Derrick Rose: The Good And Bad In His Return Season

Considering Derrick Rose‘s return this season was one of the most highly anticipated comeback attempts in NBA history, we sure haven’t talked a lot about him lately. Heading into the 2014-15 season, the former MVP had played a grand total of 49 games in the past three years. So now that he’s back, is he really, you know, back?

47 games into the season for the Chicago Bulls, we have an answer about as mixed as Rose’s up-and-down performance in Tuesday night’s overtime win against the Golden State Warriors.

The game was an instant classic, but for our purposes what’s important is that it perfectly embodied D-Rose’s comeback season so far. NBA Twitter was torn watching the events unfold.

One minute Rose was Chicago’s best player for attacking the basket and carrying a Bulls team without Jimmy Butler. The next he was the scapegoat for the Bulls trailing most of the way, either because he was settling for jumpers or turning the ball over.

He played tremendous defense on Stephen Curry, but he missed a ton of jumpers in OT and committed a career-high 11 turnovers on the night. Then, to totally redeem himself, he hit a step-back jumper over Klay Thompson‘s tough defense to give Chicago the go-ahead bucket with seven seconds left in OT.

Was the story “He makes it when it matters” or “Anybody is bound to make it after shooting it that many times”? Was it the turnovers and too many jump shots or the clutch plays and carrying his shorthanded team against the best team in the NBA?

The answer lies somewhere in between. And like Rose’s confusing night against the Dubs, we’re going to take a look at both the bad and the good from Rose’s comeback season so far.

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