Chicago Bulls: The Fool’s Gold That Is Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose, the erstwhile Chicago Bulls point guard, is back from his latest injury, having logged 39 minutes on a back-to-back in Florida on Wednesday and Thursday.

Rose played 19 minutes in his return on Wednesday in a loss to the Orlando Magic and followed that up with 20 minutes in a win over the Miami Heat.

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He was 8-for-24 (33.3 percent) overall, 1-for-9 (11.1 percent) from 3-point range, made all four of his free throws and had six rebounds, four assists, a steal and seven turnovers.

That came after missing 20 games after surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.

For those of you scoring at home (or even if you’re by yourself), that’s three knee surgeries since May 2012, a rebuild of the ACL in his left knee. The other two—in December 2013 and February 2015—were on the right knee to deal with a torn meniscus.

Since his initial injury in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers in May 2012, Rose has played 58 games in three seasons—none in 2012-13, 10 in 2013-14 and 48 this season.

But it’s worth pointing out that since missing just five games in his first three seasons, Rose also sat out 27 games during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign with a variety of issues before his knee blew out the first time.

There was a bruised toe, back spasms, a strained groin and a sprained ankle leading up to the torn ACL in 2011-12.

The sad part for Chicago Bulls fans—and NBA fans in general—is that it’s beginning to feel as if we’re all waiting for something that we’ll never see again.

That would be the Rose from 2010-11 that was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player after averaging 25 points, 7.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and a steal on .445/.332/.858 shooting.

Never a great shooter, Rose put up field-goal percentages of 47.5 and 48.9 in his first two seasons while taking 35 percent of his shots from three feet and in.

He was a slasher, a penetrator, a marvel with the basketball who could either create his own shot or set up a teammate with a drive and kick because of his explosive quickness.

The Derrick Rose of 2010-11 shot more from the deep mid-range and 3-point range and his percentage fell to 44.5 percent, taking 29 percent of his shots from three feet and in and hitting 61.1 percent of them.

The Derrick Rose of 2014-15 takes only 26 percent of his shots at the rim and is up to 48 percent of his attempts from 16 feet and beyond.

The problem is that he makes only 39 percent of those long 2-point shots and just 28.1 percent from behind the arc.

I’m going to reverse this next point, sort of Jeopardy! style, for emphasis.

Rose’s many defenders (or at this point, really, really, really hopers) will point out that he hasn’t been healthy, that it’s not fair to judge Rose based on the last two seasons.

The unavoidable conclusion, however, is that Derrick Rose is just not the same player … and may never be again.

Fans that are holding their breath waiting to see 2010-11 Derrick Rose again are destined to wind up blue and motionless.

Again, his shot distribution tells a stark tale:

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/11/2015.

His shots are coming from further and further from the tin. That’s a damning sign of a player whose game, one predicated on explosiveness and quickness, is being forced to change because those traits are betraying him more often than not.

This is not to say that Derrick Rose can’t still be a fine player, a solid NBA point guard who helps his team win more often than not.

In the 48 games Rose has played this season, Chicago is 30-18. In the 31 that he hasn’t, that record dips to 17-14.

That’s a significant difference.

He’s still averaging 21.3 points per 36 minutes, but his efficiency is woeful—a true shooting percentage of 49.4 and a player efficiency rating of a just-above-league-average 15.7.

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That compares to marks of 55.0 and 23.5 during his MVP year.

Some of the field-goal percentage drop off can certainly be attributed to rust—playing 58 games in three seasons is not exactly the way to keep one’s skills sharpened at gameday speed.

But he’s never been a good 3-point shooter—certainly not a player who should take 5.4 per game at a 28.1 percent clip. That’s Josh Smith territory.

If anything, the career of Derrick Rose is at a very clear crossroads. He can either choose to become more of a facilitating point guard who can keep defenses honest with the occasional drive or he can go all-in to become a 3-point shooter and spend this offseason working on that aspect of his game.

But the one thing that has become painfully obvious is that MVP-caliber Derrick Rose has left the building, likely never to return.

Next: 50 Greatest NBA Players Without a Championship

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