Derrick Rose: The Good And Bad In His Return Season

Good: Attacking The Basket

On shots inside of nine feet, Rose is converting 55.4 percent of the time, according to NBA.com. Now, that’s not really a fantastic number. By comparison, Goran Dragic — another point guard considered by many to be a similarly crafty player attacking the rim — is converting 64.7 percent of his attempts from that range.

But as we saw Tuesday night, Rose is still athletic enough to attack the rim at full speed and finish around taller defenders. When he’s in attack mode, the Bulls are a much better team, especially on the nights where Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol are doing their thing as well.

Bad: Settling For Jumpers

The reason Rose’s field goal percentage is a woeful 41.6 percent? He’s shooting an appalling 31.7 percent on all shots outside of nine feet, per NBA.com. He’s making only 31.3 percent of his three-point shots, which wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t attempting 5.6 of them per game — by far the highest mark of his career.

Some of this new dependence on jump shooting traces back to those career-altering injuries. Rose is still capable of driving and dazzling us once in a while, but the wear and tear of that playing style takes a toll on his body. For a player trying to salvage his career, it makes sense that when the athleticism starts to fade and fear of re-injury creeps back in, he’d rely on jumpers. But if his body can handle it, he needs to avoid settling for jumpers.

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