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| DERRICK ROSE |
It didn't end the way he wanted
it to, but Derrick Rose will take it. After everything he's been through, finishing a
season on two legs is enough of a win.
Yes, the Chicago Bulls got blown out at home by the Cleveland Cavaliers in embarrassing fashion to end their season Thursday night. And
there's no shortage of uncertainty with the team's future that won't be
resolved until the messy, inevitable divorce between management and head coach
Tom Thibodeau plays out. But the biggest question mark in the Bulls' world over
the last three years, the simple one of whether Rose could stay healthy, ended,
for once, with good news.
"I always look at it as me stepping on the
floor and just me walking off the floor as a positive," Rose said at his
locker after the game. "I'm just happy with how my body responded when I
came back. I'm happy with everything I learned this year, everything I went
through individually, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I'm good. I'm at
peace with myself. Of course I'm mad we lost this game and we're out the
playoffs, but it gave me a chance to really go into the summer with a game
plan."
"I want to say this about Derrick: This was
a long year for Derrick," Thibodeau said Thursday,
likely having coached Rose for the final time. "The good thing is, I think
he has regained his confidence. You have to remember, he hasn't played in three postseasons. Getting this
experience is really good for him."
This will be the first summer since 2011 in which Rose isn't rehabbing from a
major knee injury. For once, his game plan doesn't have to be focused on
just the act of getting back on the court. He's done that. Now, he can focus
entirely on how best to work on his game once he's there.
Rose's season was in many ways a microcosm of the Bulls'. The team
played only a handful of games throughout the course of an 82-game regular
season with the entire roster healthy and available. Key players (including
Rose) were in and out of the lineup constantly, and that led to a lack of
continuity and consistency that they were never able to build in time for the
playoffs.
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