Derrick Rose announced earlier this week he is “100 percent” and plans to be back for the first game of the season. Thursday, Coach Tom Thibodeau expanded on Rose’s comments by providing further update on his star point guard’s status, according to ESPNChicago.com.
"We'll see once we get to training camp, and we're going to have an opportunity to get some work done in the fall, but we have to keep in mind he's been out an extended amount of time," said Thibodeau Thurday. “So the preseason -- and we look at training camp as the entire month, not just a week -- we'll move him along accordingly.”
During preseason, Thibodeau plans to have Rose play the custom eight minutes intervals for a starter. This will give him a chance to gage Rose’s progress during an in-game setting.
"We'll see what he can handle. I think there's going to be some rust initially, but I fully expect him to get back to [being] the player we all know that he is," said the Bulls coach.
In addition to Rose the Bulls are looking to get a back sixth man Kirk Hinrich.
"Obviously having Kirk back, Kirk and Derrick have played very well in the past together. So we're looking forward to getting a look at that as well,” said Thibodeau.
Rose suffered his injury in 2012 during the first round of the playoffs. He tore his left ACL trying to shoot a floater in the first game.
He spent all of last season—much to the disappointment and annoyance of fans—rehabbing and trying to make it back on the court. Coach Thibodeau added that Rose’s rehab has also led to some improvement in his game.
"He's put a ton of time into his shooting because basically that's all he could do along with his rehab stuff," Thibodeau said. "Each year that Derrick's been in the league he's added to his game. So this is a continuation of all the things he's done in the past. Every summer he's concentrated on something and we may see more post-ups and things of that nature, more catch-and-shoot for him also.”
