Though there was a great deal of doubt over the past month regarding Derrick Rose's status for the season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it has now been confirmed by Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg that the star point guard will be ready to go from Day 1 of the 2015-16 NBA season.
Rose had surgery for a fractured left orbital back on September 30 and had blurry or even double vision as recent as just a few days ago. Those stories led many to believe (including myself) that he wouldn't be able to play in the highly-anticipated opener against the rival Cavaliers.
Fear no more. Rose partook in every rep of Sunday's practice and Hoiberg was pleased with his performance.
"He was good," Hoiberg said via ESPN. "He went through every rep in practice today. So I was really pleased with that. He's getting his wind up a little bit. Obviously he was very gassed about his five-minute stretch [Friday] ... but he feels good."
Hoiberg also mentioned that he didn't know how long Rose would play against the Cavs or if he'd even start.
That's really the only issue for Rose right now: conditioning. Following the surgery, he wasn't able to get the blood pumping in any high-intensity workouts because of the swelling in the eye. As with any player in that type of predicament, a couple of weeks without getting consistent cardio takes a toll.
While Rose looked good against the Dallas Mavericks in the final preseason game of the year, he only played two five-minute stretches and, as Hoiberg said, was "gassed." It's going to take a little bit of time for him to get into game shape once again -- perhaps a week or two of playing and also running on off days -- so don't expect Rose to surpass 25-30 minutes, tops, against Cleveland. Even that projection may be pushing it.
The Bulls have high hopes this year, and if they're finally going to reach their potential and make it past LeBron James in the playoffs, health will be the key -- especially with Rose. I don't need to delve into his injury history, but the Bulls need to tread carefully here.
If a player is too tired, he's more prone to injury. That's not something Hoiberg and the Bulls should mess around with, so hopefully the communication between the coach and Rose is open and good during the early part of this season. After all, the Bulls will need him a lot more come April, May and June than they do in October and November. As long as they're smart about this, Rose will be just fine.
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