There were plenty of times the last few years we’ve wondered whether the old Derrick Rose was back. By old, usually people mean the 2010-11 D-Rose who became the youngest recipient of the NBA’s regular-season MVP award. During USA Basketball minicamp, which tipped off in Vegas on Tuesday, Russell Westbrook was asked about his point guard peer and appeared to arrived at conclusive evidence Rose was in fact back to his old self.
By way of the Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago, comes Russell’s affirmation.
Russell Westbrook said Derrick Rose looks like "the old Derrick Rose". Trainer Rob McClanaghan said Rose and RW are "neck and neck again"
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) August 11, 2015
The utterance was seconded by Rob McClanaghan, a trainer for Westbrook and Rose. But as Goodwill follows up with, the idea Rose is completely back from multiple surgeries to both legs leaves a lot to be desired.
For those skeptical about Russ and Rob McClanaghan saying Rose is back to his old self, you certainly have reason to be.
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) August 12, 2015
That’s because for every coast-to-coast jaunt by Rose last season, we’d get awful shooting games and four to five consecutive bricks on that squeaky jumper of his, specifically from beyond the three-point arc where Rose struggled even before going down in the opening game of the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
And he’s had some brain farts, like when he gave up the game-winner against the Bucks in the opening round of the playoffs.
But he did make it through an entire regular season and a playoff run to the Conference Semifinals. Also, there was that game-winning banker against the Cavs. Except, again, when you look at his offensive production over the span of the whole season, and not just the playoffs, it’s the difference between a middling point guard and the MVP he was before the injuries.
Last season he finished with a player efficiency rating of 15.9, which is the lowest of his non-injury years; even his rookie season — 16.0 — was higher. And while that doesn’t really account for defense and rewards volume shooters, his true shooting percentage was also south of 50 percent, a dreadful mark for a starting point guard in the Association.
Delving deeper into his numbers last year, while Rose’s usage percentage was close to his MVP-level (31.7 percent in 2014-15, and 32.2 in 2010-11), his win shares per 48 minutes was less than half of what it had been during his pre-injury peak (0.038 vs. 0.211 in 2011-12).
And while numbers only tell part of the picture, watching Rose leads to the same conclusion. It’s not like we don’t see flashes of retro Rose from time to time, and sometimes even whole quarters where he’s in full-on helter-skelter mode, putting so much pressure on opponents, they’re unable to keep pace with his sallies to the rim. But he’s still often way too tentative coming around the high screen, and he no longer puts such consistent pressure on defenses.
Just as often as those moments of excellence, he disappears on the court. And no, it’s not the influence of Jimmy Butler, or whatever ginned-up beef we in the media propagate. Rose is still finding his way. His body has betrayed him so many times over the last three years, he’s still finding a comfort level, which is why his decision not to join Team USA in Vegas this week is fine. He wants to focus on some R&R with his son.
He won’t be in Rio next summer, either, but that’s OK. For Bulls fans, they just want him to stay healthy, and he’s done that for an entire year. Maybe this coming season, those all-to-pithy glimpses of his supercharged speed and flamboyant forays to the iron will become even more commonplace.
Only then will Russ prove accurate. For now, lets just enjoy a world where Derrick Rose is healthy and happy.
(Statistical support via basketball-reference.com)
