be a title threat, they have to reconcile an awful lot of issues in the next six months.
It's clear that Butler is trying to adopt the starring role, scoring on all three levels and zealously playing both ends, unafraid of anything. And maybe it'll all come together when everyone accepts he's the lead dog and Rose looks at his 3-of-20 three-point shooting for the season (and 30 percent for his career) and accepts he should pick only certain spots to launch.
As a matter of fact, on the same day that Rose, 27, sat out and admitted, "If I'm not close to 100 percent, I overthink a lot of things and overcompensate on a lot of things; that's just my body type," Butler, 26, could be seen in pain on the bench in the final seconds of the defeat to the Warriors.
In refusing to hear what his foot was trying to tell him, Butler, after the game, said, "It's the way I walk whenever I lose." And he smiled.
He'd played 39 minutes.
"I play the minutes. I ask for 'em," he added.
This is the trust in one's body that professional athletes are supposed to have at their peak.
"I want to give us the best chance of winning," Butler said. "That's why I train as many times as I train per day, wake up as early as I wake up: to make my body tired and still be able to perform at the highest level."
He didn't dominate the ball, but he affected the game all over the place: 28 points, nine rebounds, seven assists. The Warriors didn't have much to worry about, but they acknowledged the challenge of Butler's physical defense disrupting Draymond Green as something they'd never seen this season.
Some might see a silver lining here, that Rose is being smart at this point to steer clear from any health risks. It's not untrue. Rose also has been and will continue to be a unique inspiration through his upbeat demeanor amid such adversity.
It's still sad.
In a business where men can and do rise above, we are seeing some surrender.
You can have Stephen Curry's ankles and wind up breaking down the entire league.
But you can have Rose's knees…and be brought down by them.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
