Derrick Rose 'not going to stop shooting' after 'terrible' night
When picking apart any struggles in Derrick Rose's game, it's important to remember he's playing consistently, which is the most important thing here in December.
Rose appeared in 13 of the Chicago Bulls' 15 games this month; a huge step forward after nearly three seasons lost to injury and a shaky start to this campaign. He's looked mostly impressive, averaging 17.4 points and 4.9 assists in 28.1 minutes.
The slowest part of his game to come back has been his jump shot, an issue highlighted over the team's past two games - both ugly offensive showings for the Bulls. Rose is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor on the season and a woeful 26.3 percent on threes, and he's gone 7-of-35 over the last two games.
"Terrible," Rose said of his 2-of-15 mark in a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.
Despite the cold stretch, Rose doesn't intend to stop shooting, especially the elbow jumpers teams have been daring him to take in the pick-and-roll game.
My confidence to shoot is there. All of them were on target. They’re just not falling. I’m not going to stop shooting. If they go under (screens), I’m going to shoot the shot. I work on it enough. I just haven’t seen them go in yet.
...
They're going under at the free throw line, so I got to take them shots, man. No matter how many times I miss or whatever, those are shots that I normally have to take just to make them play honest. I'm just waiting for that game where I'm going to have a good game - just waiting for it.
Rose is hitting 38.5 percent of his jump shots and 36.8 percent of shots in that 10-to-16-foot range to which he's largely referring. In his MVP season, he shot 42.4 percent in that area, and he'll need to be safely north of 40 percent for teams to stop giving him that shot with regularity to sell out against his drives.
That's more or less the issue. Rose's drives can be stifled by defenders willing to let him shoot. He's one of the league's most dangerous driving to the hoop, ranking ninth in the league in points per-minute on drives among players who have driven at least 100 times.
He shoots 56.2 percent on drives, but at just 5.9 per game, he'd be well served trading some of those jumpers for attacks. And that's to say nothing of him taking far more threes this season than at any point in his career despite poor efficacy.
Rose has still been solid, but his shot mix could be more effective, and he needs to start knocking down open looks with more regularity for the Bulls' offense to thrive.