Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 goals for Derrick Rose in 2017-18
By Ryan Piers
5. Play in 70 games
You’ve seen the memes: “Derrick Rose tore his ACL signing a new contract.” “Derrick Rose played a game of rock-paper-scissors. Breaks wrist, hand, finger.” “Derrick Rose came to read the comments and got hurt.”
A video of Rose’s video game doppelganger tearing his ACL while walking off the court is even circulating through the internet.
When people think of Rose, injuries come to mind. That infamous freeze frame of the formerly electrifying point guard sprawled out on the baseline in the 2012 playoffs is the defining image of his career. Some might even picture animated Simba sympathetically leaning over him as if he were Mufasa.
We forget his incredible athleticism; the way he used to sky over opponents half a foot taller than him. We forget the ridiculous speed and the majesty with which he finished plays. At one point, Rose was the NBA’s best point guard, a breed of ball-handler that was years ahead of his time.
Now, the uber-athletic, scoring point guard is common. Russell Westbrook comes to mind, but think of the previous draft. Markelle Fultz, De’Aaron Fox and Dennis Smith Jr. are all cut from the same cloth as Rose.
But their predecessor, the contemporary godfather of the scoring point guard, is thought of nothing more than a walking IR trip. When Rose won his MVP, he became the first point guard to earn the award while averaging more than 25 points per game since Oscar Robertson in 1963-64. It was a special season for Rose. Now he is trying to shape is career in a way we remember the good times instead of the bad. For that, he needs a stretch of healthy season.
Rose will likely spend a majority of this season coming off the bench (once Isaiah Thomas comes back). That means his minutes will be limited, probably to between 28-30 per game, if that. So a reachable goal would be to compete in 70 games this season. He averaged 65 games played the past two years.